The Cairn Terrier Club of America Meeting of the Board of Governors The Queen Mary Long Beach, CA

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The Cairn Terrier Club of America

Meeting of the Board of Governors

The Queen MaryLong Beach, CA

20-21 June, 2013

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The importance of ethics and sportsmanship to the health and growth

of the CTCA

Ethics education is now a part of theCTCA Five-year plan

2013-2018

Prepared byAnne Dove, Tammy Erickson,Jim Hulbert, and Kendall Lake

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Part 1. Ethics and Sportsmanship: Life blood of the CTCA

Strategic, ethical thinking and focusing on sportsmanship strengthens member attitudes and behavior that favor cordiality, welcoming,

and fellowship.

Cordiality, welcoming, and fellowship are qualities that support the core values of a

voluntary association.

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Voluntary associationsdo not hand out paychecks

Strong voluntary associations depend on enjoyment, meaningful activity, and high morale

of their membership for their continuing existence.

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Voluntary associations:the strong live, and the weak die

Without meaning, enjoyment, and fellowship,voluntary associations (clubs, churches):

(1) lose existing members,(2) fail to attract and retain new members,(3) watch their budgets disappear,(4) become a shadow group of ”old hands,”(5) … and even fade away.

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The role of ethics, ethical problem-resolution, and sportsmanship:

These are tools to create and preservehigh morale and, as a result,

member meaning, enjoyment, fellowship ...and growth.

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Ethics is not relative; it is not squishy;it is not like nailing Jell-O to a wall.

Ethics is serious, ethics is powerful

• Ethical decision-making is possible because the activity rests on a firm foundation, a set of core values that remain stable across time, cultures, and religions ... worldwide. (1)

1. Kidder RM. How Good People Make Tough Choices. New York: Harper, 2009.

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Core values are stable

• The Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule are examples of core values that are shared, in varying forms, worldwide.

• Core values also include value of personal responsibility, trust and promise-keeping, fairness and adherence to rules, justice, affection, respect for others and for life itself.

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Ethics asks you to do the right thing when there is no law forcing you to do right

• Lord Moulton (2) describes ethics as personal “obedience to the unenforceable.”

• It is generally accepted that integrity means being prepared to enforce ethical standards upon oneself. This behavior is honoring “duty” or “manners.”

2. Moulton JF (Lord). Law and Manners. The Atlantic Monthly, Jul, 1924.

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“Right vs. wrong” ethics

• “Doing ethics” can simply be identifying and resolving “right vs. wrong,” judging behavior against a moral standard or code of ethics.

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“Right vs. right” ethics

• Ethics can also involve thinking through and resolving complex dilemmas between two or more attractive and moral options, “right vs. right.”

• The CTCA Ethical Education group will present essays and programs on the strategies involved in resolving ”right vs. right” ethical conflicts.

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The CTCA has acted to promote ethics

“Right vs. wrong” and “right vs. right” conflicts, constantly occurring world-wide, also occur

within the canine hobby. Ethics will be discussed in a series of brief programs at CTCA

annual and roving specialties and in regular columns in the Club newsletter.

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The CTCA and Ethics

“Right vs. right” dilemmas can beconflicts between:

• Justice vs. mercy• Short-term vs. long term problems• Individual vs. community• Truth vs loyalty (1)

1. Kidder RM. How Good People Make Tough Choices. New York: Harper, 2009.

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The CTCA and Ethics

“Justice vs. mercy” might involve issues of fairness and even-handed application of rules

vs. compassion and deciding matterscase-by-case.

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The CTCA and Ethics

“Short vs long term” (now vs then) issues involve conflicts about

immediate needs vs. future goals.

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The CTCA and Ethics

“Individual vs community” (self vs. group) issues involve conflicts about the needs and agenda of

the self vs. those of the community.

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The CTCA and Ethics

“Truth vs loyalty” (honesty vs. commitment) issues involve conflicts about truth-telling vs. promise-keeping and responsibility.

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The CTCA and Ethics

The point: When “doing ethics,” carefully considering values and responses is crucial.

In “right vs right” conflicts, thinking may be complex and optimal resolutions not

immediately evident.

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The good news: You will improve with practice.

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The CTCA and Ethics

Ethical education can help people use

• Ends-based thinking (what works now),• Rule-based thinking (go by the book), • Care-based thinking (personal harmony),

to resolve issues. (1)

1. Kidder RM. How Good People Make Tough Choices. New York: Harper, 2009.

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What CTCA ethics education can offer

Presentations of ethical dilemmas taken from the lives of breeders, handlers, and pet owners will move the discussion from the abstract quickly to the concrete.

Ethics promotes both respectful and practical decision-making. Essays and programs will encourage member willingness to reflect on the ethics and consequences of decisions before they are made.

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Part 2. The ethics of the game: sportsmanship

From general ethics, we move to the ethics and values of games and competitive events:

sportsmanship.

Sportsmanship is a core value in sport involving “respect for game,” respect for the rules and spirit of the game and for one’s fellow competitors. (3)

3. Butcher R, Schneider A. Fair Play as Respect for the Game. In Ethics in Sport, Morgan W. (ed). Champaign (IL): Human Kinetics, 2007.

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Sportsmanship

Without sportsmanship, there is no true game … only cynical manipulation and brutish behavior.

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Sportsmanship

Games are contrived activities, almost always involving some form of limits on the players that

would not occur in normal life, to make the activity an interesting contest of skill under

difficult conditions.

Examples: baseball, football, soccer, golf, tennis, and canine conformation and

performance events!

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Sportsmanship

Ethical education can present vignettes of step-by-step resolution of more complex “right vs

right” problems that confrontbreeders and handlers.

Presentations can involve discussions of sportsmanship in dog-related activities, encouraging respect for the game and

for one another.

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Doing ethics: Not easy, butvery important

Our first handout presents a hypothetical “right vs. right” dilemma occurring at a conformation

show.

To model ethical thinking and sportsmanship, we trace the sequence of thinking a competitor

might do in proceeding to a resolution.

[Activity]

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Doing ethics: Not easy, butvery important

The handout is an example of the kind of non-confrontive programming we can propose in a

CTCA ethical education seminar.

To promote ethical thinking and behavior, The CTCA Board of Governors has approved

the creation of an Ethics Education Committee!

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Doing ethics: Not easy, butvery important

Club leaders support regular discussion of ethical thinking and sportsmanship concerning issues in the CTCA and in the general sport of

dogs.

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Thank you!

Anne Dove,Tammy Erickson,Jim Hulbert, and

Kendall Lake