Club History

Here are some historical facts regarding the Mixed Breed Dog Club of California.

April 10, 1978: Mixed Breed Dog Clubs of America incorporated in Seattle, Washington. The name of the initial registered agent was Nancy L. Gilbert.
July 15, 1982: Mixed Breed Dog Club of California chapter was formed with Connie Nelson as President and Diane Fiedor as Secretary and Treasurer.
September 12, 1982: First Specialty held at Halcyon Park in San Leandro. It was announced in the San Leandro Daily Review. It included Obedience and Conformation and was also a sanctioned Australian Shepherd Club of America trial.
July, 1983: Margaret Hoff's Conformation Chart was published in the national newsletter. This chart is still in use today. Margaret was a long time member and made the club's first set of hi and bar jumps.
July, 1983: Patti Eaken (aka "wolf lady" because her mix was a wolf hybrid) was appointed as vice president.
September 18, 1983: National Specialty hosted by the MBDC of CA.
February 1984: Connie Nelson announced that she was pregnant and couldn't continue. This was the first time that the club almost collapsed.
July 27, 1985: First newsletter from Lora Cox, who had stepped in as President and Treasurer. She announced a fun match on October 26, 1985 at Los Gatos Creek Park.
October 26, 1985: Fun match held at Los Gatos Creek Park in Los Gatos.
April, 1986: First newsletter from Gloria McClain.
October 26, 1986: Specialty and membership meeting held in Lora Cox's back yard. Gloria McClain was elected President.
April 11, 1987: Co-op match with West Valley DTC. This was the beginning of the "big workshop" - a 12 or more ring obedience workshop held annually by the club as a fundraiser. It was organized by Debi Best.
May, 1987: The Mutt Muster newsletter included an article by Bud Kramer about Agility.
August 1987: Mutt Muster newsletter had a contest to select the club logo. There were 10 entries, and we are still using the winner.
October 17, 1987: Specialty held at Tennyson Park in Hayward. The show chairs were Lora Cox, Debi Best, and Gary Rabins. The grass at the park was so long that Debi Best and Jerry Hall had to bring lawn mowers and mow it. This was the first event where the club purchased new ribbons and trophies for the prizes (before they were using donated ones).
November 1987: Mutt Muster included an article "Mixed Breeds Take First At Gaines", a national obedience competition.
May 1988: First ever Spring Fling held in lieu of a year-end awards dinner. It was a day of games and barbecuing in a park with the members and their dogs. All those who earned titles in the previous year (including the dog half of the team) were honored.
October 2, 1988: The club hosted the MBDCA National Specialty at Halcyon Park in San Leandro. It became known as "the Bill and Max specialty" because Bill and Max donated an amazing number of trophies that they had won mostly before the club existed. There were enough trophies for the whole specialty, with some left over. The specialty had two conformation shows and the first ever Parade of Titleholders (that went so long it ended after dark). The catalog had the first ever advertising and real printing (not just xerox).
January 14, 1989: A General Membership Meeting was held at which Vice President Donna Johns announced that the vote to adopt our new by-laws did not include any suggested changes.
October 15, 1989: The club held a specialty at Halcyon Park in San Leandro. It was two days before the Loma Prieta Earthquake on October 17, 1989.
April 2002: The last "big workshop" was held. At its biggest, it had 12 or 13 rings for obedience and another couple of rings for sits and downs and CGC. Those were the days before the "step-in" ring posts so all those rings were set up by pounding rebar stakes into the ground. That set up work, plus hauling all those tables and chairs to and from the rings, ultimately made it too much work for the little club.
February 2004: The club held its first "Mini Mutt Match" at the San Lorenzo Dog Training Club's indoor facility in San Leandro. The match included one ring of obedience followed by conformation and was open only to members and their guests.
October 25 & 26, 2008: The club hosted the MBDCA National Specialty and held its first ever two-day show at California State University, East Bay in Hayward. Each day included two Rally rings, one Obedience ring, and one Conformation ring. The theme of the show was "California Dreamin'" and included a show logo for the first time.