2017 Nov Dec

Committee Reports
The following Committee Reports are published as received (bold indicates receipt) and approved:
Agility, Conformation, DNA, Education, Hall of Fame, History,
Juniors, Legislative, Most Versatile Aussie, Obedience, Rally, Stockdog, Strategic Planning, and Tracking
Agility Committee
Judy Boone, Committee Chair, daydreamaussies@msn.com
The agility committee has nothing really to report. We have
done our best to accomplish the three goals as the Board of
Directors mandated; however, two of these goals – electronic
submission of results and transferring straight across from the
Championship program to the ACE program – require computer
programming. As the ASCA computer system programming is not
yet finished, we aren’t able to find out if either of these issues can
be accomplished. Our other goal was judges education, and while
we have worked on it we are hesitant to complete it as the BOD
has formed their own committee to address Judge Education.
We are basically at a standstill. We do have other issues that
can be addressed. It is our hope that the new BOD will rescind
the three-goal mandate or at least allow the committees to work
on other issues alongside the three goals.
While the committee may not be able to work on an issue
you may have, we would still like to hear about your problems,
ideas and your own goals for our agility program. Input is always
welcome, and it is our hope that the committee will be able to be
back to “business as usual” very soon.
DNA Committee
Gina Larson, Committee Chair, windmillaussies@outlook.com
Greetings from the DNA Committee. Our committee members
have been working hard on an educational brochure. The brochure
has been sent to the BOD for approval. If it is approved, look for
it in the welcome bags at the 2017 ASCA nationals. It will also be
at the ASCA table.
We will be taking a break for the rest of this year but will be
back at it in 2018. If anyone has ideas on educational articles for
the AT and the website, we would love to hear from you.
Juniors Committee
Andrea Bair, Committee Chair, juncasjimpop@yahoo.com
Hi, Juniors and parents!! I am sure that everyone is winding
down from Nationals as they read this . . . those who went are
recovering from the lack of sleep and those who didn’t are
recovering from the eye strain caused by the constant looking for
results. Either way, we look forward to this even every year and
the craziness that goes along with it. The committee hosted a “How
to Do and How to Judge Patterns.” We invited all of the juniors,
parents, and judges to come and watch as we demonstrated how
to do the patterns correctly and how that changed based on where
the judge is standing in the ring. We hope that this proves to be
beneficial for everyone in attendance.
Also, the committee is hard at work on new requirements for
ex-juniors to become judges. We are trying to make the process a
little more like the Breeder Judges process in an effort to make our
judges as great as the juniors that they are judging.
If anyone has any suggestions for things that you would like
to see the committee address please do not hesitate to email me
at juncasjimpop@yahoo.com. We also still have spots available if
anyone would like to join the committee. If you are interested in
joining please send a résumé to the ASCA Executive Secretary.
Obedience Committee
Penny Jameson, for the Obedience Committee, penny.jameson@
gmail.com,
This year we will hold a Round Table Judge’s Discussion
Group at Nationals in Bryan, Texas, rather than a more formal
presentation with demonstrations. Everyone is welcome to attend
the Obedience Round Table Discussion. It is currently scheduled
to take place outside the Obedience rings, Wednesday afternoon,
November 1, just after the completion of Rally classes.
No major changes have been made to rules in the last two
months; rather, we’ve been busy with a lot of lively discussions
and important work. The Board would like all ASCA judges to be
required to participate in some form of continuing education on a
regular basis. So we are in the process of implementing an online
judge’s education program that may be supplemented by (optional)
discussion groups at Nationals. Setting up and maintaining the
online education program requires a lot of time and specific skills.
We will discuss an interim judge education requirement until the
online program is ready.
We envision that the online portion of educational materials
will contain:
• information on newer classes such as ODX, Beginner Novice,
Graduate Open, and Versatility (the latter three being optional
titling classes) complete with videos of the classes;
• information on rule changes as well as areas where ASCA
deviates from AKC;
• possibly information on decision-making around issues left to
judge’s discretion, i.e.,
◊ how much to take off for a no sit, and whether the amount
deducted should be the same regardless of whether it
occurs in heeling, on a recall, on a go out in directed
jumping, or whether some no sits merit a more substantial
deduction (e.g., if the dog is not in heel position). How
to contextualize such errors has also been the subject of
lively discussion on the three ASCA Obedience forums.
AUSSIE TIMES November-December 2017 43