September October 2018

the premium, along with these prominent statements: Bitches in
season permitted. They must be crated at least 50’ from obedience
ring, wear pants, and run last after all other obedience judging is
finished. You can read the OBIS Education page at https://www.
asca.org/obedience/obis-education/, via the Obedience page of
the ASCA website.
We always welcome your input on any aspect of the ASCA
obedience program – this is your program. You may write to the
Obedience rules io group, ASCA-Obedience-Rules@groups.io or
contact Katy van de Sandt, Obedience Committee Chair, at
mcvansaussies@gmail.com or Marilyn Cherry, Obedience Co-
Chair, at kamikaussie@yahoo.com.
Rally Committee
Corinne Shank, Committee Chair. gckennel@aol.com
The Rally Committee had a busy summer with course reviews,
answering questions about using the new signs, and finalizing the
new on-line judges’ education. And suddenly it is time for Nationals
again. Congratulations to everyone who made Finals!
Each year, immediately following the Rally Finals, we have
a judges seminar, open to everyone, not just judges. We always
start with a great outline and presentation based on where we have
concerns or had questions within the program. Then we get
questions from judges, as well as some competitors. The questions
are excellent, and pertinent, but we are never able to get back to
the information that we intended to provide in the time allowed.
Judges who attended the live seminar were given credit to meet
continuing education requirements yet did not receive the necessary
educational information. For that reason, Judges will not receive
credit for attendance in Greeley, or future Nationals, though a letter
of attendance will be placed in their file showing their continued
support of ASCA Rally. Effective 1/1/19, all judges, including those
on the Rally Committee, will be required to complete the on-line
education.
The on-line education has been up-dated and designed to assist
judges in areas where questions have arisen, whether from judges
or competitors, and will be ready by January 1, 2019. The goal is
to address many of the inconsistencies we hear about from
competitors. The on-line education includes tips for coursebuilding
as well as assess points off, the two primary areas of
concern. The goal is to achieve more consistency.
The BOD is investigating the ability to have videos available
for review by judges and competitors. The Rally Committee has
many hours of videos ready to use as soon as capabilities are
finalized by the BOD. The committee has received many questions
about performing specific exercises, and how to score those
exercises. It is our hope that these questions can soon be addressed
via the videos.
A common theme has been seen in the Rally members, and
judges lists. Clubs have ribbons and prizes for highest scoring junior
handler, but never get to give these ribbons to anyone because we
have few juniors competing. Juniors – do you have any suggestions
of how we can attract more juniors to the Rally Ring? Parents – the
same question. How can we attract your juniors? My home club
had two juniors show in April, both did an excellent job. It is always
fun to watch the kids work with their dogs. We would love to have
more juniors in our rings.
Committee Reports
There has also been discussion about how to attract other breeds
to the ASCA Rally program. As a reminder to all, the office has
brochures available that can be posted, and handed out at training
clubs. The Rally Committee challenges all ASCA members who
take classes, or teach classes, at a training facility for Obedience
or Rally to hand out ten brochures by the end of the year. High In
Trial Other Breed is another rosette that is often not handed out
because there are no dogs of other breeds, or mixed breeds. The
perception still exists that only registered, intact dogs can compete.
Please help us get the word out that we welcome all dogs, registered
and All Americans!
As always, if you have any questions or suggestions for the
Rally program, please contact your committee representative, or
Corinne Shanks at gckennel@aol.com.
Tracking Committee
Beth MacLehose, Committee Chair,, bmaclehose@gmail.com
The Tracking Committee has prioritized four goals for this
coming year.
Our first goal is to wrap up and present to the Board one or
two introductory tracking titles to help clubs introduce tracking in
areas where there are currently few or no ASCA tracking
trials. These titles would help clubs and individuals find out what
it would take to put on a full trial and help individuals get started
in areas where there are currently no local ASCA tracking
judges. The Tracking Committee hopes these new titles will help
to make tracking more accessible to clubs and competitors in areas
that currently do not have ASCA tracking trials. As of July 14th
we are almost ready to vote and present to the Board. Check back
in the Nov./Dec. Times for updates on the program.
After that we will be working on the following items:
1. Working on an advanced test on variable surfaces to
expand on the TDU. This would hopefully then lead to a
tracking championship title. We are looking forward to
creating more tracking challenges for advanced
competitors.
2. Create a checklist for the business office so tracking trials
with two judges could be sanctioned by the business office,
cutting down on sanctioning time for clubs. This would
also give the committee more time to work on creating
ways to bring tracking to more competitors and making
it better for those currently competing in ASCA tracking.
3. Do an extensive review of the rule book to be sure its up
to date with all the changes we have made and does not
contradict itself in places.
We continue to want to grow the tracking program across all
ASCA Regions and would value any input members may have to
help us achieve this goal. Any clubs or individuals who would like
to help to start tracking in their area should feel free and are
encouraged to contact up and we will help in any way possible.
26 AUSSIE TIMES Sepetember-October 2018