Bulletin Board
July - August 2008
Important Office payment information for ASCA Members from other nations
English: Effective 1/1/2008 the Business Office will no longer accept cash monies as a
payment option for member services.
German: Ab 1.1.2008 akzeptiert das Business Office kein Bargeld mehr als
Zahlungsmittel fuer Mitglieder.
New on the ASCA website
From ASCA’s Web Team, Maarten Walter and Heidi Mobley:
We’ve just completed rolling out a new piece to the www.asca.org website. Under My
ASCA Membership, ASCA Members will be able to update their own membership
information online. This is the first step for us towards online retrieval of information as
well as online updating. Yes, show and dog results are next on the list, followed by
membership renewals, litter registrations, etc.
Please be aware that there are two steps required to access My ASCA Membership.
First, you must register (set up a login) with the website with your *current* email
address. We will send you a validation code once you enter your ASCA membership
number with the email address on record with ASCA. This email address MUST match
the email address exactly. If you’re not sure of which email address ASCA has, click on
the Help button and you will be contacted by the ASCA office.
Although updating your ASCA membership may not seem like a huge step forward, from
a technology perspective it is. We had to securely connect our website to our database
and set up a registration process. Now that this part is done the next components will
come out fairly rapidly.
Please click on My ASCA Membership to get started.
NEW features have been added to the ASCA® website
We now have an event calendar. You can find that by clicking on Events. At this
writing, this calendar will be updated by the ASCA® Office as events are sanctioned.
So, the sooner your event is sent in for sanctioning, the sooner your event will appear on
the calendar. You must include a flier with your sanction request. Your flier is what will
appear when the Link is clicked.
And from our web team:
The next phase of website change is now available to be used by registered users. This
involves the following:
1. Dog Results
Type in the dog's registration # and we display all the show/trial results for that dog.
2. Dog show Results
Select a date and we display all the dog show/trial results for that date.
To view this, log on to the ASCA website, mouse over "My ASCA Membership" and the
new tab is now active. Heidi and Maarten
Passing of a long-time Member
While the Board was at their Spring Meeting word came of the passing of Wanda
Robertson. She was a dedicated ASCA® member and a long-time breeder with the
kennel name of Hilltop. Her early dogs were also registered under Robertson. She was
from Molalla, Oregon and will be missed by her friends and Aussie folks in her area.
Aussie Times ad in a new size
Now available: Business card sized ads! See our advertising pages for rates and details.
Promoting ASCA®
The Board is looking for a volunteer to coordinate and work on promotion of ASCA® in
other publications. This person could also help by soliciting advertising for the Aussie
Times. If you have time to give to ASCA® in either or both of these functions, please let
Jo Kimes know that you are interested.
ASCA® Business Office
We hope you are noticing that the current Staff at the Business Office is doing a great
job handling their various areas in a very acceptable turnaround time. We have very
capable people at the Office who now know their jobs and are helping Members quickly.
The Board saw a difference at the March Board Meeting now that most areas have
improved and the complaints have come down.
Nationals Updates
See the March-April issue of the Aussie Times for the premium list for the 35th
Australian Shepherd Club of America National Specialty being held in Las Vegas,
Nevada, from November 8 to November 15, 2008. The entry dates are July 7, 2008
through September 8, 2008 for pre-entry, with an extended date of October 10, 2008
(with a higher fee). Please keep these dates in mind as you make your plans regarding
ASCA registration for the dogs you wish to enter. The plans are in the works for an
ASCA® Nationals Vegas-style!
The ASCA® Board is pleased that the 2009 Nationals has been awarded to the
Colorado Australian Shepherd Club. We will return to Greeley September 26 - Oct 3rd,
2009 for another great ASCA® Nationals.
The ASCA® Board is accepting applications for 2010 and beyond, so if your Club is
interested in hosting the Nationals please send in your application to Jo Kimes.
Reminder from the Registrar – Sires, Dams and DNA
Applications for Litter Registration from Sires and/or Dams producing their third litter will
not be processed until the Sire and/or Dam has been DNA profiled with an ASCA®
approved lab and recorded as DNA-CP or DNA-VP with the ASCA® Registrar. Effective
January 1, 2006. This requirement means that Sires and/or Dams must be DNA Profiled
before their third litter can be registered. Registrations of litters may be held up while this
DNA Requirement is being fulfilled.
Please send a copy of your registration or litter registration to Therion with the DNA
Samples. This will help them decipher handwritten applications without having to
contact the Office for assistance.
Registry fees (and other fees) have gone up, so please check the rates sheet that was in
the July-August 2007 issue.
Another Registry reminder
Recently, the Board has had a bunch of requests to change birthdates for litters, colors
of pups in a litter, and the sexes of pups in a litter. Please check and double check your
litter applications for accuracy to be sure what you send to the Office is correct. Once
you receive your Individual Registration Papers, please check them for accuracy as well.
It’s always easier to get an error fixed right away than to wait until it has to go to the
Board as an exception.
The Board passed the following change to the Registry Rules at the March Meeting that
all corrections like the above will be follow the following Rule:
6. Requested amendments to a registered litter by the litter owner (i.e. sex, quantity, etc)
must be supported by presentation of pertinent documents to the Registrar within a thirty
(30) day period from date of litter registration for approval without DNA testing and
verified parentage through ASCA’s official lab. Requests for change of quantity require
testing after thirty (30) days; change of sex requires testing at sixty (60) days; request for
change of color at six (6) months. Other requests will be presented to the ASCA Board
of Directors for review and final decision within thirty (30) days.
Registry Rules Reminder
At their Meeting at the 2006 Nationals, the Board of Directors voted to require that in
order to use the ASCA Registry service, all owners of a co-owned dog have to be ASCA
members. If one or more co-owners is a full member and one or more co-owners are
service members the registration fees for a full member will be charged. This will go into
the Registry Rules at the appropriate place and became effective January 1, 2007.
Do you have an Aussie or do you have another breed?
If you have an Aussie that is an ASCA® Registered Australian Shepherd, you can enter
ASCA® Events and with your Full ASCA® Membership be eligible for Merit, Finals, HIT
awards, etc., but if you have another breed, you must trial as that other breed. Both the
Miniature Australian and the North American Shepherd are on the ASCA Herding
Breeds list as something other than an Australian Shepherd. If a breed is on the Herding
Breed list they must be trialed as another breed. They *cannot* be trialed as an "Aussie"
if they are registered with another organization. In fact according to CH. 3. Sec. 19.3 an
Aussie must be trialed as another breed if it is not registered with ASCA.
Another important reminder for reporting show and trial results
The fee for submitting show results late, after the 15-day postmark date, is now $10 per
day instead of $1 per day for all venues.
Late sanctioning penalties come down
At their Spring 2008 Board Meeting the late sanctioning fee was reduced from Fifty
Dollars ($50.00) per day to Twenty-Five Dollars ($25.00) per day for the first three (3)
days to increase to Fifty Dollars ($50.00) thereafter.
Affiliate Clubs have free space
What do you mean free space? Affiliate Clubs have space in the Aussie Times once a
year for a club report to be included in Affiliate News. This update for the Membership is
the responsibility of the Affiliate Rep. for each Club. Of course, the Club also has the
responsibility to ensure that what is submitted by the Rep. is accurate.
What Clubs will be featured in the upcoming issues of the Aussie Times?
The Affiliate Clubs that are in the following states are scheduled for space in the
September - October 2008 issue (deadline July 15, 2008): Arkansas, New Mexico,
Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina,
South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida
Also to allow you to plan ahead, the clubs in Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, New
England, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania,
New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, and Virginia are scheduled for
space in the November – December 2008 issue.
Send your reports to cynthia@parchmentfarm.com.
The ASCA® Foundation
By your donation to Epilepsy Research or the Phenome Project through the ASCA®
Foundation, you can help ASCA® benefit our breed immeasurably. Please send your
donation made out to The ASCA® Foundation to the ASCA® Business Office, 6091 E.
State Highway 21, Bryan TX 77808 (new address!) and be sure to indicate that your
donation is for the Epilepsy Research or the Phenome Project. We would like to thank
the Feather River ASC who donated $500.00 to be used for Epilepsy research.
Along with these two projects, the ASCA® Foundation is also the home of the Cee
Hambo Education Trust. You can make donations to that Fund as well. This
education Trust is in memory of Cee Hambo and provides a scholarship for ASCA®
Members.
Want to raise money for a good cause? The Cee Hambo Scholarship has been
reopened! The goal of the scholarship is to eventually fund an entire course of
schooling for recipients and the ASCA Foundation needs volunteers and fund
raisers to help that goal along. Information about the scholarship and applications
for this year's $500 award are available from the Business Office or at the
ASCA.org website under
"Forms and Rulebooks."
Committee resumes – Old and New
ASCA®’s new Genetics & Health Committee This new ASCA committee is up and running, but they could us a few new Members.
They will communicate with ASHGI and keep track of Aussie health issues and genetic
research projects with the goal of providing education to the ASCA Membership and
assisting the ASCA Foundation.
If you are interested in being considered for appointment to this new ASCA Committee,
please send your resume to Jo Kimes at jo.kimes@imsday.com
The ASCA® Board decided at their April 2006 Meetings that Committee resumes are
being sought for all Committees at all times. Even if there aren’t openings, we will hold
them until the next Nationals so that you can be considered at that time to fill the
Committee for which you have applied! If you are interested in serving on any ASCA®
Committee, please send your resume to Executive Secretary, Jo Kimes,
jo.kimes@imsday.com.
New Nationals Committee
ASCA®’s New Nationals Committee is up and running.
The Board is taking resumes for the Strategic Planning Committee
The Strategic Planning Committee will consist of three Board Members and up to three
ASCA members. The primary tasks of this committee will be to formulate and document
a one- to three-year plan in the following areas: organizational finances, information
technology, programs, Board and officer organizational structure and functions, business
office structure and processing.
Further, the Strategic Planning Committee will provide a yearly document at the General
Membership Meeting with clearly defined purposes, goals, objectives and priorities of the
ASCA organization; ensuring that the most effective use of resources is focused on key
priorities, organizational improvements and providing a mechanism for measuring
progress.
ASCA® Program Rule of the Issue – Did you know?
Each issue, we will be highlighting a program rule just as an FYI.
From the Australian Shepherd Club of America®, CONFORMATION SHOW RULES
AND REGULATIONS, January 1, 2008
SECTION 9.6 A dog which is blind, deaf, castrated, spayed, had a vasectomy, or which
has been changed in appearance by artificial means except as specified in the breed
standard, or a male over 6 months of age which does not have two normal testicles
normally located in the scrotum, may not compete at any show in the Intact
Conformation Program and will be disqualified. A dog will not be considered to have
been changed by artificial means because of removal of dewclaws and/or docking of tail.
When a judge finds any of these conditions in any dog he is judging, he shall disqualify
the dog marking his book "Disqualified" and stating the reason. He shall not obtain the
opinion of the show veterinarian. When a dog has been disqualified under this rule or
under the Breed Standard, awards earned by that dog at that show shall be canceled by
ASCA® and the dog may not again be shown unless and until, following application by
the owner to ASCA, the owner has received official notification from ASCA that the dog's
show eligibility has been reinstated. A castrated male or one that has had a vasectomy
may be entered as the Stud Dog in the Stud Dog Class, or other Non-Regular classes,
or in the Altered Conformation Program. A spayed bitch may be entered as Brood Bitch
in the Brood Bitch Class, or other Non-Regular classes, or in the Altered Conformation
program.
Note: In a recent discussion on the Australianshepherdjudges yahoo group, most judges
agreed that a non-regular puppy entered and shown with glued or taped ears was
changed in appearance by artificial means, and they would be excused from the ring.
SECTION 9.7 A dog that is lame at any show may not compete and shall not receive
any award at that show. It shall be the judge's responsibility to determine whether a dog
is lame. He shall withhold all awards from such dog and shall excuse it from the ring. A
dog so excused shall not be counted as having competed. When a judge excuses a dog
from the ring for lameness, he shall mark his book "Excused - Lame"
SECTION 9.8 No dog shall be eligible to compete at any show and no dog shall receive
an award at any show in the event the natural color of the natural markings of the dog
have been altered or changed by the use of substance whether such substance may
have been used for cleaning purposes or for any other reason. Such cleaning
substances are to be removed before the dog enters the ring. If in the judge's opinion
any substance has been used to alter or change the natural color or shade of natural
color or natural markings of a dog, then in such event the judge shall withhold any and
all awards from such dog, and the judge shall make a note in the judge's book giving his
reason for withholding such award.