Highlights and Announcements

March 2008 Meeting agenda (.pdf)

Candidates for 2008 election:

Michelle Berryessa (.pdf)
Pete Dolan (.pdf)
Rachel Vest (.pdf)
Mark Westerman (.pdf)

"The Miniature Australian Shepherd, North American Shepherd, North
American Miniature Australian Shepherd, and/or Toy Australian
Shepherd breeds are not recognized as a variety of Australian
Shepherd by ASCA. The club considers such dogs to be a distinct and
separate breed and will not accept them into its registry.

"Our bylaws state that ASCA's purpose is: 'To encourage members and
breeders to accept one breed standard for the Australian Shepherd as
approved by the Club as the only standard of excellence by which
Australian Shepherds shall be judged.' It is the mission of this club
and the mission of its members to preserve the breed rather than
change it."

Finals and Merit competitors must be Full ASCA Members Per Section 8.2 of the ASCA Policy book, the owners of all dogs competing
for Finals and Merit points must be Full ASCA Members. If you are
planning on competing for Finals or Merit points, please make sure
your membership is current and is the 'Full' type before the qualifying
period begins. This will ensure proper recording of your results.

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. Once again, planning ahead is in your best interest. Your best bet is to send the DNA to the lab for a Sire and/or Dam who is approaching their third litter two to three month prior to the planned breeding.

Show Coordinator help requested The Show Report Forms are being revised. Until updated report forms are available, the ASCA Office would appreciate you including the Registration Numbers for all winners that are reported on the Conformation Show Report Forms. This will speed up the Conformation and Obedience Show Results!

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 goes in these reports? They can include items of national interest, year-end awards, register of merit awards, human (or dog) interest information, and/or special events (Picnics, Fun Days, or special fundraising efforts could be featured) or awards. This is not to promote shows and trials that are being planned as you would submit those to Coming Events. Most of these reports include a run down of what the club did in the last year. These are usually well written and are well worth reading! There are often good ideas to be gleaned.

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 May June Aussie Times:North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, Canada, Europe and all other foreign countries. The deadline for the May - June issue of the Aussie Times is March 15, 2007. Also to allow you to plan ahead, the Affiliate Clubs that are in the following states are scheduled for space in the July August 2007 issue: The deadline for the July August issue is May 15, 2007.

Thank you for Finals Donations Hats off to Francesca Canfield who printed a 2007 Calendar with pictures from the 2006 National Stockdog Finals and sold them through the Affiliate Clubs to raise a profit of $1100 to go to support the 2007 Stockdog Finals! This was thinking outside the box and is a great idea for future years. The response from Affiliates has been wonderful! We are hoping that all ASCA Affiliate Clubs will consider supporting one or all of ASCAs Finals for 2007 and every year. Please consider supporting the ASCA Finals with your donations sent to the ASCA Business Office.

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.

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. Thanks to the following donors to the ASCA Foundation received since the last issue of the Aussie Times.Alaska Australian Shepherd Club for $250.00, Buckeye ASC for 1,000.00, and the Western Europe Working Australian Shepherds for $358.00.

Committee resumes If you have an interest in serving onan ASCA Committee, please send your resume to the ASCA ExecutiveSecretary, Jo Kimes. The Obedience Committee and the Junior Committee have openings for Members from Region 7 (Europe). The Conformation Committee needs members fro Regions 3, 4, 6, and 7. The Education Committee is not full. The Agility Committee is in need of Members from all Regions except 5. The DNA & Genetics Committee can also use a few interested Members. See the Committee page on the ASCA Web Page at http://www.asca.org/ASCA+Information/Committees to see which Committees have openings, and for which Regions. As per the Stockdog Committee procedures, we are expressly announcing that there is an opening in Region 7 (Europe). If interested, please send your resume to the Executive Secretary. The ASCA Board decided at their April 2006 Meetings that Committee resumes are being sought for all Committees at all times. Even if there arent 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, 699 FM 1011, Liberty, TX77575, FAX (936) 336-2379, jo.kimes@imsday.com .

New ASCA Rally Committee seeking resumes The new Rally Committee has been appointed and needs a few more Members from all Regions except for Regions 5 & 6.

LEP/Hardship Committee ASCA has a Committee of three people who receive scanned photos of the dogs submitted for LEP and Hardship registration, and the current Committee terms are expired. The requirements are below. If you would like to apply to review the photos of these dogs to help determine whether they meet the Breed Standard, please send your applications to Jo Kimes at the address below. The following are the requirements:
HARDSHIP & LEP COMMITTEE
The purpose of this committee will be to view all applications for Hardship Registration and LEP Registration and to determine eligibility.
Requirements: Three Committee members shall be appointed by the ASCA Board of Directors for a two year term (the first appointed committee will have terms that expire at the 2003 ASCA Nationals). Committee members may reapply for membership. Members must have at least ten years of ASCA membership and involvement in breeding and competing in ASCA programs. At least one committee member will have trained and/or competed with Australian Shepherds in stockdog trials. At least one committee member will be an ASCA Breeder Conformation judge.

New Nationals Committee At the suggestion of Members who attended the 2006 Affiliate Meetings and the General Membership Meetings, the Board of Directors decided at their Meetings to form a Nationals Committee consisting of one existing Committee member from each venue that has Nationals experience as a representative for that particular venue to compile a Nationals Procedure Manual. Additional members may be added, if necessary, out of a pool of members that have actively served on National Committees. The timeline is 120 days after the initiation of the committee for the Committee to come up with a first draft. The ASCA Executive Director will also be a member of this Committee. If you are interested in working on this project, the Rally Committee, or the LEP/Hardship Committee, please send your resumes to Executive Secretary, Jo Kimes, 699 FM 1011, Liberty, TX77575, FAX (936) 336-2379, jo.kimes@imsday.com .

Registry Rules Change 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 will be effective January 1, 2007. ASCA Agility ASCA Agility trials are being held across the US with great success. Clubs are hosting trials that are attracting a good number of dogs. Keep up the good work! If your club is interested in hosting a trial but doesn't know where to start, contact the Agility Committee for helpful hints ( sssssgraham@aol.com ). The Agility Judges list continues to grow. If you have a favorite judge in another major agility venue, ask them to check out the Agility Rulebook - Appendix C on how to become an ASCA Agility Judge. Speaking of Agility Turn in your Qs to Sue Graham at sssssgraham@aol.com . 50 Qualifying runs can win you $500. Thanks to WCASA for thinking of this imaginative way to promote ASCA Agility! Contact Sue Graham for details: sssssgraham@aol.com or 909-596-8452 (fax/phone #).

K9 Amber Alert We were recently informed of a newly-established email list called K9 Amber Alert. This is a nationwide group and is to be used for posting alerts for missing dogs throughout the United States similar to the way Amber Alerts are used to help find missing or abducted children.

Incidents will be typical of, but not limited to: dogs escaped or suspected taken from backyards, dog shows, caretakers. Photos can be uploaded to the group. http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/K9AmberAlert/