Clean Run - December 2014 - 7

Everything you
always wanted to know
about agility

By Brenna Fender

Do agility organizations have procedures for dealing with competitor or
club complaints involving an agility judge? If so, what are they?
Most agility organizations have a specific plan of action for
handling competitor complaints.
Agility Association of Canada: "AAC has an all-encompassing
Incident Report Form available to competitors and trial hosts.
If the judge has misinterpreted the rules, the competitor can appeal the call(s) to our Judges' Standing Advisory Committee.
The trial incident [form] must be filled out, sent in, and signed;
otherwise it is not an official complaint."
Australian Shepherd Club of America: "ASCA has a dispute
process [in which] competitors can file a complaint involving
a rule violation. General non-rule type complaints concerning
judges can be sent to the ASCA agility committee for further
investigation."
Canine Performance Events: "[The incident] should be reported at the trial through the host club with the incident report or
by email to CPE. Additional information would be gathered if
needed, and the judge contacted for their statement. A review of
all statements would be conducted for a determination."
Dogs On Course in North America: "[We would] discuss the
situation with the person making the complaint, determine if
there are other witnesses, then discuss with the judge to understand their side of the story. Recommended action will depend
on the situation, the severity of the situation, etcetera. If the
situation resulted in a [non-qualifying score] and something
was missed, not a contact call but something with rules, we
would honor the Q."
North American Dog Agility Council: "NADAC asks that complaints be sent to our office (nadacsharon@aol.com) and that
they include all pertinent information (the date, the name of the
host club and location, the name of the complaining party, any
witnesses and as much detail about the issue as possible). We
will always ask for the judge's side of the issue and evaluate
input from both sides."
Teacup Dog Agility Association: "TDAA researches by requesting information from the club officers, the trial secretary, or
any other TDAA judges in attendance. When we feel we have
a clear picture of what happened, we contact the judge or the
official in question and present them with our understanding of
what occurred and ask for their side of the story. [Then] we clar-

Do you have a question about agility
rules or anything else agility related?
Mail your questions to Brenna Fender:
brennafender@gmail.com
Brenna collects the questions and forwards
them to us so we never see the names.

ify for all parties involved how they should interpret the official
policy of TDAA. Without casting aspersions on the character of
the exhibitor, the club officers, the trial secretary, or the judge,
we explain TDAA's policy and request that, in the future, they
comply with our policy."
United States Dog Agility Association: "A competitor, show
host, or even a spectator can send a written note to the USDAA
office to make a complaint about a judge. It is routed to Andy
Hartman or [Ken Tatsch]. We keep such matters confidential,
as judges deserve due process as much as anyone. We also hold
them to a higher standard, which is high already. We review
the complaint, seek to gather any corroborating evidence and
then send a communique to the judge, asking for their response
to the criticism. After obtaining the response, we continue our
review. In most cases, making a judge aware of a situation is
enough corrective measure, as they wish to uphold their own
image in a favorable light. When we do not see that response,
we can issue a reprimand, which can lead to suspension on repeated occurrences of such an incident."
United Kennel Club: "[Problems] could be dealt with using the
UKC Misconduct procedure when there have been rule violations. This procedure is specific... and is found in the Official
Rules for Dog Events. Complaints about the judge may only
be lodged with the host club if the exhibitor believes the judge
has violated a specific UKC rule. Complaints about a judge's
knowledge or application of the UKC event rules may be filed
with UKC but must address specific deficiencies or instances....'" (Page 19, http://res.ukcdogs.com/pdf/2013Misconduct
andDisciplineRules.pdf) D

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December 14 | Clean Run

http://res.ukcdogs.com/pdf/2013MisconductandDisciplineRules.pdf http://res.ukcdogs.com/pdf/2013MisconductandDisciplineRules.pdf

Clean Run - December 2014

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