Author: Heidi Mobley

Members,

It is time to assemble the 2024 Nationals Committee for the 2024 ASCA National Specialty to be held October 11 – 19, 2024, at Fonner Park in Grand Island, Nebraska. If you are interested in any of the positions below, please use this link to complete the required 2024 ASCA Nationals Committee application by December 31, 2022: https://forms.gle/3eogfTM1vdMMeHNs7

If you have any questions, please send them to ASCANationalsAdvisoryComm@gmail.com

These Nationals Committee Chairpersons will have their transportation to and from Nationals reimbursed per their contracts and will have their lodging and meals covered during Nationals per their contracts and per the job descriptions below, but they will not be paid for their time or work. Those who volunteer to fulfill these positions will be expected to work as part of a team, which includes attending Nationals Committee meetings and helping with Nationals set up and tear down. Individuals may compete during the week as long as it does not interfere with their Nationals duties. Performing their Nationals Committee duties must be the priority for these individuals. The position descriptions below are not wholly encompassing, and additional responsibilities may be added to the positions as needed for the success of the 2024 National Specialty. Show your love of ASCA and volunteer to make the 2024 ASCA National Specialty a wonderful experience for all those who attend! Please complete the application at the link above before by December 31, 2022, for one or more of the following positions:

Nationals and Finals Stockdog Chairperson (This may be two separate people; when it is two persons, they must communicate and cooperate to ensure that all the duties below are completed.) – This person is in charge of the National and Finals Stockdog Trials and serves as Course Director. The responsibilities include contracting for the stock and making sure stock is prepared for events, selecting the courses to be run, lining up and scheduling workers for the events, working with the Nationals Chairman to contract judges for the Nationals and Finals, working with the pre-trial affiliate to enable their success, developing the run schedules for each day of competition, working with the Nationals Awards and Rosettes Chairperson to plan for Finals and Nationals prizes, working with the Banquet and Receptions Chairperson to coordinate and host the Finals awards reception, and overseeing the set-up, running and tear-down of the National and Finals trials. This person will work closely with the ASCA Business Office on Finals entries, judges books, etc. This person is also responsible for sanctioning the Nationals trial and working with the Stockdog Data Entry Clerk to complete the Nationals and Finals results paperwork which must be turned into the ASCA Business Office and the Aussie Times. This person will receive lodging and meals for ten days.

Nationals and Finals Conformation Chairperson – This person is in charge of the National and Finals Conformation events and serves as the Conformation Show Secretary. The responsibilities include working with the Nationals Chairman to procure the equipment needed for the events, lining up and scheduling workers for the events, readying the rings for competition each day, working with the Nationals Chairman to contract judges for the Nationals and Finals, working with the pre-show affiliates to enable their success, working with the Banquets and Receptions Chairperson to coordinate and host the Finals awards reception, and overseeing the set-up, running and tear-down of the Nationals and Finals events. This person is also responsible for sanctioning the Nationals events and completing the Finals and Nationals results paperwork which must be turned into the ASCA Business Office and the Aussie Times. This person will receive lodging and meals for ten days.

Nationals and Finals Obedience Chairperson – This person is in charge of the National and Finals Obedience events and serves as the Obedience Trial Secretary. The responsibilities include working with the Nationals Chairman to procure the equipment needed for the events, lining up and scheduling workers for the events, working with the Nationals Chairman to contract judges for the Nationals and Finals, ensuring that the rings are ready for competition each day, working with the pre-trial affiliates to enable their success, developing the run schedules for each day of competition, working with the Awards and Rosettes Chairperson to plan for Finals and Nationals prizes, work with the Banquets and Receptions Chairperson to coordinate and host the Finals awards reception, communicating with Obedience competitors, and overseeing the set-up, running and tear-down of the Nationals and Finals events. This person will work closely with the Nationals and Finals Rally Secretary. This person is also responsible for sanctioning the Nationals trial and completing the Finals and Nationals results paperwork which must be turned into the ASCA Business Office and the Aussie Times. This person will receive lodging and meals for ten days.

Nationals and Finals Rally Secretary – This person is in charge of the National and Finals Rally events and will serve as the Rally Trial Secretary. The responsibilities include working with the Nationals Chairman to procure the equipment needed for the events, lining up and scheduling workers for the events, working with the Nationals Chairman to contract judges for the Nationals and Finals, ensuring that the rings are ready for competition each day, working with the pre-trial affiliates to enable their success, developing the run schedules for each day of competition, working with the Awards and Rosettes Chairperson to plan for Finals and Nationals prizes, working with the Banquets and Receptions Chairperson to coordinate and host the Finals awards reception, communicating with Rally competitors, and overseeing the set-up, running and tear-down of the Nationals and Finals events. This person will work closely with the Nationals and Finals Obedience Secretary. This person is also responsible for sanctioning the Nationals trial and completing the Finals and Nationals results paperwork which must be turned into the ASCA Business Office and the Aussie Times. This person will receive lodging and meals for ten days.

Nationals and Finals Junior Showmanship Chairperson – This person is in charge of the National and Finals Junior Showmanship events and will serve as the Junior Handling Show Secretary. The responsibilities include working with the Conformation Chairman to make sure the equipment needed for the event is procured and workers for the event are lined up and scheduled, working with the Nationals Chairman to contract judges for the Nationals and Finals, and assisting the Conformation Chairperson in the set-up, running and tear-down of the Nationals and Finals events. This person will work closely with the Nationals and Finals Conformation Secretary. This person will also work with ASCA’s Junior Committee to plan other Junior-related events and activities. This person is also responsible for sanctioning the Nationals trial and completing the Finals and Nationals results paperwork which must be turned into the ASCA Business Office and the Aussie Times. This person will receive lodging and meals for seven days.

Nationals and Finals Agility Chairperson – This person is in charge of the National and Finals agility events and serves as the Agility Trial Secretary. The responsibilities include working with the Nationals Chairman to procure the equipment needed for the events, lining up and scheduling workers for the events, working with the Nationals Chairman to contract judges for the Nationals and Finals, working with the pre-show affiliates to enable their success, ensuring that the rings are ready for competition each day, working with the Banquets and Receptions Chairperson to coordinate and host the Finals awards reception, and overseeing the set-up, running and tear-down of the Nationals and Finals events. This person is also responsible for sanctioning the Nationals events and completing the Finals and Nationals results paperwork which must be turned into the ASCA Business Office and the Aussie Times. This person will receive lodging and meals for ten days.

Tracking Chairperson – This person is in charge of the National Tracking Trial and serves as the Tracking Trial Secretary. The responsibilities include securing the site for the trial, working with the Nationals Chairmen to procure the equipment needed for the events, hiring the trial judges and working with the Nationals Chairman to contract them, lining up and scheduling workers for the events, and overseeing the set-up, running and tear-down of the trial. This person will work with the Awards and Rosettes Chairperson to arrange for rosettes and awards. This person is also responsible for sanctioning the Nationals events and completing the results paperwork which must be turned into the ASCA Business Office and the Aussie Times. This person will receive lodging and meals for three days.

Dock Jumping Chairperson – This person is in charge of the Dock Jumping events and serves as the Dock Jumping Trial Secretary. The responsibilities include procuring the equipment needed for the events, lining up and scheduling workers for the events, working with the Nationals Chairman to contract judge(s) for the trial, and overseeing the set-up, running and tear-down of the events. This person will work with the Awards and Rosettes Chairperson to arrange for rosettes and awards. This person is also responsible for sanctioning the events and completing the results paperwork which must be turned into the ASCA Business Office and the Aussie Times. This person will receive lodging and meals for five days.

MVA/MVJ Chairperson – This person is in charge of the tabulation of the MVA/MVJ scores. The responsibilities include working with the Nationals Chairman to procure the equipment needed for the conformation evaluation event and any other equipment needed for tabulating the scores, lining up and scheduling any needed workers, working with the Nationals Chairman to contract the judge for the MVA conformation evaluation, and setting up, running and tearing down of the MVA/MVJ office and the MVA ring. This person is also responsible for completing the results paperwork which must be turned into the ASCA Business Office and the Aussie Times. This person will work closely with the Nationals Chairperson and all competitive event Chairpersons to enable as smooth of an experience as possible for MVA/MVJ competitors. This person will receive lodging and meals for eight days.

Nationals Accounting Chairperson – This person will maintain the ASCA Board-approved budget Google spreadsheet of all financial transactions and will provide a monthly financial report to the ASCA Treasurer. This person will work closely with the Nationals Chairperson to create the budget for the Finals and Nationals events. This person will take entries from the Nationals ledger and place them on the budget spreadsheet to account for actual expenditures and income. This person will work with the Nationals Chairman to ensure all Nationals Financial Policies are adhered to. During Nationals week, this person will assist the Nationals Chairman in the verification of cash and with making deposits. This person will complete a financial report of all Nationals and Finals income and expenditures at the close of the Nationals business. The budget and the final financial accounting will be presented to the ASCA Board of Directors. This person will receive lodging and meals for ten days.

Awards and Rosettes Chairperson – This person is in charge of ordering all rosettes and awards for Nationals competition, as well as the prizes for the Finals competition. This person will bring suggestions to the Nationals Committee for rosette styles and colors and prizes, but final decisions will be made by the Committee as a whole. The Finals Chairpersons will decide what will be given as Finals prizes, but the Awards and Rosettes Chairperson will order the prizes. Responsibilities include unpacking and sorting the rosettes and prizes at the Nationals site and ensuring delivery of the various rosettes and prizes to the various venues in a timely manner. This person must be detail-oriented and be able to communicate effectively with the Nationals team. This person will receive lodging and meals for ten days.

Sponsorship Chairperson – This person is in charge of soliciting sponsorships for the various Nationals and Finals events. This person will solicit sponsorships by utilizing various means of electronic communication, including email, social media, the Nationals website, the AussEnews, etc., so this person needs to be comfortable using the computer and various types of media.

This person will work with Nationals Chairman to set sponsorship levels and will be responsible for promoting and selling the sponsorships. This person will work with the Awards and Rosettes Chairperson to make sure that thank you cards are placed on sponsored awards and will work closely with the ASCA Webmaster to ensure that the website is up-to-date with regards to sponsorships. This person will also work closely with the Catalog Chairperson to ensure that sponsors are recognized in the catalog. At the end of Nationals, this person will place sponsor thank you’s on the Nationals Facebook page. This person will receive lodging and meals for ten days.

Vendors & Stalls Chairperson – This person is in charge of soliciting vendors and taking care of them during the National Specialty. In addition, this person’s responsibilities include laying out the placement of the vendors on site, overseeing the set-up of the vendors on move-in day, overseeing the tear-down of the vendor set-ups on move-out day, and policing the vendors to make sure they are following facility and Nationals policies and rules.

This person will also be in charge assigning stalls and will work closely with the Nationals Entry Clerk to maintain a list of those needing stalls. On move-in day, this person will be ready to assist with any issues that arise pertaining to stalls; on move-out day, this person will be in charge of making sure that stalls are left clean. During the week, this person will be in charge of making sure that facility and Nationals policies and rules are followed in the stalls areas. This person will receive lodging and meals for ten days.

Hotels and Travel Chairperson – This person is in charge of procuring hotel blocks for Nationals, arranging travel and hotel/lodging for judges, and arranging hotel/lodging for Nationals Committee members, ASCA Board members and paid workers. This person will work closely with all competitive event Chairpersons, as well as the Nationals Chairperson, and will maintain a Google spreadsheet with travel and lodging plans. This person will handle hotel and travel issues as they arise during Nationals week and will gather the necessary post-nationals hotel reports and invoices for accounting purposes. This person will receive lodging and meals for ten days.

Banquets/Receptions/Nightly Dinners Chairperson – This person is in charge of arranging the food, beverage, decorations and entertainment for the banquets, nightly dinners and Finals receptions. This person will plan these events and oversee and physically set-up and tear-down these events, with the assistance of the Finals Chairs for the Finals receptions. This person will work closely with the Finals Chairs in planning for the Finals receptions. This person will receive lodging and meals for ten days.

Merchandise Chairperson (may be two people co-chairing) – This person will be in charge of the Nationals merchandise booth. This person’s responsibilities include suggesting merchandise items to be sold at the Nationals merchandise booth, procuring bids for merchandise, ordering all merchandise, setting up the merchandise booth, sorting, displaying and pricing the items for sale, manning the merchandise booth during Nationals week, and sorting and packing any leftover merchandise and breaking down the booth at the end of Nationals. If possible, this person will also take pre-orders and post-orders. This person will receive lodging and meals for ten days.

RV/Camping/Golf Carts Chairperson – This person is in charge of RV sites, camping sites and golf carts. This person’s responsibilities include working closely with the Nationals Chairman, Nationals Entry Clerk and the Nationals Travel Chairperson to keep a list of those needing RV spots, camping spots and golf carts, working with the Nationals Chairman to contract with a golf cart company for the use, delivery and return of the golf carts, working with the Nationals Chairman to assign RV and camping spots, overseeing the placement of RVs and tent campers on move-in day, planning for the delivery of carts on move-in day, overseeing the departure of RVs on move-out day, and planning for the return of golf carts. If issues arise concerning RVs, tent campers or golf carts during the week, this person will be in charge of seeing to these issues. As people continue to arrive during Nationals week, this person will need to take care of these people. This person must have the patience of a saint and know how to give service with a smile, even at the end of a long day! This person will receive lodging and meals for ten days.

Hospitality Chairperson – This person is in charge of procuring and delivering snacks and beverages as needed for workers and judges at the various venues, according to the hospitality schedule set up by the Nationals Chairman. Each day this person will load up the necessary coolers and deliver them to the competition sites before 7:30 A.M. This person will check on those sites at noon to make sure they have what they need as far as snacks and beverages, and then this person will pick up the coolers in the evening and get them ready to go for the next day. This person will have a utility golf cart. This job requires several trips to the store to pick up supplies and reception cakes. This is a physical job! This needs to be someone who can deliver service with a smile. This person will receive lodging and meals for ten days.

Parades Chairperson – This person is in charge of planning, setting up, overseeing and tearing down the Parades event. This person will work with the Nationals Entry Clerk and the Awards and Rosettes Chairperson to procure the write-ups and the necessary rosettes and will work with the Banquets and Receptions Chairperson to coordinate the Parades breakfast. This person will receive lodging and meals for two days.

Decorations & Signage Chairperson – This person is in charge of decorating the judges’ tables, conformation, obedience and rally rings, the Nationals photography set-up, and other areas as budget allows (most of this happens on Monday night). This person will also assist the Banquets and Receptions Chairperson with welcome dinner and Friday banquet décor and set-up. This person will also be in charge of creating a list of all needed signs and banners, ordering the necessary signs and banners, placing the necessary signs and banners on move-in day, and taking down all signs and banners on move-out day. There are some banners and signs which will need to be placed or changed during the week, too. This person will receive lodging and meals for ten days.

Facebook & Slideshows Chairperson – This person will be in charge of creating and maintaining the Nationals Facebook group. In addition, this person will solicit material for and create the We Are ASCA Volunteer slideshow and the 2024 Finals slideshow. This job requires someone who can track and organize information and who has time to respond to questions in a timely manner. This person will receive lodging and meals for two days.

Catalog Chairperson – This person creates the Nationals catalog. This person works closely with the Nationals Entry Clerk to format the entry information for the catalog. This person also gathers the ads for placement in the catalog. This person needs to be computer literate and proficient with publishing software. This person will be expected to work on move-in day, making sure the catalogs are dispersed correctly. This person will receive three days of lodging and meals.

Education/Seminars/Health Clinics Chairperson – This person coordinates and schedules the seminars and clinics for Nationals week. This person makes sure the sites are set-up ready for these events and makes sure that they are cleaned up afterwards. If necessary, this person coordinates workers for these events. This person will receive lodging and meals for eight days.

Nationals Office Manager – This person runs the Nationals office, answering questions, handing out welcome bags, banquet tickets and other items, etc. This person is in the office from 8-5 the first half of Nationals but after that posted office hours can be established. This person must be able to multi-task with a smile on his/her face! This person will receive lodging and meals for ten days.

Welcome Bags/ Juniors Bags/ Judges’ Gifts – This person is in charge of selecting and ordering the welcome and junior bags, soliciting and choosing items to go into the welcome and juniors bags, and organizing the assembly of the welcome and juniors bags. This person is also in charge of selecting and ordering the judges’ gifts. This person will be expected to work on move-in day and the first three days of Nationals, making sure the bags and gifts are assembled and then dispersed correctly. This person will receive four days of lodging and meals.

Local Liaison – This person is willing to run local errands on behalf of the Nationals Committee and receives the various shipments of merchandise, etc. and transports those items to a storage unit. This person will need to live in Grand Island for this Nationals. This person will receive a free stall, free entries and meals since they will not need lodging or travel funds.

Assistant to the Nationals Chairperson – This is not a separate position. The Nationals Chairperson may choose the Assistant(s) to the Nationals Chairperson from the Chairpersons already on the Nationals Committee. This person will assist the Nationals Chairperson by performing whatever duties are delegated by the Nationals Chairperson. They will act as a thought partner for the Nationals Chairperson and help as needed during Nationals week, overseeing the aspects of the Nationals delegated to him/her by the Nationals Chairperson, while still performing the duties outlined in his/her original appointed position.

—
Kalla Jaco
Executive Secretary, Australian Shepherd Club of America
asca.execsec@gmail.com
6091 E. State Hwy 21, Bryan, TX 77808 | (979) 778-1082
Check us out on our Website, Facebook, and YouTube Channel

Attention Agility exhibitors: The current member portal is no longer showing correct ATCH and ACE totals. If you believe you are nearing your ATCH or ACE title, please contact agility@asca.org to verify your correct totals. This will be resolved once the new portal is available for member use. Thank you for your patience.

ASCA Members,

See below for a message from ASCA’s President regarding the ongoing system upgrade.

Fellow ASCA Members,

As promised in my last message on the Enews, I’m sending this history, summary, and update on the system upgrade. I apologize for the length of this message in advance, but details are important in this case, and it is necessary to explain to the membership what has transpired with the system upgrade.

BACKGROUND

The Business Office has been using ASCA’s Data Management System (ADMS) for about two decades. This system was written in 2001 in a software language that Microsoft made obsolete by 2007.

This prompted the ASCA Board of Directors (BOD) to begin discussing moving away from ADMS and this discussion resulted in a formal Request for Proposal (RFP) to identify the functionality of the ADMS in detail, come up with a rationale for rewrite versus update of the existing software, and detailed requirements for future back-office requirements. An ASCA Director completed the RFP, and this was submitted to different development companies.

Between 2014 and 2016, there were changes made to the system, but the project did not deliver the full level of functionality needed to allow ASCA to replace ADMS. The portal that was designed during this initial effort turned out to be missing critical functionality. Therefore, the project with the existing vendor was never completed. Meanwhile, the ASCA systems problems had increased and the legacy ADMS was still running with missing functionality for both the ASCA Business Office and end-users.

Faced with this situation and afraid that the problems with the system would place ASCA in jeopardy, the BOD in 2017 sought assistance from a new software development company, Inventive, to perform a software audit of the existing application. The intent of the audit was to identify the work that had been completed so far in replacing ADMS as well as to document the user (member) functionality implemented in the cloud (AWS) based application. ASCA asked the company to identify the extent of the difference between required functionality and what had been delivered through the previous project and to review the quality of previous work.

Inventive’s documented audit showed that the software had numerous serious issues. These ranged from inadequate functionality to gaps that did not meet the latest standards for security. For example, over the years credit card companies have increasingly pushed merchants not to personally receive credit card data and instead to rely on third-party processing of transactions so the data isn’t on the organization’s servers.

The existing system turned out to be so problematic that it finally made more sense to replace it than to continue to patch problems as they were found. Imagine if you had a 20-year-old computer that seemed expensive when you bought it—no matter how painful it is to buy a new one, no one would doubt all the changes over that period would make it essential.

We were blessed in the process of deciding to take the plunge to upgrade rather than repair with several ASCA members with software development experience and expertise who generously donated their time. We reached an agreement with Inventive on the scope of the work to be done. Inventive had done some smaller-scale work for ASCA in the past so we hoped they would prove more reliable than those relied on in the past.

WHERE WE ARE NOW

In summary, we and Inventive are hard at work bringing ASCA’s computer systems into the modern age so they can provide our members with the level of service, reliability, and efficiency they expect and deserve. The update is a painful process because of the delays and expense involved in moving from a legacy back-office system that runs on a server in the ASCA Business Office as well as a cloud-based, badly written portal with incomplete functionality. The need for these two systems to constantly sync with each other creates additional headaches for data integrity and performance shortfalls.

Having studied the history, I’ve concluded that prior Boards did what they could to address these issues as they arose but may have been hesitant to make the large investment needed to get the system upgraded to meet ASCA’s needs. The repair-not-replace approach, however, only exacerbated the problems. Computers, software, websites, and related support are expensive even under the best of circumstances and these days typically are a major expense for any large organization.

The current Board does not want to kick the can down the road anymore. The existing system slows down the work of the Business Office. Affiliates and members suffer from the resulting delays and errors. We are having to update and rework complex processes that reflect a series of patches over the years rather than being based on modern standards and sustainable functionality. Adding to the complexity are conversion from paper-based processes, security checks, and ensuring that the new systems are based on clear policies and an understanding of what best lets members and staff use the applications efficiently and accurately. These have led to more delays and higher costs.

The current ASCA project team has worked diligently throughout the project to keep costs as low as possible. Some examples include prioritization of critical functions, eliminating processes that were deemed obsolete in a modern world, creating Testing and Production environments in the cloud for ADMS, managing all ad hoc reporting conversions, performing extensive end-user testing, managing cloud-based costs, minimizing unnecessary meetings, and so on. Scope was reduced to only include existing ADMS and portal functionality and the team also added the ability to add new programs, such as Dock Jumping, with no background processing. The ASCA team has clearly communicated from the start that no new programs would be in scope in this initial phase (Warp 1). The staff has been very busy testing the functions as they are coded, and we will keep the membership updated on the progress.

While costs are very large, they likely would be unbearable if not for the graciously volunteered hours that our ASCA member experts have invested in making sure the updates meet our needs and that the vendor meets its obligations.

RECOMMENDATIONS MOVING FORWARD

The ASCA team, in consultation with Inventive, has made these recommendations going forward:

1. All Board-approved ASCA program changes must first be analyzed and documented using the project team’s Program Template, which should be used to obtain a detailed cost estimate for software development. This must be done prior to approval. Note: The Board has enacted a moratorium on new titles and is currently working on a policy that program committees must submit a template to the Business Office and that the Business Office Manager will acquire a quote for all system changes related to new titles prior to motions being sent to the Board.
2. From a financial and accounting perspective, that the ASCA Board and membership will need to know how and why the cost of this project must be capitalized and amortized over five to 10 years. The communications to the ASCA membership need to include this common business practice when discussing the cost of this project. Note: To date, the cost of rebuilding the web platform, including troubleshooting the problems encountered with the system since the project started, has been amortized to approximately $48,113 per year over ten years. The actual cost of Warp 1, retiring the obsolete ADMS system, and finalizing the portal functionality so far has been amortized to approximately $27,600 per year over ten years. ASCA’s Treasurer, Jan Wesen, will continue to update the membership on ASCA’s finances as she always has, and she can more accurately and comprehensively present the numbers than I ever could.
3. The team will present additional long-term recommendations upon completion of Warp 1. These recommendations will address not only the Business Office but also the ASCA BOD’s functions as they pertain to the maintenance of the system.

CONFORMATION SUPREME CHAMPIONSHIP TITLES

ASCA member Maarten Walter—one of those who has given selflessly of his time and expertise throughout the update—also has volunteered to design a process that will allow the Business Office to award these titles before this title’s processes are coded into the new system during Warp 2. It is possible for him to do this because the parameters used in the calculation of this title and its different levels are already being tracked by the system.

Once the new web portal functionality is completed, the BO should be able to award these titles retroactively to all dogs that have so far achieved it as well as to the dogs that achieve it in the future. Recently, the Conformation Committee has shown interest in changing the parameters used for the SCCH and adding “selects”. The Board has requested that the Conformation Committee decide on all the changes and prepare the program template. This template should be sent to ASCA’s Business Manager, Ray Fryar, who will be requesting quotes for all new titles and program changes once Warp 1 is completed.

GIVING CREDIT WHERE IT’S DUE

I want to thank the members of the ASCA system upgrade team, such as Maarten Walter, Maureen Loughney, Ray Fryar, and System Liaison Gina Larson, for the countless hours they have worked and continue to work on this project. The enormity of the service that they have provided ASCA can’t be easily described in words. The system is the heart of the organization, and their work has made it possible for ASCA’s data and processes to be safer and more efficient long into the future.

CONCLUSION

The Board will continue to keep the membership apprised of new developments and project progress. The patience of our members and their willingness to support us through this long and expensive process is greatly appreciated. It’s a painful journey but beats a slow death from continuing to use evermore inadequate decades-old technology.

Sincerely,

ASCA President Liz Busquets

—

Kalla Jaco

Executive Secretary, Australian Shepherd Club of America

asca.execsec@gmail.com

6091 E. State Hwy 21, Bryan, TX 77808 | (979) 778-1082

Check us out on our Website, Facebook, and YouTube Channel

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Friends,
I’m writing today to bring your attention to an award made available from the ASCA Foundation – the Libby Long Memorial Obedience Award.

The award is named for Donna Long and her obedience partner, Libby, an Australian Shepherd. They were frequent ASCA Finals competitors and Donna was an ardent supporter of junior handlers. We lost both Donna and Libby in 2019, but the ASCA Obedience community stepped up to sponsor this award in their honor.

The purpose of the award is to celebrate the accomplishments of our next generation of obedience competitors and encourage junior handlers to participate in ASCA Obedience events. The $500 award is open to all Juniors (between the ages of 9 and 18) in good standing with ASCA who have competed in ASCA Obedience in the past year.

Applicants must provide a record of their obedience participation for each year (June 1- May 31), a completed application form with verification where appropriate, copies of all ASCA obedience title certificates, and a written essay of 500 words. Applications will be accepted from June 1- July 15 each year.

The essay topic for 2022 is: Describe the qualities you want in your ideal obedience dog (personality, temperament, structure, etc.) and explain why they are important to you.

Refer to Chapter 7 in ASCA’s Foundation Policy Book for more information. Let me know if you have any questions.

Sincerely,
Kalla Jaco
ASCA Executive Secretary[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

The office will be closed May 30th, 2022 in observation of Memorial day. The office will open back up 9am cst May 31, 2022.

[vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1654884389429{padding-top: 50px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text]Fellow ASCA Members,
During the Spring Meeting, the ASCA Board of Directors agreed that, due to increases in costs and expenses, ASCA needed to increase most of the fees associated with membership and dog registrations. This is especially true since it had been well over a decade since ASCA had increased any registration fees. The increase will also allow ASCA to keep up with overall increases in costs. Just about everything that the Business Office uses to process all events, from paper and supplies to utilities has increased in the last few years and we must keep up with these increases the best we can. The increases still keep ASCA fees well below those of other registries and the Board of Directors also tried to keep them fair and financially feasible for members, breeders, and competitors.

The ASCA Board of Directors would like ASCA to continue improving customer service, retain good employees, and provide the Business Office with the tools and work environment necessary to operate properly and efficiently. This cannot be accomplished if fees remain at the same level they have been for years. The Board also continues its commitment to modernizing ASCA processes and making it possible for ASCA to remain competitive in a rapidly changing business environment. We hope that the membership understands the rationale for the increases. Below are the increases that will become effective on June 1st, 2022.

Litter Registration
Age Current New
0-6 months $21 / $42 $30 / $60
6-12 months $30 / $60 $40 / $80
12-24 months $55 / $110 $75 / $150
Over 2 years $110 / $220 $150 / $300

Individual Registration
Age Current New
0-1 years $15 / $30 $25 / $50
1-2 years $30 / $60 $50 / $100
Over 2 years $50 / $100 $100 / $200

Registration Fees Reciprocated with Canadian Kennel Club
Age Current New
0-1 year $15 / $30 $25 / $50
1-2 years $30 / $60 $50 / $100
Over 2 years $50 / $100 $100 / $200

QTracker Number
Current New
$10 $20

Annual Service Membership
Current New
$10 $20

Single Lifetime Membership
Current New
$300 $400

Dual Lifetime Membership
Current New
$520 $600

As always, the Board will entertain any questions that members may have about these increases. Thank you.
Sincerely,

Kalla Jaco, ASCA Executive Secretary
On behalf of the ASCA Board of Directors

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