RAC Meeting

The Retriever Advisory Committee Meeting

Friday, June 17th at 2:08 pm – Douglas County Fairgrounds

 

John Russell – Central Zone

Russ Reavis – AKC

Larry Morgan – Mountain Zone

Missy Bell – Western Zone

• Julie Cole retired from the committee after 8 years of service. A Big Thanks was given to Julie Cole for her service!

• Next, a New Rule was proposed to give exclusive dates to the Nationals, so that no other club could hold a trial while a National is underway.  

          - Out of 142 Clubs, 128 responses were received
          - 117 positive responses for the New Rule

This new rule will keep clubs from competing with a National Event. The focus is for excellence in competition, and competing against a National for championship points.

**Current club(s) with a date range coinciding with National Events will need to change it. Any stake that awards championship points will not be permitted. However, a Derby/Qualifying will be allowed.

• Missy Bell: Boom gun will have same rules and age restrictions as a popper gun. It was suggested that one could implement a 6" PVC over cartridges to prevent burns.
• John Russell: COVID exemption is done – Judges are required to take birds from handlers, and hang birds, to avoid dogs getting into the bucket.

– Discussion ensued that dropping the birds in a bucket allows the Judge to keep their eye on the dog.

– And conversely that Judges taking the birds, allows for the Judge to inspect the birds that are retrieved.

– Discussion came up about clubs starting the Amateur on Friday. Some clubs have a rule regarding moving to Friday start if there are over 65 entries. Different circumstances may force a Friday start.

– Question Asked: No dog can run 1st in any two Series. Does this apply to the Derby? Answer: No this does not apply to the Derby unless the Derby uses a rotation.

• New Rule book - larger print and a much better index is now available. Revision date of April 2022.

• Marking in very windy conditions can cause a pop - use your wisdom to make your decisions. "Not all pops are created equal!"

• Judges Qualifications: When a club sends in the Judges panel, the AKC is responsible to check the judge's qualifications through the Performance Event's Office.

What Clubs Around the Country should do to try to Encourage New Field Trial People:

1. Growing number of people are coming in through Hunting Tests
2. More Training days
3. Training groups need to be more inclusive to get new people
4. Picnic trials
5. Get local hunt clubs that want to run a Field Trial
6. Drop the entry fee a little for the Qualifying Stake to get more people in.
7. Hold the Qualifying Stakes on the weekend so that working people can come and enjoy them also.
8. Tap outside our normal circles of people
9. Reducing the entry fee for the qualifying
   

Meeting Adjourned at 2:55 pm.