News

We are pleased to announce our first Virtual Video Sanctioned Rally Trials opening June 22 to June 25th, and trial will run from June 27th and July 4th.  Two trials with all classes offered.  Please read the premium carefully for the Virtual Video and COVID related adjustments.  We thank you for expressing your opinions and providing feedback related to virtual trials, we are excited to venture into a new direction and be able to offer virtual trials during these unique unprecedented COVID times.  Please be safe, and have fun with your dogs.
Special thanks to Barb Burgess for taking on trial secretary and special thanks to the Judges Sarah Hughes, Kelly Ladouceur, and Julia Sc for taking on this assignment as this is a first for CARO!
Please be patient with everyone involved while we embrace this new adventure.
Debby DaCosta

**************Attention **************

Attention judges, members, and competitors:

It has come to our attention that someone is contacting members either by email or text requesting gift cards or credit card information. Please do not respond to these requests. Please advise the BOD (boardofdirectors@canadianrallyo.ca) via email if you receive such a request from CARO. Thank you and stay safe!

The board has been monitoring the progression of the COVID-19 virus and would like to send out the following announcement.

Due to our large demographics we recommend you refer to the local guidelines from the health officials since our country has varying degrees of infection.

Hosts will be responsible to determine whether they should continue with an event. We recommend hosts offer competitors the ability to cancel their entries and provide either a refund or a credit toward a future event, however the handling of this situation will be left to the host club. 

Should a host decide to cancel an event due to COVID-19, CARO will offer a credit for your application fees to go against a future trial. No refunds will be offered at this time.

We encourage host clubs to hire a judge locally where possible to avoid travel. Judges are permitted to cancel their judging assignment due to concern over COVID-19 when cancelation is directly related to bans on travel made by their employers.  No one can afford a 14 day quarantine. If you cannot find a local judge then the host will have to consider canceling or postponing the event.

As we move closer to the AGM we will make an announcement on how we intend to proceed. The Board of Directors will make an announcement at a later date. 

To prevent the spread of COVID-19 please consider the following:

Wash your hands often throughout the day. Do not touch your face with your hands. 

Do not ask anyone to hold your dog, leash or collar.

Do not ask people to use your phone to record your run, transfer at a distance using airdrop or some other means. 

If you feel unwell, don’t attend! 

If you have travelled within 14 days please consider not attending.

Have lots of paper towels, soap and hand sanitizer available in the washrooms and around the event.

Apply social distancing protocols to decrease the likelihood of contracting or spreading COVID-19. Social distancing measures include avoiding large gatherings and minimizing close personal contact with individuals. 

World Health Organization Update

As you may have heard, (WHO) has declared COVID-19 virus an international pandemic. Note this announcement applies to the international community as a whole, and different regions around the world may face different levels of threat. 

For ongoing updates and news related to COVID-19, please access the websites below:

The board would like to welcome Sherrie Gourlie, who will be taking on the document management volunteer role.  Sherrie brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to the position.  Thank you for volunteering and welcome to the team!

The election is complete and the new Regional Director for the BC/AB/NWT area is:

The change to Expert Designed Retrieve ONLY in Working will be moved to be effective January 1, 2020.

The board of directors would like to thank the following members for allowing their nominations to stand.  No other nominations were received for the positions, so these are your new board members, starting June 1, 2019.  

There will be an election for the position of Regional Director (AB/BC/Territories).  More information will be provided to voting members in the related region, and results will be announced after the election.

On behalf of the board, I thank you very much for your enthusiasm, and I look forward to working with you over the next two years in the role of past president!                   

                                                                                                      - Sarah-Jane Petti

The board of directors is pleased to bring you an updated Working Level Handbook.  This is the first major update that has been introduced to the Working Levels.  The board would like to thank Debby DaCosta and Marilyn Fraser for their time reviewing and proofreading.

The document may be found on the Publicatin page:  https://canadianrallyo.ca/m/mpage/showpage/Publication

The Board of Directors would like to thank everyone that participated in the first CARO survey!

Additional cues for the down in the Moving Down exercise are scored the same as for all additional cues.

Trial hosts may allow the judge to enter a class they are judging.  The course must be judged by a second qualified CARO judge.  Scores earned in the judge's class will not be for placement ribbons or special awards, but count towards titles being earned. Qualifying scores will receive qualifying ribbons. The class may be run before or at the last reset of the class.  The trial host may decide whether judge's classes runs that result in a new title will receive new title ribbons, if they are available.  The trial host will decide the amount to charge the judge to enter this class.

Clarification to match the information in Appendix J

Page 31 – Exercise #22 – Halt-Side Step Right – Halt

1 to A 2 point deduction shall incur for dogs that do not remain in heel position (parallel to the handler) on the side step.

Effective Immediately: All restrictions regarding ownership of the dog and who may handle the dog in competition have been removed.

The following is for immediate implementation in the Working Level handbook:

Barrel Racing (all levels):

The following is for immediate implementation:

Addition:  Upon completion of an exercise, whether successful or not, the owner may choose to briefly pet or touch the dog as a reward.  If the owner touches the dog mid exercise (for example, after the dog completes one cone in Round the Clock), the judge shall  tell the competitor to “move on” to the next attempt at the exercise or to the next exercise after the second attempt, or in Expert.

Physical praise is allowed as the teams move between exercises, for example, in the form of hand targeting.

Touching the dog to put it into a position (Sit, Down, Stand), or guiding the dog between exercises by the collar is considered to be a physical correction and will result in an NQ. This will result in the loss of all Passes already accumulated in the round.

Thanks very much to Tanya for acting as our election committee and doing a great job of monitoring the election.

Thanks to the hard work of the board of directors and other volunteers, a new Master General Handbook is available for all competitors.  Previously announced changes will continue to be in effect, with other changes, particularly in the Versatility levels come into effect April 1, 2018.

The new publication is located: https://canadianrallyo.ca/m/mpage/showpage/Publication  

Working level will no longer have any pre-requisites.

Effective immediately the judging requirement for judging Novice, Advanced, and Excellent Team has changed to:

A minimum of 10 teams in a minimum of 2 rounds of any combination of Novice, Advanced and Excellent.

Please note the additional clarification within the rule changes to Sign 43:

The team comes to a halt and the dog sits in heel position at the Station sign.

The 5’ line  should be indicated by markers on either side of the path of travel so that it does not interfere with the handler or It may be tape or other markers.

There is currently an upload issue so the publication for Sign 43 in the publications has not been updated to include the 2 items listed. 

As per the July motion that was passed by the board: Versatility Excellent C stream qualifying scores now count towards Gold and Master Supreme titles.

EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY:

It will no longer be required for a handler/dog pair to achieve their individual title before entering the team ring at any level.  The rule still stands that the team rounds may not be entered concurrently.  

For example: a handler/dog pair achieve their Novice Team title, they can now go directly into Advanced Team without first achieving their individual Advanced title.  

A handler/dog pair may not enter both Novice Team and Advanced Team at the same trial in hopes that they will acheive their Novice Team title.  The CNT must be achieved prior to entering Advanced, and so forth.

Halt Call Front While Running:

FEO runs are offered at the discretion of the hosting club.  CARO does not collect fees for these runs, and the judge is not required to score the runs.  The club may charge whatever fee they wish.  Clubs may determine the rules for their FEO runs, with the exceptions that: dogs must have a Novice title in order to run off leash in the ring and all dogs must enter and exit the ring on leash and under control.

There are only two ways to apply for a trial date:

Complete the form manually and mail to the Trial Approver with the appropriate payment.
 
Complete the online application form and submit payment through PayPal.

Any applications received in any other manner will be returned (for example - submitting an application manually and paying separately through PayPal).

There has been one reported incident of a dog biting a judge. Effective immediately the following rules comes into effect.

The safety of our judges is paramount and to that end, effective immediately, judges have the right to refuse to examine a dog if the judge feels uncomfortable doing the examination.

A new form has been uploaded to the web site which MUST be completed and sent with the trial results to the CARO office whether or not any incident has occured at a trial. Trial secretaries will be advised of the form.

Effective immediately the rules for Shadow Judging for the Versatility levels are changed to:

Must shadow judge under an approved CARO judge for four (4) courses from the Versatility and/or Versatility Excellent and/or Versatility Team to a total of 10 dogs.

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Allotted time for Novice is 5 minutes all other levels have 4 minutes.

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