News

We are pleased to announce our first Virtual Video Sanctioned Rally Trials exceeded expectations. The board is currently reviewing and is in the final stages of planning. Once this is sorted, we will be accepting Judge requests for the trial, and once judges have been selected and the premium completed we will share it with everyone. 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 patient with everyone involved while we embrace this new adventure.

Thanks very much to Maggie Bird for acting as our election committee and doing a great job!

The board of directors would like to thank Barb Burgess for allowing her nominations to stand.  No other nominations were received for the treasurer positions, so Barb Burgess will continue for the next term.

On behalf of the board, we thank you very much for your enthusiasm, and we look forward to working with you over the next term!                   

The following rule changes are effective immediately:

• Right side heeling is no longer acceptable except as required in the Versatility levels. The exception is if this is required to mitigate a disability, in which case, a request for modification must be submitted
• Teams may enter Advanced C immediately after completing the Advanced Title. An excellent title is no longer required to compete in Advanced C Stream.
• A sit that occurs during slow, or 270 and 360 degree turn signs will be scored as an NQ

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

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!

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.

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.