Revoking Judging Privileges; Other Beagle News

Full Circle

July 10, 2018

Source: Roy Swafford

LAELAPS Tracking System Must be in Competition Mode for Use in UKC Field Trials

Q: Theres a new GPS tracking system on the market called LAELAPS. Their collars do not have the stimulation feature, but they do have a tone feature. What stipulations, if any, are in place for their use in UKC Field Trials?

A: UKCs Allen Gingerich has been testing the LAELAPS system for several months, and has acquired a good insight on them. Hes also worked directly with their team to make sure they meet requirements for use in UKC licensed events. LAELAPS systems may be best compared to the Dogtra Pathfinder; most specifically, in the way they operate. The LAELAPS systems use GPS, Radio and Bluetooth to track dogs from a users smart phone. The dogs location is transmitted via Radio signal to a gateway gadget carried by the user. The gateway connects to your phone via Bluetooth which eliminates the need for cell phone service.

The LAELAPS system is not capable of stimulating a dog. However, it does have a tone feature on all its collars. In other words, they do not offer a collar with tracking-only capabilities as several of the other systems on the market do. Toning is considered as a controlling feature in the same manner as stimulating would be, and may not be used during a trial. Toning is almost a bigger issue than stimulating is because, technically, stimulating controls the dog wearing the collar only, as compared to toning that gives off a sound that may affect a tone-broke dog that happens to be near the dog wearing the collar. In other words, if your dog reacts to tone but mine doesnt, I might easily tone yours in to you, if your dog happens to be close enough to mine and hears the tone.

For this reason, LAELAPS has designed a Competition Mode feature on your cell phone. When you enable this feature, the system is not capable of toning. When the Competition Mode is turned on, it will be on for a period of ten hours and cannot be turned off until that time period expires. While in Competition Mode, a signal appears on your phone that shows it to be in Competition Mode as well as the time remaining in that ten hours of being in that mode. Once expired, it automatically comes back on again.

So, the LAELAPS system may be used during a UKC Licensed Field Trial so long as the system is in Competition Mode and shown as such on their phone. If theres any question, the user can easily show it to be in this permissible use mode including how much time remains before it expires.

Distance on/off Line

Q: Recently, I was on a cast and all the cast members got into a discussion on how close dog must be to a line to be scored Speed and Drive points. Everyones opinion differed on this subject. Some people said they want to see the dogs right on the track, and others said three or four feet was close enough. How close do the dogs have to be to the line to be scored on Speed and Drive?

A: You will never get me to give a foot measurement when scoring a line. What should be considered is the way track is being ran. On good scenting days, you may have dogs three feet off lined up pushing through hard and never miss a beat. Do we say not score this pack? I would sure hope not! Or there is six-inch round tree there and three dogs on one side and one on the other, and you say the one misses. Really? I always ask if we saw the tree off does he score? If that answer is yes, then that tree means absolutely nothing.

On tough days, you got dogs walking a line out, then that three feet would be to far and usually is evident as the dog comes out he stands looks down the path instead of exhibiting signs of knowing that rabbit came through the area. Too many times we look to take an advantage in the cast by saying a dog is too far off then using a very simple thing called the common sense thing of just scoring dogs what they EARNED.

Key points to Rule 10 (c) under Speed and Drive, is the words; it must be obvious the dog is NOT trailing in order to deny the dog Speed and Drive points. Each line may be different, but a good judge will score fair and consistent all day. Also voting casting members will vote as to what is right and not what benefits there dog the most. When these practices are followed this format is a very easy thing.

Revoking Judging Privileges

Every now and again, we receive phone calls where a participant contacts the UKC office to discuss a ruling that was made on a cast they participated in. Many of these questions come from inexperienced handlers who accepted the ruling, thinking it must have been the right call; however, they may have had reservations about it. In some cases, it becomes evident that a judge, in most cases hunting judges, may have used a participants inexperience or lack of knowledge of the rules to gain an advantage for themselves or others in the cast. Were talking about knowingly taking outright advantage of such a situation.

As most are well aware, whenever theres a disagreement in the field regarding a ruling that is made, or not made, then UKC rules require a handler to follow the proper procedures to question the call at the time it happened in order to resolve the issue. Sometimes an inexperienced or unknowledgeable cast member may not be aware, or that there are procedures that must take place to resolve any questions or disagreements. Some hunters take the position that it is the responsibility of the participant to know the rules. UKC doesnt disagree with that theory, for the most part. We certainly encourage all participants to educate themselves, which in turn will allow most situations to be resolved without someone outright being taken advantage of. It is disheartening to have to tell an individual that they took the shaft and theres nothing UKC can do about it due to procedures not having been followed to correct the matter.

The Disciplinary Action Committee has agreed and authorized for the Field Operations Department to take action against individuals found to have blatantly cheated a cast member or abused their authority. Of course, these matters will be considered on a case-by-case basis. If it is determined that such an incident occurred, then the individual may be placed on probation and not allowed to judge a cast for at least a period of time. Of course, they will be notified of such by mail. In addition, their name will be published on a Judging Privileges Revoked list published in the American Beagler, right next to this monthly column.

This policy does not mean that an individual should simply accept the ruling and not follow proper procedures, and instead simply advise UKC of their situation. When a participant is asked to judge, they should first be knowledgeable of the rules. Otherwise, they should not accept the position. If the recommended method to assign judges is used, as outlined in the rulebook under Master of Hounds/Hunt Director (Drawing Casts and Judges), then there should never be an issue in assigning qualified and honest judges.

Along these same lines, we strongly encourage all participants to educate themselves on the rules and procedures. A good judge will always try to avoid letting an inexperienced or unknowledgeable cast member fall into an unfortunate situation. Of course, UKC agrees it is never a good idea to bend the rules or anything of that nature to help a newcomer. Rules are rules and are intended to be applied as written for the most experienced participants all the way down to any first timers. Sure, newcomers will learn a lot of things through experience and will learn many things the hard way, as most of us have, but they are never a good excuse for a judge to abuse their authority and take advantage of them. Explain and help the inexperienced understand the rules whenever necessary. It will help to keep them in the sport rather than chase them away before they ever get started.