Running Out of Daylight at a Hunting Beagle Elimination Event and Other Beagle News

Full Circle

January 23, 2017

Source: Allen Gingerich

Dog Struck in When Clock is Running/Stop the Clock

Q: Dogs A, B and C are struck in on a track. Dog D is not struck in. The track is really not going anywhere, and the judge starts the three-minute clock on the dogs for not making forward progress. Ninety seconds goes by when Dog D opens three times, on the same track, and is declared struck by his handler. What do you do?

A: When Dog D is declared struck in, you take the clock off all dogs on that track. Here is the logic to that answer. Imagine that Dogs A, B and C had the clock running on them for 2:45 when Dog D was struck in. Is it fair to keep the time running and allow Dog D only 15 seconds to show reasonable forward progress? Most will agree it isnt. The rules allow a dog three minutes to show reasonable forward progress before they are minused. That in mind; stop the clock on all dogs so that every dog, that is struck in, had a whole three minutes to make forward progress.

Coin Flip and All-Star Category Points

Q: Last weekend my dog Max was in the Registered Winners Pack where he tied with another dog for 1st Place. Due to an unbreakable tie, after going through all the tie-breakers, we had to resort to a coin flip to name the winner. I got lucky and won the coin flip giving my dog the overall win. However, the Master of Hounds would not award my hound with the five extra All-Star points because the win was the result of a coin flip. This is the first Ive heard of any such rule and cant seem to find it anywhere. Please advise.

A: The Master of Hounds was correct. The All-Star Series Rules can be found on the UKC website and were also published in last months edition of the American Beagler. Refer to page 33 of those rules as follows:

All-Star Points Awarded
Cast win = 10 points (Must have total score of plus points).
Category win = 5 points (A minimum of nine entries are required in the category).
Note: In the event of a coin flip to determine 1st Place, category points will not be awarded.
That same issue includes rules for the 2017 National All-Star Series Chase as well as the Performance Pack State Race rules for 2017. Check it out. You can also go on the UKC website and print off any one of these items.

Online Points Checks

Q: Ive seen where UKC announced that we can now go online to check championship points on our dogs. I tried that the other day, but I dont have an email address to receive the information. Is there any other way to get that information?

A: Yes, that is a very cool feature and a quick way to check your dogs championship points. In order to use the online feature, you would need an email address for the information to be sent to. Theres no way around it. However, theres still the traditional process available of calling the UKC office and asking for a points check.
Here are some interesting notables as they relate to this new online feature. In the first hour alone, after UKC made the announcement, we had 186 online applications for points checks. Considering the average time of two minutes that it generally requires for a customer service representative to look up and give that information to the customer over the phone, that equates to a little over six man-hours. Thats huge!

The application is quite simple, even for tech challenged folks. There are six fields that need to be completed. 1) Owner name. 2) Dog Name. 3) Event type. This would be for Hunting Beagle Hunt, Performance Pack Hunt, or Beagle Bench Show. 4) The dogs UKC number. 5) Your email address. 6) Confirm your email address again.

The three most important items that require absolute accuracy are numbers 4, 5 and 6. Misspelled dog and owner names do not result in the process getting kicked back. Try it with your dogs information. If you get no response within ten minutes, its likely that your dogs number is not correct or the email address you provided is not accurate. Or it could also be that your email recognizes the results as junk mail so be sure to check your Junk, Spam or Clutter folders.

Running Out of Daylight at a Hunting Beagle Elimination Event

Q: The Red Oak Beagle Club recently held its annual two-day Winter Classic, scheduled as an Elimination event. Several days before the event, a club officer called to discuss their concerns of possibly running out of daylight hours should they get more entries then what they might be able to get completed on each day. What should a club do if they run out of daylight, in such a case?

A: An optimistic theory suggests that too many entries is a good problem to have; however, when it comes to Elimination events it can become a major problem. In the case of a one-day event, finishing the hunt the following day would be an option, and likely the only option. Whats not an option is to run the event as a regular event, due to concerns based on having more entries than anticipated, when it was already advertised as an Elimination Style event. The decision to finish a one-day event hunt on the following day may be done so without any further approval from UKC.

However, whenever this involves a two-day day event, it presents a much bigger issue. Holding your second day participants until youve finished up the previous days hunt would not be good and only adds to the problem. Finishing a hunt on a Monday morning is certainly not a good option. Unfortunately, theres simply no easy solution and no good answer for it.

For this reason, UKC would suggest that clubs seriously consider these possibilities when it comes to scheduling events Elimination style. Especially, two-day events where they might expect a turnout that might create this issue as there is simply no good last minute resolutions to accommodate an entry that cannot be completed on the same day. Clubs are reminded to only schedule Hunting Beagle events as an Elimination Event if there are no concerns with being able to finish the hunt on that same day. If there are any concerns, then its probably a good decision to play it safe and schedule as a regular event. Fortunately, for the Red Oak Beagle Club, it all worked out fine this time.

Master of Hounds/Hunt Director Must Measure Any Appealed Measurement

Q: At our last Field Trial, we had a dog measured out by the individual designated by the club to measure all dogs that morning. The owner appealed the measurement and requested the Master of Hounds measure the dog. Instead of measuring the hound himself, the Master of Hounds appointed another club member to measure the dog, who then measured the dog in. This created a lot of discussion as to whether it was even an option for the Master of Hounds to assign another individual to measure the hound instead of doing it himself. Please advise.

A: The rules state that, {the registrant or handler of a hound that is measured over 15 inches by one of the entry takers, may appeal to have their hound measured by the Master of Hounds/Hunt Director or Bench Show Judge.} The terminology by the Master of Hounds answers the question quite plainly. Any measurement that is appealed should be measured by the event official. The official should not designate anyone else to measure the dog. If the event is being run under a Hunt Director format, then it would be the Hunt Directors responsibility to measure the hound. As for part in the rule that includes the Bench Show Judge measuring the dog, that only applies to a dog that was measured for the show and who did not enter the hunt.