ASFA Operational Policies

The Board has interpreted the term "policies" to mean enforceable items.

The ASFA logo shall not be used for any commercial venture without prior approval of the Board of Directors.

All regular Board meetings shall be open to silent observers subject to physical limits.

The ASFA reaffirms the right of all ASFA sanctioned clubs to hold lure coursing trials, wherein only artificial lures are used. The ASFA also supports the right of sighthound owners to engage in the sport of lure coursing with their hounds without interference from those in disagreement with this sport.

No club or individual may have their ASFA privileges suspended, except through the procedures outlined in Article IX of the ASFA Constitution.

(For the purpose of this policy, suspension or revocation of a Judge's license for cause is not regarded as a suspension of ASFA privileges and should be handled as provided for in Chapter 11, Section 12 of the Running Rules.) In such cases where the Board believes that there is good evidence that an individual or club has engaged in misconduct prejudicial to the best interests of the ASFA or any or all breeds of sighthounds and no club or individual has filed charges, they [the Board] shall vote to entertain jurisdiction of the matter and instruct the Corresponding Secretary to prepare written charges with specification of the alleged misconduct, along with evidence of such misconduct. Such charges shall then be distributed to the Board as specified in Article IX, Section 1 and shall be handled as required in that article once the Board has voted to entertain jurisdiction.

ASFA affiliate or member clubs may use the ASFA logo in connection with any non-commercial activity of the club.

The Bowen Point System is outlined in ASFA form REC-24.

Provided all requirements have been met, the Board empowers the Records Coordinator to reinstate a hound disqualified from competition one time; a second request to reinstate the same hound must be referred to the Board for action.

The certification required by Chapter VIII Section 7, Paragraph (b) to reinstate a disqualified hound may be signed by one Judge based on judging one re-qualification course and then by the second Judge on a different occasion based on judging another re-qualification course.

Club fines will be paid with Club checks to ensure that the Club membership is aware of the fines.

All records must be received complete by the Records Coordinator within the limits for filing or a penalty fee will automatically be assessed.

The maximum fine levied is 50% of the total per capita collected.

Any club with fines outstanding more than 60 days shall be declared "a club not in good standing with the ASFA" and shall be excluded from participating in ASFA activities from date of notification of outstanding fines up to and including 90 days after payment of the fine. Where a trial has been approved prior to the date of exclusion, the records will be recorded if the fines are received by the ASFA Treasurer at the time the trial results are received by the Records Coordinator.

The Records Coordinator shall impose and collect a fine for each late submission of trial records within a twelve-month calendar year. The first violation shall be $5 per day; each subsequent violation shall be $10 per day during that same calendar year.

Field trial per capita fees, including regular and Regional and International Invitational (II), if applicable, may be adjusted periodically to reflect current economic realities. Current fees will be posted on the ASFA website.

Upon request, one copy of free forms will be mailed to a club or individual per year and one "promotional packet" will be mailed to a club or organization per year. The Forms Committee is empowered to make exceptions to this policy upon request from the Regional Director and as it deems appropriate.

Gillette Stake. See policy sheet: Form INV 01.

International Invitational. See policy sheet: Form INV 03.

Regional Invitationals. See policy sheet: Form RD 03.

The Board shall, from time to time, adjust the judges licensing fee as deemed necessary. The fee currently stands at $30.

Each Judge needs to be aware of and be familiar with the most current Running Rules and Field Procedures for Lure Field Trials, Policies and Procedures before accepting a judging assignment.

The ASFA Board of Directors considers it inappropriate for a Judge to copy any information from a record sheet relative to his/her assignment prior to completion of that assignment.

CKC licensed Judges residing in Canada are recognized to judge at ASFA sanctioned events. Judges residing in the U.S. must have a current ASFA license to judge at ASFA sanctioned events. CKC Judges must be licensed for any breed they judge for the ASFA. However, all-breed CKC Judges shall be considered all-breed ASFA Judges for ASFA purposes.

CKC licensed Judges residing in Canada are recognized to judge at ASFA certification courses. Judges residing in the U.S. must have a current ASFA license to judge certification courses.

A Judge's file will be open to that Judge.

Judges are licensed when the Judges Licensing Chairperson considers them licensed.

A Judge must be fully licensed for at least one breed in order to judge a certification run.

AKC licensed Judges who, in the opinion of the Judges Licensing Chairperson, meet the general requirements found in Chapter XI, Section 1, may move directly to Provisional status provided they pass the ASFA written test. AKC Judges who don't meet these requirements must complete the entire program of ASFA apprenticeship and licensing.

Electronic confirmation of judging assignments is as valid and binding as hard copy confirmation of judging assignments.

Except for arithmetical or blanket color errors, a Judge may not change scores based on videotaped replays of courses.

Any Judge who misses an assignment is required to send a letter of explanation to the Chairperson of the Judges Licensing Committee within two weeks of the date of the missed trial.

A Judge shall have the prerogative to decline to judge a certification run.

AKC licensed Judges who are currently in ASFA Provisional Status may use an AKC assignment, when judging with a fully licensed ASFA judge, where breed entries met the entry requirements to count towards that breeds license approval. The Provisional judge will be required to provide a signed AMERICAN SIGHTHOUND FIELD ASSOCIATION JUDGING CONFIRMATION STATEMENT from the licensed judge and documentation supporting their assignment, and number of hounds in that breed judged on that day.

In addition to Article II, Section 1 and Appendix, requirements for membership status are as follows: 1) affiliated with the ASFA for a minimum of 2 years (24 months); and 2) ten households, 15 individual members.

Clubs in the applied status must renew dues as any member/affiliate.

Applicant Clubs will be assigned to an ASFA region based on the region of residence of the majority of the membership. This designation will not change unless specifically requested by the Club. Any such request for changes will be evaluated by the Board on a case-by-case basis.

Applying for ASFA Accelerated Affiliation (i.e. "Fast Track" program): See form MEM 14.

In order to be considered for affiliate status, any Club must: 1) have a minimum entry of 12 hounds at each fun trial, and 2) hold at least one all-breed trial (even if the Club is a specialty club).

All Clubs are to hold two sanctioned "Fun Trials," except for clubs applying for Fast Track status. After receiving confirmation that all preliminary requirements have been met, the Club will apply to the ASFA Scheduling Chairperson for each Fun Trial date. Both dates can be obtained at the same time, but there must be a minimum of 30 days between trials. The maximum time allowed between the last Fun Trial and the date of the original application for affiliation cannot exceed one year. (This means that all qualifying Fun Trials must take place within a year of the date the Club first applies for affiliation.) If a third Fun Trial is requested, it must be completed within 6 months of the request.

When a Field Representative is evaluating a trial and is aware of rule infractions, he/she shall advise the Field Chairman of the irregularity and show written documentation of the rule or policy in question. If no corrective action is taken, the Field Representative may file a protest, following all procedures of Chapter 9, including appeal of the Field Committee's ruling, if appropriate.

The Board recommends that when ruling on a protest, the Field Committee shall be a minimum of five people. Those people shall be, but not limited to, those listed in the premium list and those actually fulfilling assignments during the incident in question, whenever possible.

The Field Committee will decide on the day of the trial if they want to view a videotape when ruling on a protest.

The Corresponding Secretary shall assess a $10.00 fine against a club for late receipt of protests.

Clubs should make a photocopy of any protest filed at a trial and mail the copy to the Corresponding Secretary. The original protest must be retained by the Club.

A hound must be individually registered, and proof of ownership submitted with the hound's first ASFA field trial entry.

When the Records Coordinator receives an entry with an unacceptable registration number, the Records Coordinator will advise the owner that points, placements and titles earned will be held in abeyance for a maximum of 90 days. During that pending period, the hound will be listed as "pending." If the owner submits an acceptable registration number to the Records Coordinator within the time allowed, the hound will be credited with points, placements and/or titles earned in the interim. If the owner fails to notify the Records Coordinator of a hound's acceptable registration number within the 90-day pending period, all points, placements and/or titles earned during that period will be void. There will be no effect on other hounds' points and placements if a correction is not made or if the entry is disallowed.

AKC recognized foreign registry has been interpreted to include those registries appearing in the primary or secondary AKC listing.

Clubs may include a stamped, self-addressed postcard to the Records Coordinator if they would like notification that records were received.

When an ineligible hound receives a placement, all other placements will stand.

A hound disqualified at an ASFA trial must be reinstated according to ASFA policy.

A disqualified hound is not eligible to compete in regular ASFA stakes until written or email notification from the ASFA has been received by the owner.

Any hound entered in the Open or Veteran Stake which does not meet certification requirements shall be declared ineligible by the Records Coordinator and no placements or points for that hound shall be recorded.

If a hound competes in a stake for which it is ineligible and is dismissed or disqualified, the dismissal or disqualification counts and shall be entered in the hound's record.

All forms submitted to the ASFA must be official ASFA forms; a computer-generated form must be identical in substance and format to the official form.

As soon as a dog earns its title according to the Records Coordinator, the title certificate will be mailed to the owner.

Policy on Field Trial Records Errors Correction.

Each year the Records Coordinator will prepare an all-time Top Twenty by breed to be published on the ASFA website.

The Records Coordinator shall ask for proof of ownership change as and when deemed necessary.

A dismissal at a Fun Trial does not count against a hound as an official dismissal.

If there is a judge change after a premium list has been published, there must be a note to that effect included with the records sent to the ASFA Records Coordinator.

Regional Director. See policy sheet: Form RD 04.

Regional Director: Guidelines for Completion of Trial Evaluation: See policy sheet: Form RD 05.

Throughout the ASFA Running Rules and Field Procedures for Lure Field Trials, the ASFA Constitution & By-laws and all publications, guidelines, and policies circulated by the ASFA, it shall be understood that all reference is to the ASFA unless another organization is specifically noted.

Whenever the ASFA logo is used, it must display the registered trademark symbol.

The "official" version of the ASFA Policies shall be the version on the ASFA website. That "official" version shall be watermarked with the ASFA logo and the word "official."

Clubs may not sell ASFA materials for more than the highest retail price charged by the ASFA, except with the permission of the Board.

List of Approved Foreign Registries. See policy sheet: Form SEC-10.

The "official" version of the ASFA Running Rules shall be the version on the ASFA website. That "official" version shall be watermarked with the ASFA logo and the word "Official."

The acronym ASFA, when used for the American Sighthound Field Association, shall not be used for any commercial venture without prior approval of the Board of Directors. Only ASFA events specifically designated as hosted by the ASFA (i.e., the ACoD, the Regional and International Invitationals, the approved National Specialties) may include the ASFA acronym as part of the title of the event.

If Best in Field does not follow standard procedure, the information regarding this stake shall be published in a flyer separate from the body of the premium list and results of this stake shall not be published in any official form of the field trial results.

The host club shall not hold an event sanctioned by any other non-ASFA organization during the hours published for the ASFA trial.

Clubs that fail to submit a final premium list to the Scheduling Chairman will be notified that failure to comply with the rule may lead to a delay in publication of trial results.

The Scheduling Chairman may, upon approval of the President, withhold future trial approval from a Club that has substantially altered an approved [sample] premium list until the Board can review and act on the issue. This will not affect the premium list and trial that is in question.

ASFA has no jurisdiction over items in flyers mailed with premium lists.

The 150-mile separation policy applies to sanctioned all-breed trials and specialty event trials of the same breeds. One club cannot hold more than one trial on the same day within a 150-mile radius.

All breed clubs may exclude a breed from their all-breed trial if, and only if, the club also holds a specialty trial for that breed on the same day at the same site, either concurrently or consecutively.

ASFA shall adopt the AKC corresponding date table for determining priority dates.

Moved to O-MEM05 (03/14).

In the event of a canceled trial, written substantiation detailing the reasons of cancellation should be forwarded within 14 days to the Scheduling Chairperson, who shall report on the canceled trials at each Board meeting.

If a Club alters a premium list after the Scheduling Chairperson approves it, the Corresponding Secretary shall be notified and shall send a letter of admonishment to the club, warning of Board action for future offenses.

The Scheduling Chairperson will not approve premium lists that state that the course plan is "Not to Scale."

The Scheduling Chairperson may approve a National Breed Club Specialty trial over two days.

Clubs will be fined $5 per day for late submission of premium lists to the Scheduling Chairperson with the total fine not to exceed $50. Fines must be paid with a club check and the check must be received by the Scheduling Chairperson before the premium list can be approved.

Moved to O-MEM06 (03/14).

Both qualifying Fun Trial dates can be granted at one time provided all forms are on file and the Membership Chairperson has notified Scheduling and provided that there is a minimum of one (1) month between trials.

Priority date and date schedule requests may be submitted to the Scheduling Chairperson by electronic mail.

The Scheduling Chairperson will use whatever method seems most reasonable (e.g., straight line distances or mapping programs) to determine the 150-mile separation between trials.

A National Specialty must be requested by a parent breed Club that is an affiliate/member Club of the ASFA; such parent breed Club that is an affiliate/member Club of the ASFA may designate another Club to host the National Specialty. In the event that there is no parent Club for a breed in the ASFA, any ASFA Club may request to hold a National Specialty for that breed. However, in such a case explicit approval must be granted by the ASFA Board.

Titles which waive Hound Certification Requirements: see policy sheet: Form SEC 08.

A hound with both the ASFA Field Champion and AKC Obedience Trial Champion (OTCh) titles is eligible for the ASFA Dual Champion certificate.

The honorary titles of Foundation Coursing Champion and Foundation Coursing Champion of Merit shall appear at the beginning of the hound's name. This applies only to the Azawakh, Sloughi, and Italian Greyhound breeds for titles earned prior to 05/01/2000.

In order for a hound to receive a Top Twenty plaque, it must satisfy at least one of the following three criteria: a) has competed in at least six trials; or b) has faced competition, or c) has won Best in Field.

Grounds, whether public or private, used for a sanctioned lure field trial must allow entry to any eligible hound or person.

One person cannot be both Field Chairman and Field Secretary at a trial.

Space will be provided on the field trial entry form for an owner to include an e-mail address. Providing this information shall be optional.

The Field Clerk's name shall be indicated on each record sheet, but the Field Clerk's signature is not required.

A Field Trial Secretary shall refuse any entry for the Open or Veteran Stake marked "First Time Entered" if it is not accompanied by a Hound Certification unless the hound has a title which waives this requirement.

A hound entered in the Veterans Stake as a first-time entry in an ASFA trial in other than the Singles Stake shall be required to submit a Hound Certification with the entry.

Hounds entered in a Fun Trial must be certified unless running in the Singles Stake.

No hound less than 11 months old may be run in a certification course.

A hound that is not one year of age at the close of the entry, but will be no less than one year of age on the trial date, may be entered without the entry being considered conditional on the basis of age.

The Canadian Kennel Club (CKC) Hound Certification form is an acceptable waiver of requirement on the ASFA Hound Certification form. The completed CKC form must be submitted with the hound's first ASFA entry.

The American Kennel Club (AKC) Qualified Courser (QC) certification is an acceptable title waiver of certification requirement for a hound's first entry in an ASFA field trial. A copy of the completed AKC form must be submitted with the hound's first ASFA entry.

Upon request from an individual whose entries have been refused, the Corresponding Secretary will notify the Club filing "good and sufficient" reasons that they have 10 days to withdraw or alter the statements prior to the statements being sent by registered mail (addressee only) to the affected individual.

When a Club refuses an entry, the reason should not apply to events that transpired more than 12 months prior to the refusal. Uncollected, documented debts will not be affected; outstanding debts of any duration will be considered sufficient grounds for a Field Trial Secretary to refuse an entry.

Mixing of stakes and/or flights is established before preliminaries are run and cannot be changed for finals.

When two Judges are used, they shall be designated on the record sheet as Judge 1 and Judge 2, alphabetically by last name.

An Inspection Committee member who is an entrant may be allowed to determine whether his/her competitors' hounds are lame or in season at the discretion of the Field Committee.

Hounds with fewer than four legs are considered lame and, therefore, unfit to compete.

Each Field Champion to be measured must be individually identified.

Protective covering is interpreted to include body suits, snoods and/or leggings as long as the covering does not endanger the hound or distract other hounds in the course.

Whippet measurement (height and bite). See policy sheet: Form SEC 07.

A hound which has been measured out by an AKC recognized club will not be considered automatically measured out at ASFA trials.

All ASFA recognized breeds and all hounds of breeds eligible for entry in the Limited Stake are eligible to enter the Singles Stake.

Roll call ends at the beginning of the draw, but not prior to the published time.

When a stake of hounds exceeds 20 hounds, the number shall be split into as many stakes of ten as is possible. Any remaining hounds shall be added to these stakes evenly. The number of hounds in split stakes should always be within one hound of all others and always equal to or greater than ten.

The Limited Stake shall be treated as an Open Stake for purposes of Ch. V Sec 5 (a); that is, when the entry in a Limited Stake reaches 20 or more, the stake will be split as evenly as possible by random draw.

Except for the exception in Chapter V, Section 9 (3), split stakes must be by random draw.

In the case of combined stakes, the two or three stakes combined shall be circled on all Judges' sheets.

The use of computerized random draw programs at any ASFA-sanctioned field trials must be a program approved by the IT committee, the ASFA Board, and published on the ASFA website.

It is unacceptable for a Club to change a Judge's assignment on the day of the trial in order to allow that Judge to run a hound.

If the club and/or Judge decrees a limitation on calling to hounds in a course, this limitation shall be announced by the Huntmaster prior to each preliminary run.

A pre-slip may be called by the Huntmaster and thereby a penalty will be assessed by the Judge: 1) at the beginning of the course; and/or 2) during a mid-field restart of the same course.

The word "fighting" as a reason for disqualification does not require defense from the other hound.

A tie not broken will count as the lowest placement a hound could have won had the tie been broken. However, in tabulating both championship points (Field Champion, LCM, etc.) and Top Twenty points, the points shall be divided evenly between all hounds involved in the tie. All points shall be in whole numbers only, with any fractions obtained as a result of an unbroken tie being dropped. This policy applies to both unbroken ties at the trial itself as well as any tie created from the discovery of an error in the trial records.

In the event of a tie after a runoff, placements and ASFA points will be awarded to the non-forfeiting hound.

Forfeits cannot be decided after trial hours.

Best in Field shall not be awarded to a hound that does not receive a qualifying score in the Best in Field run.

The award of cash prizes at a lure field trial for placements earning ASFA points shall not exceed the entry fee.

When a hound is dismissed, disqualified or excused and no reason is noted on the Judge's sheet, the Records Coordinator will forward the Judge's sheet back to the Field Secretary. It will be the Field Secretary's responsibility to locate the appropriate person to complete the Judge's sheet.

An owner may have more than one entry in a Kennel or Breeder Stake as long as the two hounds comprising each entry are properly identified at the time of the entry. A hound may be part of only one Kennel and one Breeder entry.

A club may use either a walking or a standing start. If a club chooses to use a walking start, a handler shall not be penalized for not walking forward before the Tally Ho.

For the purposes of Chapter 2, Section 1 (7), a "conditional entry" shall be understood to be any ASFA trial entry that is presented as being subject to or dependent upon any condition that includes refund of entry fees. This applies regardless of whether the condition is part of the official entry form or not, and would include any attached note or related e-mail or telephone communication which explicitly attaches a condition to the entry that includes refund of entry fees.

Awarding ribbons at Fun Trials is optional.

Best in Field may not be offered conditionally.

To judge Best in Field as a single judge, the person must be an all-breed licensed Judge. Provisional judges are allowed to and are urged to judge Best in Field ("BIF") along with an all-breed licensed judge. The provisional judge shall present the all-breed licensed judge with a form as approved by the ASFA. The form shall be marked indicating which breeds ran for BIF that day. The all-breed licensed judge shall complete, sign, and return the form to the provisional judge for mailing to the Chair of the Judges Licensing Committee when he/she applies for all-breed status.

Bench stake: for hounds of any individual breed; an entry shall consist of a single hound with proof on file with the ASFA of a conformation champion title from the AKC or CKC or both or a conformation Grand Champion title from the UKC.

For those breeds afforded provisional recognition under Article X of the Constitution the Provisional classes referred in Section 5, in which the Provisional breed may compete at an ASFA trial are the Open Stake, Field Champion Stake and Veteran Stake. Results from the classes shall be recorded and published as Provisional Open, Provisional Field Champion, and Provisional Veteran. Eligibility to enter the Provisional Field Champion class will be based on points and placements earned during the Provisional recognition period that would otherwise entitle a hound in an ASFA recognized breed to be awarded an ASFA field champion title.

For those breeds afforded provisional recognition under Article X of the Constitution, the Provisional classes referred in Section 5, in which the Provisional breed may compete at an ASFA trial include the Singles Stake.

When the entries in the Singles Stake reach 20 or more and the Stake is split into Flights, the winner of High Scoring Single shall be the hound with the highest combined preliminary and final score within the Stake, as a whole. If two or more hounds are tied for the highest combined score, each hound shall run a runoff course and the highest score of the runoff courses shall be awarded High Scoring Single.

A Field Trial Secretary may not require entries be submitted in an online format.

The ASFA website will link to any non-commercial sighthound page, including those of Affiliate, Applied and Member Clubs; links to commercial sites will be provided with an appropriate disclaimer that the ASFA does not endorse these products or vendors.