USCA Judges Committee Recommendation for Level 2 Dog Aggression Sanction

EB Ballot #39-16

EB Ballot 39-16 USCA Judges Committee Recommendation for Level 2 Dog Aggression Sanction

Motion: By Nathaniel Roque,  USCA Director of Judges on behalf of the USCA Judge Committee, seconded by Carolyn Daniel, Secretary, to support the USCA Judges Committee recommendation under the “USCA Dog Aggression Policy “ to impose a Level 2 Aggression Sanction with additional requirements of the dog passing a temperament evaluation by the Regional Director or USCA Judge during the 6 to 12 month period of the sanction against the Dog “Britva vom Eisenburg”  owned by Ms Sue Calkins USCA Membership # 4229, due to unprovoked incident of aggression at a the 2016 North Central Region Championship.

Background summary:  In the obedience phase of the trial “Sue Calkins and “Britva vom Eisenburg” were in the “IPO 1 , Long Down Exercise” portion of the Obedience Phase initially “Britva” was continually barking and restless. The tone of the barking as described by witnesses and in the judges report was not as aggression towards the dog in motion but a yipping  / restless continuous barking. When the dog in motion was called in the “Down Out of Motion with Recall exercise” the long down dog “Britva ” broke and pursued the dog being recalled. The dog reached the handler in the recall and the handler had her dog held by the collar before “Britva” reached them. “Britva” was first circling and barking and then gripped the rear leg of the other dog being held by its handler.  The Judge then reached out and using his clipboard was able to get “Brivta” to release the other dogs leg. The judge instructed the handler to leash her dog to maintain in control and the owner of “Brivta” was then running towards them to get control of “Brivta”.  At this time “Brivta” was circling and barking, before “Brivta”s owner Sue Calkings could reach her dog “Brivta” to leash it the other handler lost control of her dog and a chase began.

Unfortunately, due to the open venue the dog chase exited the venue crossed a road and then returned to the parking area of the venue and ended by the pursued dog jumping into its crate and “Britva” then distracted by offering her a sleeve.

The Judge and Regional Director (also an apprentice judge) both reported that the pursuit / chase and the behavior of “Britva” was not one of high level of aggression and threat  and engagement was easily broken up by the judge.  Had the owner Sue Calkins been able to reach her dog before the other dog broke away from its handler and started running the incident would have been over.

In review of this incident, the Judges Committee took into consideration that this is an IPO 1 level dog that is not complete in its training, that the dog had previously never shown this behavior and had recently participated in a trial and regional training weekend without any display of aggression. The incident could have been due to the entry of an inexperienced dog, under trained, in a new environment before it was ready (regional championship) etc. The Judges Committee also recognizes that there is always in our sport the inherent risk with dogs for incidents of a fight, bite to human or dog or a loss of control and it is important for USCA to show responsible decisions and recognize that in some incidents or repeated incidents a lifetime ban is required and in others it is part a potential risk of a “trial or show’ by placing dogs together and it is the responsible decision of USCA to allow a second chance by further evaluation and a suspension.

Based on the USCA Aggression Policy at the decision of the Director of Judges or the Judge Committee, a first time incident (Level 1 warning) may be escalated to a more severe level of sanction depending on the severity of the incident and it is determined that the dog involved is or could be dangerous to the public or other dogs or of a unstable temperament that caused the incident. The report of this incident and the supporting statements from the witnesses and those involved in it have led the Committee to recommend a Level 2 Sanction (1yr) with a additional temperament evaluation completed by the Regional Director or a USCA Judge between the 6 month to 12 month period of the sanction. This will allow the handler more time to complete and proof the dogs training and to help ensure that this is not due to a temperament issue and a “dangerous dog with true aggression problems” by requiring the evaluation.

VOTE RESULT:  

 YES 9

NO   3 

 NFD 8      

Motion not passed:  October 26, 2016