Australian Cattle Dog Club Standing Rules

(As adopted by the Membership September 20, 2000 revised January 2005, October 2006, October 2013)

Section 1. Advertising & Newsletter

1. The newsletter only accepts advertising "For Sale" or "For Stud" of purebred Australian Cattle Dogs registered with, or eligible for registration with, the American Kennel Club and products and services of interest to the membership.
2. Purchase of the front cover of the newsletter is limited to one cover per year, per dog/person, with the editor allowed to use his/her discretion in case of emergency.
3. Ads in any ACDCA publication referring to rankings must include system and date of source or the ranking will not be Included in the ad.
4. The Club shall pay for a subscription to the Gazette and the Australian journals for the Newsletter Editor. After the editor has used them, s/he should transfer them to the archives.
5. The Club shall pay for a subscription to AKC Awards for the Awards chair.
6. The Club shall obtain data sets from AKC once a year for the performance venues of Herding, Obedience, Agility and Rally and for Junior Showmanship for the purposes of calculating the year end awards for the National Specialty Awards Banquet.

Section 2. National Specialty Show and National Convention

1. Process for selecting specialty judges (for those events where the membership votes for the judge.)
   a. Require two nominations from club members for a judge to go on a selection ballot. In the year 2008 six nominations will be required.
   b. The membership votes to develop a list from which judges for the next three specialties will be selected.
   c. The top ten judges in each event are placed on a list in order of votes received, and contacted in order to determine their availability. If they are not available the next judge will be contacted and so on. For events requiring two judges, the top two would be contacted.
   d. If the top vote getter is not available for a given year, he or she stays at the top of the list and would be selected, if available, to judge the next year.
   e. In the third year of the list, the club would go through the nomination and balloting process once again to establish the next three year list.
   f. All AKC judges who are ACDCA, Inc. members and who meet the AKC criteria for having the ACD as a first breed will automatically be on the nomination list.
   g. A judge that has judged in the past five years is not eligible to be selected. However they may be on the top ten list and may be asked to judge, consistent with their order on the list, and with the five year rule.
   h. The club should not list the judges’ fees on the ballot. Instead the club should establish a maximum they are willing to pay for each judge for each day. This committee recommends a $400 per day maximum. Judges will be asked their fees ahead of time to insure adherence to the maximum.
   i. Each judge will be asked to submit a brief biography which, if supplied, will be included on the ballot.
2. The AKC premium list for the Specialty Show shall state a reduced fee for the second entry of the same dog, Puppy Classes, Bred by Exhibitor Classes, Parade of Honors, Sweepstakes and Junior Showmanship. There shall be no added fee for Junior Showmanship as a second entry.
3. The Property Classes at the National Specialty shall be coordinated and conducted by the International Committee. (Enacted 1991 AM)
4. The National Specialty Parade of Titleholders shall recognize all ACDCA recognized titles.
5. The hosting committee of each year's Specialty shall be responsible for the development, design and financing of Specialty related sale items. The National Club may also sell regular club items at the Specialty.
6. Each year’s Convention Coordinator will include some sort of health clinic at the Specialty. (Enacted 1987 AB)
7. Any special events proposed by the hosting Specialty Coordinators must have prior approval by the National Show Committee Chair and the Board.
8. A Versatility competition shall be offered at each National Specialty (Enacted 2006AM).
9. The Board shall have discretion to advance National Specialty Convention expenses as required and requested by the hosts. All incoming checks shall be payable to the ACDCA.
10. The specialty Premium List shall carry a notice that permission for any professional video taping activities at any Specialty event must have the permission of the Convention Coordinator and that a copy of any such tape will be donated to the ACDCA and sent to the Historian for archiving. For purposes of this rule, "professional" refers to the intention to sell or the act of selling originals or copies of the tapes. (Enacted 1991/2RB)
11. The National Convention sites shall be rotated around the country with respect to three regions (East, Central and West). If a region does not extend an invitation for its designated year two years in advance of its specialty date, the National Specialty will be scheduled at Purina Farms which is in the Central Region. If more than one invitation is submitted, the members in good standing present at the annual meeting shall vote with the invitation having a majority being the site two years hence. For the purposes of the National Specialties, the three regions shall be divided by the Rocky Mountains and the
    Mississippi River. (Modified 2013 MP)
12. To require that any person/local club meet the following criteria prior to submitting an invitation to host a future ACDCA Annual Convention:
    a. Must have obtained Guidelines from the National Show Committee.
    b. Convention Coordinator must have attended at least one National Convention.
    c. Must have an area resource person who has served as a Show Chairman of a licensed AKC show.
    d. Must contact Herding Committee Chairperson for Guidelines on conducting Herding Trails, etc.
    e. Must submit a written proposal listing detailed information on the time, place, show site, herding, trial site, convention facilities, etc. at the annual meeting.
    f. Booth rental policy is to be established individually for each Convention by the Convention hosts. However, hosts should encourage vendors with products of interest to the membership to attend and should ensure adequate facilities at the show grounds and at the hotel whenever possible. Vendors must pay a fee or provide merchandise as described in material announcing the specialty.
    g. During the National Specialty, the ACDCA must hold 2 AKC Herding Trials which will include cattle (Enacted 1997 AM)
13. At the discretion of the presiding judge, up to seven Awards of Merit will be given to dogs and/or bitches by the ACDCA at the National Specialty Convention. Best of Breed, Best of Opposite Sex are not eligible for Awards of Merit. (Amended 1999 AM to exclude BOB, BOS and BOW) (Amended 2013 MP to include BOW)

Section 3. Officers and Committees

1. Extra copies of the Officers/Director and Committee reports will be made available to the membership at the Convention prior to the annual meeting.
2. Committee Chairs are required to submit a proposed budget to the Budget & Finance Committee. (Enacted 1990 AB)
3. The principal of the Mary Eckstein Bequeathment for rescue funds is to be preserved in perpetuity, invested in an interest bearing account. Only 90% of the interest is to be spent each year to fund rescue activities. (Enacted 1999 AM)
4. Each year all awards and final statistics shall be published together in the Annual Report.
5. The ACDCA shall sponsor a trophy for the annual NSW Cattle Dog Society Easter Show, Canadian Cattle Dog Club Show and the United Kingdom Cattle Dog Show. Chosen and mailed by the International Committee, not to exceed $50.00 each excluding postage.

Section 4. Awards:

1. The ACDCA shall award publicity points in Conformation (points will be awarded for Best of Breed and Group placements), Obedience, Agility, Rally, Herding, ROM, and Junior Showmanship. These points will be tabulated from January 1 through December 31 each year. High point earners for the preceding year shall be recognized and awarded at the National Specialty Convention Awards Banquet.
2. The National Herding Champion will receive an award presented by the ACDCA at each National Specialty. Sponsorship for the Award will be available and in years where there is no sponsor the ACDCA will award a plaque (Enacted 2006 AM).
3. The ACDCA may award the Good Sportsmanship Award. The committee for selecting the recipient will be comprised of the Awards Chairperson and the immediate past four recipients. c. The ACDCA may award a Certificate for Outstanding Service to non-club members.
4. The ACDCA may award an annual "ACD Hero of the Year Award" and issue an appropriate award.
5. ROM recipients will be awarded a certificate and plaque engraved with the year received and titles earned. (Enacted 1986)

Section 5. Annual Meeting

1. Members must submit proposals and items for discussion at the Annual Meeting in writing to the ACDCA Secretary 14 days prior to the annual meeting. The proposals will be posted to the acdca.org website and to the members’ ACDCA Yahoo list and hard copies will be available in the hospitality room at the National Specialty.

(Enacted 2005 AM) Edited 2/6/2014 with minor corrections on 2/22/2022