USA POLICY ON DOG AGGRESSION TO DOGS AND/OR PEOPLE

After incidents of dog aggression in a couple of trials this spring (2008), the USA Judges Committee was tasked with presenting a policy that USA will follow to address any further situations that arise. Aggression would be defined as a dog that bites a person or a dog that initiates aggression toward another dog. We also made sure that the USA attorney looked at this policy before disseminating it for general viewing.

The following will be the official USA policy for dog aggression toward dogs and/or people:

1^st Offense

• Immediate dismissal from the trial with all scores and ratings deleted and the following notation made in the scorebook: Dismissed/aggression to dog and/or person.
• USA, USA judges, and all USA regional directors shall be informed of the incident.
• No later than one day following the event, the presiding judge at the event shall file a detailed report with the USA Director of Judges describing the incident and actions taken. This report shall then be distributed to all USA judges.

2^nd Offense

• Immediate dismissal from the trial with all scores and ratings deleted and the following notation made in the scorebook: Dismissed/aggression to dog and/or person.
• Suspension of the dog from all USA-sanctioned events and/or activities for one year.
• Suspension of the handler from all USA-sanctioned events and/or activities for six months.
• Surrender of the USA scorebook for the dog to USA for the duration of the suspension.
• USA, USA judges, and all USA regional directors shall be informed of the incident.
• No later than one day following the event, the presiding judge at the event shall file a detailed report with the USA Director of Judges describing the incident and actions taken. This report shall then be distributed to all USA judges.

3^rd Offense

• Banishment of the dog from all USA-sanctioned events and/or activities for life.
• Suspension of the handler from all USA-sanctioned events and/or activities for one year.
• Destruction of the USA scorebook for the dog.
• USA, USA judges, and all USA regional directors shall be informed of the incident.
• No later than one day following the event, the presiding judge at the event shall file a detailed report with the USA Director of Judges describing the incident and actions taken. This report shall then be distributed to all USA judges.
• The information shall be published in the USA magazine.

The officiating judge at an event where an incident occurs is the sole arbiter of any and all decisions made concerning faulty temperament and actions that dictate any of the policy described above.

We currently follow the procedure described in the first offense; however, we felt it best to be proactive and be prepared in case there is a recurring incident with any specific dog. This policy will go into effect January 1, 2009.