2015 Rule Change Proposals and Results.

15 or the 16 eligible Clubs voted on these proposals. The results are as follows:

RULE CHANGE PROPOSAL #1

 

Proposal to amend WRA Policy and Procedure #16: 

 

Current wording:

 

16. Definition of "Blind". According to Mary Beth O’Neill, head of performance

events and judges education, as of 06/28/05. A dog that is blind in one eye,

and has normal sight in the other eye is "not blind by definition". A dog with

one eye surgically removed would be considered to have been "surgically

altered" and if it came into the show ring would be excused. However, from a

performance standpoint, if it had normal vision in the remaining eye, it

would NOT be considered to be blind. Therefore the Whippet Racing

Association Board has decided to allow entry of such a dog at the

discretion of individual clubs and the dog’s owner. (June 28, 2005)

 

Proposed wording:

 

DELETE: “at the discretion of individual clubs”

 

ADD: “If a Club wishes to disallow an entry based on the "vision status" of a dog, the Club shall submit documentation of reasoning and evidence to the BOD (NRD, Sec-Treas & Regional Coordinators) and the owner of the dog. The owner of the dog shall also be allowed to submit documentation to the BOD for consideration within 14 days of the initial notification. The BOD will then review the documentation based on events and facts.

At the discretion of the BOD, said dog may be observed by qualified foul judges and WRA officials (ie: a Regional Representative or other(s) appointed by WRA) at the next meet in which the dog is entered unless the BOD choose to decide based on the body of evidence initially presented by both parties. The owner must notify the board at least 2 weeks prior to the meet so that the BOD has the opportunity to identify the appropriate officials. The BOD will then make a final decision to whether the dog is allowed to compete by a simple majority vote within 10 days of the “observation” meet. If the Club wishing to disallow a dog based on vision status has it’s race secretary or representative serving on the BOD, that person will not be allowed to vote in the decision. If the owner or handler of the visually impaired dog serves on the board, that person will not be allowed to vote. The decision will be considered binding for all clubs in WRA unless other clubs bring forth a new body of information.

 

Rational for the change:

a. To have the question of a dog's entry impartially decided upon by WRA officials not involved with a dog or the club in question (ie: a club with officers who own dog(s) directly in competition.

b. To prevent indiscriminate disqualification of a dog.

c. Even a dog who has DQ’d is allowed to retrain and re-enter competition under certain qualifying criteria.

d. To give back the decision making authority to the Parent Organization on such a serious matter, thereby removing bias individuals from such a serious decision.

 

Proposal 1 – 10 Clubs For, 5 Clubs Against. This proposal did pass.

 

 

RULE CHANGE PROPOSAL #2

 

Due to the duties of Registrar and Secretary/Treasurer being split, change to Rulebook section 1.2 paragraph 4:

Currently wording:

Prior to the first WRA Practice or official WRA Meet in which a Whippet will participate, a copy of the AKC, CKC, or UKC registration and $2.00 registration fee should be sent to the Registrar/Recorder.

 

Proposed wording:

 

Prior to the first WRA Practice or official WRA Meet in which a Whippet will participate, a copy of the AKC, CKC, or UKC registration shall be sent to the Registrar/Recorder. The $2.00 registration fee shall be sent to the Secretary/Treasurer.

 

Proposal 2 – 13 Clubs For, 2 Clubs Against.  This proposal did pass.

 

 

RULE CHANGE PROPOSAL #3

 

Since clubs now have 3 options for the length of their track, the following addition to Section 6.1 Race Track of the 2013 WRA Rule Book is proposed as follows:

 

Change to Rulebook section 6.1.(c):

 

 (c) Clubs must publish the length of their race track (150 yards, 175 yards or 200 yards) for their upcoming race meet in the "RACE MEETS" section under the "City" section.

 

 See example below:

 

    Date      Club         City                             State Race Secretary In conjunction

7-5-14

JRRWA

Delaware City 175 yds

DE

Lynda Campo

NOTRA

 

 

Proposal 3 – This proposal was not included in the results as a track length column was already in the works for the Race Meet page of the website.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Addition to Policy & Procedures adding a procedure #21

 

#21: For the year 2015, allow the NRD to negotiate a “joint national" with the North American Whippet Racing Association (NAWRA). Because NAWRA and WRA have similar goals but slightly different means of achieving them, such a venue will require suspending or altering some of the WRA rules for this event only. All attempts will be made to create a rule set for this meet that is a combination of the pre-existing rules of the 2 parent organizations except where when necessary; places were “novel” rules may be employed include (potentially) the awarding of race points for this event (since it has been proposed that dogs be allowed to take National and race points awarded in this event back to their original parent organization, and by definition, that will be an original way of distributing points). The rule set for the meet will be published one month prior to the meet. If this event is considered successful, this proposal will be re-introduced to become a permanent option for nationals in the future but otherwise will expire after the year 2015.

 

 

Rational: Recognizing that WRA and NAWRA run under similar yet slightly different rules, a proposal to have a joint venue has surfaced for this year. In order to hold such an event, we will need to suspend some of the WRA rules (while expecting NAWRA to do the same). The proposal is presented as one time change, allowing the event to happen but not making it permanent unless it is considered successful.

 

Proposal 4 – 12 Clubs For, 3 Clubs Against.  This proposal did pass.