A.            Certification Procedures:

1.      The Certification Committee will conduct the certification process in the same manner as Progressive Pack competition in respect to the conduct of owners/handlers and spectators. The Executive Board's appointed members shall have authority over the process. This test is to determine that the hound will hunt and verify that it can circle a rabbit to the gun, and is not gun shy. The successful hound earns and deserves the title "Progressive Pack Rabbit Champion."

2.      Certification on a specific date is permissible if advertised in THE RABBIT HUNTER, in a Progressive Pack Newsletter, or is posted on the Internet where it is publicly accessible, at least 30 days prior to the date. The date, time and location must be announced. Certification may also be held during, or at the close of a sanctioned hunt, an advertised fun hunt, or on the next day following one of these hunts, if it is announced before the close of the hunt.

3.      There must be two members of a state P.P. certification committee and one additional P.P. judge to conduct a certification test. It is immaterial as to what state committee the judges belong to. Certification is subject to judge's availability. In order to be a member of the certification committee a person must be a licensed Progressive Pack judge.
Rule Interpretation Ruling (4/2006):  There must be two members of a state PP Certification Committee to conduct a certification test.

4.      All hounds that are present at the time of the scheduled certification shall be drawn out, as in random order. Additional hounds, not previously there at scheduled time, will be drawn out to be tested at the conclusion of the first tests, if tune permits. When testing is conducted after a hunt all hounds are drawn with no preference. The hound's owner or handler must present to the committee the necessary paper work to prove that the hound is eligible for certification.

5.      In the event an excessive number of hounds to be certified, the Certification Committee members may divide themselves as outlined in Rule 3. More than one hound can be tested simultaneously provided they are hunted in different locations. However no hound will be certified unless there is at least one Certification Committee member involved in the judging.
Rule Interpretation Ruling (4/2006)If there are an excessive number of hounds to be certified the Certification Committee member may divide themselves, and conduct the certification as outlined in Rule 3.  In rule 5 we see it uses the word divide.  That is telling us that there still needs to be two Certification Committee members on hand at the time of the Certification, even if they must divide to conduct two Certifications at the same time.  There will be no exceptions to this rule.  There must be two PP Certification members to conduct a Certification.  The reason for this interpretation is that it has to come to the attention of the Watchdog Committee and the Certification Committee that some Certifications are being conducted with only one Certification Judge.  If any Certifications are turned into the Certification Committee Chairman and it is found that there was only one Certification Member there, the Certification will be denied.

6.      If a hound's height appears to be in question it must be measured. No hound over 15" will be tested.

7.      The hounds will be taken to the field and put down in the order they were drawn. It is advisable to take more than one hound at a time to the field. The handlers of the hounds waiting to be certified will keep their hounds quite while the other hounds are being tested. As soon as one hound has completed the certification test, the next hound will be put down for testing.
Rule Interpretation (2/2006):  It says the hounds will be taken to the field and put down in the order they were drawn.   The world field does not mean a pen or enclosure.  After checking with some of the founding fathers, they never wanted a hound to be certified in a pen or enclosure.  From this day forward, there will be no Certifications conducted in a pen or enclosure. 

8.      A member of the Certification Committee or judge cannot be involved in the certification testing of his/her own hound or a hound that he/she has owned within the past 6 months and this date goes from the time that the papers are changed with ARHA. They may not test a hound owned by a member of his/her immediate family, (as outlined in the rules).

9.      The hound being cast will be hunted by itself and cast in the same manner as Progressive Pack competition. Once the hound being tested is cast in the field, one judge will stay within sight of, but behind the hound. The handler may accompany this judge and with all three judges' permission may call or talk to his hound for the sole purpose of letting the hound know that he/she is close by. The handler may in no way encourage his/her hound to hunt. The judges must be certain the hound will hunt on its own before passing the hound. If the hound is leased, a time out must be called. The handler may request time out and suggest moving to another area.

10. If and when a rabbit or hare is started, one of the certification judges will go with the hound being tested as it pursues the rabbit and must stay behind the hound so it will not interfere with the hound and also stay back in the check areas not to interfere with the hound in the check area. This judge is to look to see if the rabbit either goes to ground or makes no attempt to circle back to the area from which is was jumped.

11.  In a case such as this a time out will be called and the hound caught and released again. The time during this time out will not apply toward the total time limit of this one-hour certification time frame. However many times a hound will switch rabbits or the chase never return to the original point of origin and if this happens and the hound circles the rabbit in that area it shall be considered a successful circle and the judges move to that area and fire over the hound. Once a rabbit or hare is started the owner/handler becomes a spectator and must abide by this rule as long as the chase is going on unless the judges ask him/her to handle his/her hound.

12. When the chase is started, the remaining judges will stay in the area of the jump to look for the rabbit being circled. If it is seen, it is called out to the other judges by pointing out the line it has taken. All judges will move to this established line, if possible, and observe the hound. If the hound comes through on the same line as pointed out, it is considered a successful certification. The judges do not have to see the rabbit however, all judges must agree that the hound has successfully circled the rabbit and a blank pistol is fired at a reasonable distance from the hound, to test for gun shyness. If the hound shows no gun shyness it has certified and the owner should be congratulated. Some gundog rabbit hounds will hark to a gun, but a gun-shy hound will quit the track and refuse to hunt or take the line again. A hound is not disqualified for harking to the gun. In such event, if there is a question by the judges, the handler may attempt to put the hound back on the line to verify whether or not it is gun-shy.

13. The hound being tested is subject to all the Progressive Pack running rules concerning minus points and disqualification for running off game, or failing to hunt for 10 consecutive minutes. If the hound is on the clock for not hunting a time out is not permissible. The test shall be for no more than one hour, (not including time outs), unless a strike occurs within the last four minutes, in which case Rule XI B. 2 applies.

14. A dead track is called if it is apparent that the hound has hopelessly lost the line before it circled the rabbit. The owner/handler should be asked if he/she is agreeable to calling the track dead. If it is so agreed then a time out is called and the hound moved to a different area.

15. Any time the hound is entering a restricted area such as posted land or a dangerous situation, the judge will call time out and have the hound caught. This time out will be treated the same as outlined in rule 10 above.

16. If a rabbit is jumped by a judge, handler/owner, or spectator the hound will not be called in and put on the track. All individuals will back up and provide the hound the opportunity to find the track itself. If the hound has received no help in finding the track, this rabbit can be used in the certification process.

17. No area where a rabbit has been seen can be used to put the hound in to use this rabbit for certification, the hound must be moved away from this area at some distance, and this distance is determined by the certification judge, however during the hunting process, if a rabbit or hare is seen and the hound goes into the area unaided, this rabbit can be used in the certification.

18. Anytime the judges feel there is not enough game in the immediate area to conduct a certification testing, a time out may be called and the hound re-cast in a different area with the remaining time left for the test.

19. All hounds being tested for Rabbit Champion will be given the full hour in which to produce and circle a rabbit providing it has not been disqualified according to the running rules. If a rabbit is started in the last few minutes of the hour and the run is in progress at the conclusion of the one-hour time frame, the run will be allowed to continue until such time as a successful circle has been made or the rabbit lost by the hound. At no time will the hound be allowed to start a rabbit beyond the one-hour time frame.

B.            GRAND CHAMPION CERTIFICATION

1.      The running rules for certification of grand champion will be under the same guidelines as champion except for the additional rules, which follow.

2.      One judge will be the lead judge and will instruct the other judges as to starting and stopping of their stopwatches.

3.      There must be two stopwatches used in the certification of a grand champion to be sure that the time is correct. The judge going with the hound will keep the stop watch for the running time and another judge will keep the time for the 4 minute rule on strikes and also the 3 minute rule on breakdowns and the lead judge will keep the hour running time on a regular watch or stop watch if they prefer.

4.      The hound must run a rabbit for 20 minutes out of the one-hour time limit, in the event of a break down in the track a stopwatch must be used at this time because this time does not count toward running time. In the event of a loss of the track and the loss occurs for as much as three minutes then a dead track is called and the hound moved and started over again on another rabbit if time permits.

5.      The time limit does not have to be on the same rabbit the time is accumulated to make up the 20 minutes and it can be on different rabbits, this time must be recorded by the certification judge to make sure it is correct. If the run has continued and is in progress when the judge keeping the cast time announces that the cast time has expired, the hound will be allowed to continue under the applicable rules until it either passes or fails the test.

6.      In the event that a rabbit is not produced within 41 minutes from the time the hound is cast then the testing is concluded and the hound failed the test,

7.      All published rules apply will this certification. No score will be kept except for scoring of minus points.

C.            The following example will be typical of a certification:

1.     Example: A hound is up for Grand Champion Certification and all rules that apply to any certification have been met. Three certification judges are present and have agreed on what time each will keep. The hound is taken to the field and released as in all other certification.

2.     Upon release, the judge with the cast time will start their watch. The cast will be allowed to continue in this manner until the hound has struck (3 barks). At this point, the judge with the strike watch (4 minutes) will start their watch. If no rabbit is produced, the hound is minused and the judges will clear their watch of the 4 minutes.

3.     If a rabbit is produced in the agreement of the judges, the judge keeping the total running time (20 Minutes) will start their stopwatch. At this point of a breakdown in the track by the hound, the judge keeping the 20 minute clock will stop their watch and tell the other judges when he has done so. He will tell the judge keeping the 3 minutes on breakdowns to start his watch. This will be the same judge that was keeping the 4 minutes on the strike. His watch is now clear and will be used on the breakdowns.

4.     When the hound picks up the track again, the judges keeping the running time (20minutes) will again start his/her watch and again tell the judge that is keeping the 3 minutes on the breakdowns to clear his/her watch. This process will continue over and over for as long as it is necessary to reach on of the two points of passing or failing the test. Any time a breakdown exceed 3 minutes on any check the run is stopped and process is started over as from the beginning if time permits. If the hound continues to pick up the track in less than 3 minutes on any check, it will continue to run until the 20-minute total running time mark.

5.     If, during this run, the judge keeping the cast time announces that the cast time has expired, the run will continue until on of the two situations described above is reached. The hound must either lose the track for 3 minutes or continue the run.

6.     If there is a breakdown of over 3 minutes, the judges will call a time-out. If there is no cast time left and hound has not reached a total of 20 minutes running time, it has failed the certification.

7.     If there is remaining time in the cast when this point is reached, the judges will know the time remaining, along with the achieved total running time prior to this loss and allow the hound to be recast for the time remaining in the cast. Whatever the time remaining in the cast is the time the hound has to restart another rabbit.

8.     The judges must remember the following rules when conducting this certification:

1.      The cast is over and the hound declared failed when any of the following points are reached:

a.The hound pursues anything other than a rabbit or hare.

b.30 minus points are given for rule infractions.

c. No rabbit or hare has been produced in the first 40 minutes of the cast.

d.The cast time is reached, and a 3-minute loss has occurred and the hound being tested does not reach its 20-minute total running time.

D.            GENERAL CRITERIA AND RULES FOR THE CERTIFICATION COMMITTEE

1.      The owner/handler must pay a $10.00 fee to have his/her hound tested for certification, and $5.00 of this fee is kept by the club hosting the certification and $5.00 is sent to the Chairman of the Certification Committee to be forwarded on to the Sec/Treasure of the Progressive Pack do be deposited in the Progressive Pack Special Fund.

2.      The three part form must be filled out at the end of the certification and marked whether the hound passed or failed and must be signed by all three judges and the white copy given to the owner and the yellow copy kept in the certification committee file and the pink copy mailed with the $5.00 fee.

3.      This will be mailed to the Certification Chairman.

4.      The owner/handler must bring with them proof (winners certificates or copies of them) that his/her hound has met the criteria for certification.

5.      Any and all decisions awarding certificates must be unanimous. No decisions based on majority.

6.      Any Certification Committee member found to be in violation of ARHA Progressive Pack running and Certification rules by the Watchdog Committee will be relieved of any and all duties on the committee by the Chairman of the Board.

7.      Any Certification Committee member so removed will have any or all certifications previously approved by this individual subject to investigation. If, in the event any rules were found to be broken, all certifications handled by this individual in whom this happened will be subject to annulment and the hounds involved called for re-certification.

8.      Questions arising from Certification Committee members involving certification procedures will be directed to the Chairman of the Board for the Progressive Pack Division.