Versatility
The Chip Versatility Award
In April of 2005, the BCCA Board approved a motion to establish an award to honor the most versatile Beardie at our annual National Specialty show. This award is named in memory of the first Masters In Versatility winner, Ch HC Britannia Chip Thrills UDX MX MXJ. To be eligible, dogs must enter and compete in at least three of the performance venues offered at the Specialty, which particular three would be of the owner’s choosing. These areas can include conformation, herding, obedience, agility, and tracking. Points can be earned by dogs participating in these performance areas even if they do not qualify but points cannot be earned by dogs that are excused for lameness or unacceptable behavior as defined by the rules of the particular event.
All scoring for the award will be done from the official Judge’s book(s) for each venue in order to verify that the dogs have met the participation requirement (i.e. were not excused). Scoring will be done by a member of the BCCA versatility committee or, in the event that a member of the versatility committee is not in attendance at the Specialty, by a member of the host club show committee chosen by mutual consent prior to the event between the Specialty show chair and the chairperson of the BCCA Versatility committee.
Herding — If multiple trials are offered, points earned in all events will be added to the total.
- 1 point for participating but not qualifying at the herding test level (HT or PT)
- 2 points for qualifying at the herding test level or participating but not qualifying at the trial level
- 3 points for qualifying at the trial level
Obedience (Traditional and Rally) — If a dog is entered in more than one obedience class, all points earned will be counted toward the overall total.
- 1 point for participating but not qualifying in a regular or non-regular traditional obedience and/or Rally class
- 2 points for qualifying in a regular traditional obedience and/or Rally class
Agility — Points earned in both Standard and JWW will count towards the overall total.
- 1 point for participating but not qualifying in a regular or preferred agility class
- 2 points for qualifying in a regular or preferred agility class
For Herding, Obedience & Rally, and Agility, participating and qualifying points in an individual class are NOT additive, i.e., dogs earn only one or the other but not both.
Conformation — Eligible classes for the conformation section of the Versatility award include:
Regular Classes
- 1 point for participating
- 2 points for placing
- 3 points for WD or WB
Non-regular classes (including Veterans, Sexually Altered, and Performance-titled):
- 1 point for participating
- 2 points for placing
Best of Breed
- 1 point — participating
- 3 points - BOS
- Award of Merit
- 4 points- BOB
Points won in different conformation classes will NOT be additive; a dog will be awarded only the maximum number of points for a single win. For example, should the Veteran, or Performance-titled dog class winner get Best of Breed, that dog would earn 4 points in the conformation area NOT 6 pts (2 pts from class win + 4 points from BOB win); similarly should the WD or WB be given an AOM, they would earn 3 points in conformation, NOT 6 pts (3 pts for WD/WB + 3 pts for AOM). This restriction is intended to minimize the disadvantage sexually altered dogs/bitches face in the conformation area because they are not eligible for BOB competition while still preserving a point advantage for dogs earning major awards in conformation.
If two or more dogs are tied for overall points after being scored by the above system, then class placements earned by the dogs in all events would be used to break the tie on the following point basis: 1st- 4 points; 2nd- 3 points; 3rd- 2 points; 4th- 1 point.; BOB, BOS, AOM would also receive 4 points if their conformation entries were in BOB (this addition is intended to compensate these BOB entries for an inability to earn placement points from the BOB class). If, after adding these additional points, a tie still exists, any of the tied dogs who had received a HIT (obedience, agility, herding) or a major award in conformation (BOB; BOS; WD; WB; Award of Merit) would receive 5 additional points for each HIT and/or major conformation award. If this second adjustment of points is insufficient to break the tie, then the dogs tied will be declared co-winners of the Versatility Award for that year and each will receive a winner’s plaque.