Register of Merit Committee

The Register Of Merit was created to honor the bullmastiffs who have contributed with progeny to the breed.  It is meant to be of historical importance as well as current for our times.  The ROM Committee shall always be subject to the final authority of the ABA Board and ABA By Laws as it functions The ROM is set up on a point system. A base of different dogs needs to be met first. The base consists of five conformation champions for dogs and 3 conformation champions for bitches. Once that is achieved, points are calculated by also counting ABA approved AKC working titles achieved contributing a point for each title achieved. 

Working titles that are honored are meant to reflect the nature of the original bullmastiff.  It is a working dog and the core working titles that reflect merit are:  Agility, Obedience, and Tracking.  Within Obedience, the Graduate Novice title will not count and within Rally, the Rally Novice level will not count.  Those titles which are currently recognized by AKC and should not count toward ROM are:  Drafting, Flyball, and Herding.  Any other titles included must reflect a new and unique canine skill not reflected in the three areas mentioned above.  Skills endogenous to other groups, such as Drafting, Flyball, and Herding, are not considered original skills for this breed. 

When Agility points are tabulated, a dog may earn credit for only one jump height, whether or not the dog has titled at different heights within the same level of Agility.

Titles which include grouping of earned titles such as versatility or working dog awards do not constitute a unique title and will not be considered in calculating ROM points.

The ROM Committee will continue to present to the AB Board any new AKC titles for possible inclusion in the merit system.  The Committee’s recommendations are to be guided by whether a skill is new and unique to the true nature of the bullmastiff, but the ultimate decision rests with the ABA Board.

There are to be 4 levels determined by the following points

ABA membership is not required to be honored but one must be an ABA member in good standing to receive a medallion free from ABA for the level achieved. Membership status of the breeder(s) and owner(s) will be noted in the ROM Record.  
One free medallion is given to the ABA member in this order:

1. Person with whom the dog resides (if not ABA member then see 2)
2. Person who is a co-owner (if not ABA member then see 3)
3. Person who is the breeder of record. (if not ABA member then see below)

Any other ABA members or non ABA member associated with the dog being awarded will have the opportunity to purchase a medallion. This is limited to owners, co-owners, breeders and co-breeders only. The fee for this is set by the ROM committee.

The awards are to be calculated for 12 months.  Because ABA National Specialties may be held in September or October, ROM awards will now be calculated for the year beginning on August 1 of one year and ending with July 31 of the next, so that the ROM Committee will have adequate time in which to gather records and process information.  The ROM Committee is responsible for calculating and creating records for the previous year’s worth of information within a year of awards being achieved.

A certificate will be presented and awarded at each ABA National Specialty. Medallions will not be mailed until all information needed to complete the ROM data on the dog is received by one of the ROM committee members. This is to include information on all get and on conformation and working titles attained.

The goal of the ROM is to preserve the history of the breed. The committee’s primary charge is the digitization of the complete ROM record.  The immediate goal is to create a source for the public to obtain and view the recently attained ROM awards.  With Board approval: 1) The medium of choice will be determined by the ROM Committee, It may be hard copy or digital; 2) the price of this data is to be set by the ROM Committee; and 3) The ROM Committee may include additional information to the ROM record (this may include but is not limited to specialty winners and best in show bullmastiffs.)

01/09 LAW

The ABA Board charges the ABA ROM Committee to strive to make the Register of Merit as complete and accurate a record as possible, so that no  information will be excluded. We feel that to do otherwise would be misleading and not in the best interest of the breed.

 However, any individual owner wishing to remove the complete records of their dog from the ABA ROM database and any not yet published ROM records may do so for any reason, provided that they make the request in writing, with all co-owners copied on the request. It is not necessary for all co-owners to agree and the American Bullmastiff Association will not mediate any disputes between owners with regard to ABA ROM records.

LAN 10/09