Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Fault(less) judging part three

Now to the nitty gritty. I always get asked about judges. Why we brought this one in. Why we got this one to sub in for this sick judge. Why we would ever think of bringing in that w***h and so on and so forth.

First off I do need to say that I can get in super big trouble with AKC by saying anything bad about a judge, specifically that is. But here’s what I can comment on. Most judges, overall are very pleasant to deal with, even some of them you wish would be back year after year. Some, rude. Some, demanding. Some, think a lot more of themselves then everyone else does. I think that is just simple human nature and not a judge specific quality.

Many are great evaluators of dogs. Many look up the lead to see who has the dog. Many have no idea what is most important when it comes to the key points of breed and well, many just don’t give a damn what they are looking at.

The key about judging is that all have a preference-type, style, movement, color, etc. As the years go by, a savy exhibitor knows what type of dog to exhibit to which judge. As a show chair, we try to get judges that will draw an entry and guess what, that might just mean they don’t like your dog.

The other comment made by a lot of owner handlers, is that we purposely hire handler friendly judges, ie, the ones that look at the north end of the lead. I try to honestly look at it as the judge is awarding the best dog out there. And guess what, you might have it or not. Many times the handlers have the best dog. It's simple economics-showing crappy dogs does not make they any money.

Judging is subjective. Remember there’s always another dog show and another judge to show to. Just don’t show to the ones that didn’t like your dog.

Another subject near and dear to my heart from this year's show is respect. I saw too many frazzled nerves, too many self-centered people who wanted to take out their frustrations on others. I could go into more depth but I think it’s a topic that I will rest for the time being. Being taken advantage of, humiliated in front of your peers and treated with disrespect has no place at the dog shows. If you can’t get your act together and realize that this is just a dog show, then you need to rethink why you are doing this and are you doing this in the best interest of your dog or your ego?

I'm taking a deep breath, counting to ten and exhaling....

Later gators.....
C

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