A Response to the Olvis Letter

by Liz Hansen

BRAVO Charlie! Thank you for writing this and having it posted publicly. If ever there was a way to make more generic judging, it’s fast-tracking judging approval. There is NO WAY under the sun that someone can be competent in 50 new breeds in a year –NO WAY!! Or maybe being competent doesn’t matter if they’re just going to put up their friends, or the dogs with the best advertising campaign anyway…..

A lot of breeds are in real trouble, and exhibitors are tired of banging their heads on the wall. When a total novice can walk up to the ring and do a better job picking dogs than the individual in the center of that ring, handling out ribbons (hard to call them a judge sometimes…), it’s a sorry situation.

Breeding decisions take years of experience, and have consequences that can last for generations in a breed. Conformation judging is supposed to be about choosing breeding stock, that “ideal” representative of the breed. Why should I entrust that to someone who’s spent MINUTES learning about my breeds and really doesn’t care, other than being able to check off another on their list? An instant expert judge is certainly no better than the instant expert breeder, exhibitor, or handler, but has more impact on the breeds, and ultimately on the sport.

I don’t know how to get AKC to LISTEN to those of us who care about our breeds, care about the sport, and don’t want to see it die. If we complain that things are not right, it’s poo-poo’d as “sour grapes” or just sore losers. I’m sure there are some complainers where that’s true, but there is a lot of crap going on that makes people like me wonder why we’re doing this, and certainly doesn’t encourage new people to jump in. I do my best to mentor juniors and other newbies, but it’s hard to explain and justify some of what goes on. Very disappointing….

Anyway, thank you for putting your comments out there. I hope they do some good. I remain skeptical that those in position to do anything about it WILL do anything about it though, sadly….

Liz

Sketchbook Standard Schnauzers & Berger Picards

Columbia, MO

Short URL: http://caninechronicle.com/?p=124879

Posted by admin on May 11 2017. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.