Did You Know? – I Used To Love Judging Junior Showmanship!

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18 – August, 2024

By Michael Canalizo

This is a difficult article for me personally…

I was a Junior 55 years ago. I brought three kids through Juniors, and I taught OHA Training Classes for 30 years. Those clases specialized in Juniors. I think the current entrants in Juniors have no idea about the background of the judge they enter under. I know, in the past, there was some research on the Juniors Judge because when I would do Juniors, ‘The word was out’ that I wanted to see the handler do a “U- turn, opposed to an About Turn.” FYI: That is the way one keeps the dog between the judge at all times.

When I started in Juniors, the club “found” a Professional handler who finished early–they were the judge for the day. The kids didn’t enter in advance. We all walked in our class and only those who placed had their names and award recorded. It was always a fun learning experience. We were asked questions. We did odd gaiting patterns and we hung on every word the judge shared with us. Where did things go so sideways?

I gave up all breed Juniors a few years ago after there was a young lady that posted to a Facebook Group that “all the girls know to win under (two world class, multi-group judges) that they had to sit ringside in a low cut blouse with their boobs pushed up”. They actually wrote that and some senior lady judges “tried” to take them to task for those comments, but it persisted. The next week I was judging 40 kids, and one of the young ladies gaited her entry up and back then fumbled for bait somewhere below her neck and above her waist. She finally found the bait, baited her dog, and then put it in her mouth. I WAS DONE. I resigned from judging all breed Juniors soon after.

Click here to read the complete article
18 – August, 2024

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