IMHO – What Three Words Best Describe Good Judges?

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180 – May, 2021

By Elaine Lessig

Daryl Martin – Professional Handler and Breeder

Which 3 words would you use to describe good judges and why?

Experienced, Knowledgeable, and Pleasant.

True great judges have been around for a while, and by that I mean in different respects to our dog community. I feel experience not only takes good experiences at either breeding or exhibiting, but also bad experiences, too. In this day and age people want to rise to the top immediately. However, you learn from experience. For instance, all dog people generally start with pets. When they are introduced to showing dogs or seeing dogs of quality, the competition spirit takes over. Then they realize they need a better dog and start looking for better quality in order to win in the ring. Many people are involved with the breeding aspect, the nurturing of the puppies, watching how they develop, planning the next litter, studying pedigrees, and talking to breeders. There are many ups and downs when raising puppies. A bigger step is campaigning dogs–not just finishing them but taking them to the next level. Their circle of friends and dogs grow, and their eye grows with respect to other breeds. This is where the knowledge of other breeds happens while comparing your dog to the other competition and in the other breeds you are competing against. All of a sudden you start studying the other breeds to assess why they are beating you or not. These people, while not always actually raising some breeds, do become more knowledgeable about them when discussing them with their competition.

With this passion for experience and knowledge, judges need to be pleasant to the exhibitors in order to encourage new people and also to be able to communicate to people as an educator whether they are giving knowledge, or still learning. Anyone knows that true great dog people continue to learn no matter how many years they have been involved in the sport of purebred dogs.

What 3 words would you use to describe the current judging community and why?

Old guard, Experienced and Newbies…

We have very few old guard dog judges left. No matter what happened in the ring when you exhibited, many of the old guard just had a great eye for a dog. But they also knew the essence of the breeds–which was very important–and the balance and proper gaits for them, too. When I am talking about experience judges, I am talking about many breeders or handlers that showed and then became judges because they love the sport and wanted to continue their next step of life in dogs. They had so many hands-on experiences. The newbies are many of our judges today. They really don’t have the full experience gained from associating with many generations of breeders and exhibitors. Many are retired people that enjoy traveling around the country; and many run clusters of dog shows. They can easily take the tests–they are educated in that respect–and they can be cordial to people and handle groups of people well. However, I do not feel they are the true die-hard dog person we used to have a few decades ago. In this day and age, new breeders that become judges have not had the experiences of the great judges I refer to. The way our local legislation is today, it is difficult to have lines of dogs and large numbers of dogs. Many people in our sport are instant wannabes, just wanting to see how many groups they can acquire quickly in order to be hired at shows. Today’s show budgets dictate how panels are put together and don’t always focus on the quality of judges. But again, they are a reflection of our breeders and handlers of today, too. The world has changed, but we have to face what we are dealing with in order to survive! I do feel there are some great upcoming judges that take their jobs very seriously and take the time to learn from many people involved in a breed they are interested in judging. Learning from many people with varied opinions is very important. I don’t think exhibitors realize judges also must have the full experience of judging for a while in order to form their own opinions about how they interpret the breed standards. Of course, the quality or number of the entry determines how long a judge becomes comfortable judging that breed.

Brandon Edge – AKC Judge

Which 3 words would you use to describe good judges and why?

Click here to read the complete article
180 – May, 2021

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