The Tarnished Crown

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76 – May, 2025

By Wayne Cavanaugh

You’re a judge and your first class of the day is a typical 2-0-1-1 entry. It’s your opinion that the two class-dogs are very poor examples of the breed, but they are bathed and in good condition. The exhibitors are quite pleasant. The first dog is almost leash-trained, the other not so much. Because of their lack of quality, it crosses your mind to withhold but you don’t want the hassle to start the day. It’s just two dogs, no big deal. So, you take them around and point–one-two. The steward has the ribbons sorted and ready to go. You hand out the first and winners ribbon, and the second and reserve ribbon, mark your book and get ready for the specials.

Congratulations. You’ve just crowned a new champion. You’ve awarded the last point the Winners Dog needed to finish.

Judges are not supposed to consider how many points they are awarding for Winners, so there’s no reason to know the point schedule. However, increasingly, there is one constant worth consideration: a dog of any breed in any division that defeats one dog earns one point.* Therefore, if you don’t withhold in that particular situation, you may end up in a win photo with the New Champion sign. The photo could end up in a magazine or social media with your name in bold print. Uh-oh.

Of course, it could be worse. If one of the two specials was absent and the other went lame, your hideous New Champion is automatically Best of Breed; and while it’s true that judges may withhold at any point in the judging process, there are exceptions.** One of those exceptions is that once you award winners, you cannot withhold Best of Breed. Oops. I can hear the whispers around the group ring–“Who did those?”

Click here to read the complete article
76 – May, 2025

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Posted by AnthonyA on May 9 2025. 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.