Thinking About Becoming A Performance Or Field Judge?

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284 – March, 2024

By Chris Robinson

So, you are thinking about becoming a judge of either a performance or field event. Congratulations. You’re to be commended for your dedication to your particular dog sport because, to be perfectly candid, judging is frequently a thankless job. Since many dog sports are outdoor activities, you are always at the mercy of the elements and the insects. In my part of the country, it’s gnats in the spring and early summer followed by deer and horse flies later in the summer and mosquitoes from April until the first hard frost–so every judging assignment will be accompanied by the smell of DEET frequently mixed with sun block.

You will often have to deal with upset handlers. You may be short-staffed and, if you are judging a field event and you get anything to eat at all, the meal will almost always leave a lot to be desired. During the many years I judged hunt tests, I often found myself thinking that an MRE or even some old World War II C-ration, including the hated ham and lima beans, would have been a considerable upgrade from what I was being offered. It didn’t take long to learn that if I was to save my GI tract, I needed to bring my own lunch.

If–knowing all this–you still think you’d like to be a judge, there are some other things you should know; stuff that isn’t covered in the seminars the American Kennel Club offers for prospective judges for your chosen dog sport. These are things that will determine whether you are the kind of judge that handlers appreciate or one where they’d think twice or even decide it would be a cold day in Hell before they’d pay the entry fee when you’re judging. So, based on interviews with long-time competitors and judges in several different dog sports–obedience, rally, agility, herding, earthdog, hunt tests and field trials–as well as my own experiences as a judge or participant, this is something of a “Things to do and things to not do” for prospective and rookie judges.

Click here to read the complete article
284 – March, 2024

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Posted by AnthonyA on Mar 26 2024. 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.