From The Publisher

By now, many in the sport are aware of the directive AKC sent via email to all judges. The subject line read Revisions to the Rules, Policies and Guidelines for Conformation Dog Show Judges. The email contained a post from Judging Operations stating that, “The AKC Board at its July 2021 meeting approved modifications to the Rules, Polices and Guidelines for Conformation Dog Show Judges to provide greater clarity and enhance understanding of AKC’s expectations to individuals who may be approved to judge AKC conformation events.” I won’t publish the details because the modifications are lengthy.

The part that caught everyone’s attention and roused the ire of many seasoned judges was the portion about how to interact with exhibitors in person and on social media. The ‘clarification’ explained that “judges should not attend private functions with exhibitors who have exhibited or may exhibit to them on the same weekend, circuit or cluster.” Basically, it means don’t go to dinner or a party with an exhibitor you judged already or plan to judge during a cluster. Simple enough, right?

The second bullet point that got everyone’s attention was this clarification: “to make clear judges should not promote or denigrate dogs they have or may judge, including commenting and/or posting photos of dogs judged in social media forums.” Again, pretty direct and simple to understand.

Needless to say, there were many judges I spoke to–people I truly respect for not only their knowledge of dogs but also their upstanding character and ethical behavior–who found the ‘clarification’ to be offensive. One judge who I think is one of the best dog men in our sport emailed me about a show he attended and wrote, “I would tell you about a pup I liked but don’t want to get arrested by the AKC police for promoting a dog – those new guidelines are insulting at so many levels.”

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12 – August, 2021

Posted by AnthonyA on Aug 7 2021. 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.