Inside the Mind of a Judge
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114 – June, 2022
By Sandy Weaver
Do you ever wonder what judges think about as they’re surveying the dogs in their ring?
Exhibitors are counseled by their mentors to watch judges and try to figure out what they’re looking for in their breed, group or Best In Show. This is a marvelous exercise, but it can often be a confounding one. You see, most exhibitors are focused on faults, while few judges are.
As the late Annie Rogers Clark said, “Fault judging is negative judging, and negative judging not only is non-productive when evaluating breeding stock, it gives you a headache at the end of the day.”
Since the purpose of conformation shows is the evaluation of breeding stock in order to produce the best possible representatives of a breed, you can see the point that Mrs. Clark was making. Eliminating dogs because they have faults would not recognize the virtues those same dogs might have. And since all dogs have faults, fault judging would end up eventually ending breeds and the sport of showing dogs!
In an effort to get everyone on the same page, we’ve picked the brains of some judges. The responses fell into three general categories–about the dogs, about the handlers, and about the process of judging.
About the Dogs
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114 – June, 2022
Short URL: https://caninechronicle.com/?p=233467
Posted by AnthonyA
on Jun 8 2022. Filed under Current Articles, Featured.
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