From The Publisher
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I want to preface this editorial by saying I love the sport of dogs. I have devoted well over half of my life to the sport as a professional handler, breeder and magazine publisher. There is not enough space on this page for me to list the positive experiences this sport has the potential to offer participants.
However, I get discouraged when I see the lack of effort put forth by those in charge of some (not all) of the sport’s largest, most prestigious shows to hire the most qualified judges possible for their event. It is the responsibility of these people to put forth the effort to find qualified judges for every breed, as well as the groups and Best in Show. Unfortunately, as everyone wearing an armband knows, sadly this is not the case.
Frankly, I am dismayed when I see a judge on the panel of our country’s largest shows judging large entries of breeds where they are provisional. Many times these are not even breeds from the group of their original breed. How can they have the experience to judge these breeds if they are still provisional? How can they have credibility with the exhibitors or knowledgeable spectators? Who in their right mind thinks this is fair to people who paid a great deal of money to attend their show?
I get phone calls and emails about this issue on a regular basis. These are not biased messages from people angry because they lost. Most of the conversations begin with ‘why’. Why did they give this person my breed when they knew it would be a big entry with the better dogs from the region, if not the country? Why did they give that judge the group at a quality show when they seem to struggle to find the better dogs in low-quality entries? Why did they give that judge Best in Show when they have no credentials to back up such an assignment other than being politically connected because they run a large show themselves or happen to hold a prestigious position with some dog-related organization? Why did they hire the president of a foreign registry to judge a breed or group where they lack knowledge? The questions, to me, are very hard to answer without sounding cynical.
I have written about this subject before, but I am going to reiterate my opinion one more time. I think it is the duty of every show chairman or anyone with hiring duties at our most prestigious shows to endeavor to hire specialists or, at the very least, experienced judges for every breed at their show. I think it is paramount that they hire group judges who actually understand the group they are judging and have the respect of the exhibitors in that group. I think it is absolutely required that they award Best in Show to a judge who can determine the best of the seven before him based on the standards for those breeds, not based on who they know or which dog is the best showdog. If the person doing the hiring doesn’t have the knowledge or integrity to accomplish this task, they should step aside and let someone with those qualities do the job.
Short URL: https://caninechronicle.com/?p=95538
Posted by ralbee
on Dec 30 2015. Filed under Current Articles, Editorial, Featured.
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