David Merriam – This “Dog Man” Has Done It All!

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86 – The Annual, 2023-24

By Amy Fernandez

Entries have flat-lined for years. It’s no longer possible to cite specific existential factors and dismiss them as temporary blips in our big picture. That picture didn’t really improve following economic recovery after 2008. Nor has it gotten much better in our post-Covid era. There’s no shortage of theories explaining this but the most consistently stated reason comes back to the age-old complaint of bad judging.

AKC devotes a considerable chunk of resources to educating, evaluating and observing their judges. Rules and procedures are constantly tweaked. Even judges admit that they have trouble keeping up with the ever-changing AKC policies.

Has the quality of judging actually deteriorated that much in recent years? That’s hard to say considering that complaints of this nature have been part of the sport from the beginning. James Watson, in his 1906 masterpiece The Dog, offered detailed advice on selecting judges and avoiding choices that were guaranteed to kill entries. Unfair and incompetent judging was already a hot button issue–in a year when AKC sanctioned a grand total of 57 shows!

A few years later, the British periodical, The Kennel, ran a lengthy editorial on this controversy. Penned by the prolific and insightful breeder/judge and author Harding Cox, it stated the problem bluntly, saying that selecting judges was inevitably a roll of the dice for any show committee. “They can only go on what capacity these gentry have shown as successful breeders and exhibitors, which is, in reality, a sorry recommendation, per se, for judicial duties. A judge is born, not made…experience and academic knowledge are useful adjuncts, but they are valueless without the special attributes which command the appreciation, the respect, and the confidence of the general body of exhibitors.” Cox actually provided a list of “desirable faculties” which he considered essential for proficient judging.

Click here to read the complete article
86 – The Annual, 2023-24

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Posted by AnthonyA on Jan 1 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.