IMHO – The Path to Success for Judges Completing their 1st Group
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By Elaine Lessig
Debbie Davis – AKC Judge
To encourage new judges, share three paths to success when trying to complete your first group.
A) Start before you get old; I am not kidding about this. You can continue to breed and exhibit within your own breed AND judge under the AKC guidelines. To do the group correctly, you need to start early, keep good records, and fulfill the new applicant requirements such as stewarding. I love judging and that is important. If you do not like what you are doing, you will never excel at it.
B) Understand and study the breeds to their fullest. Applying for breeds and only getting the required points that enable you to apply does not mean you understand the breed. I have always only applied for a breed once I felt I understood the breed and, even then, when you start judging you will have questions about priorities and styles. That is one reason it has taken me longer to get the Sporting Group. Many times–in low entry breeds–you get very few and the quality may not be as stated in the standard. That’s when you go back to your mentors and have a discussion about what you are seeing. Map out how you will approach the group and decide which breeds should be studied together such as the four setters or the six retrievers. Studying one will inevitably overlap the others and lead to a greater understanding of the nuances of each breed.
C) Always want to continue to learn. Go to specialties and nationals even after you have been approved. Watching quality dogs and having discussions with multiple breeders will only help you with judging your breeds and improve your eye.
Tell us three pitfalls to avoid when trying to obtain your first group.
A) Rushing to get as many breeds as you can. AKC allows you to gradually add more breeds after you are approved for your initial breeds. Just because you got one or more breeds your first application doesn’t mean you just apply for the maximum allowed the next time! Ask the question “AM I ready to walk in a ring and judge those breeds competently?” You may have the points to apply, but are you ready? I see many judges apply for as many as they can and who are not proficient in judging those breeds when approved. You do not want to be one of those judges.
B) The biggest pitfall for me was AKC changing the judging requirements three times while I was working on my initial group. That held me up, but I adjusted and moved forward.
C) A final difficulty for me was that I was working full-time. I traveled internationally for business and getting to Nationals and Specialties wasn’t always easy. Start looking at the breeds you want early and use a calendar to mark Nationals and Specialties so you can attend as many as possible and develop relationships with breeders.
Lloyd Constantine-Amodei – AKC Judge
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Short URL: https://caninechronicle.com/?p=216150
Posted by AnthonyA
on Nov 17 2021. Filed under Current Articles, Featured.
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