Judging Approvals – The Brumby Touch

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74 – September, 2025

By Wayne Cavanaugh

There are few things in our sport that are more contentious than the AKC judging approval process for conformation judges. It’s been changing since the beginning of dog shows to keep up with shifts in our sport and the societal norms in which we live. In each iteration there seems to be a quest for fairness that involves more tests and point systems, and less human input and flexibility. We live in a world where everyone expects a participation trophy–a world that assumes that fairness is always fair. Has hyper-focusing on fairness erased too much flexibility, too much human input in the judging approval process?

Throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s there was an unofficial, human-centered adjunct to the approval system. It was based on observations by a few AKC executives of the era, most notably was AKC senior vice-president Leonard B. Brumby, Jr.

There were far fewer dog shows in those days–about a third of the 1,800 annual all-breed shows we have today. Because of the smaller scale of the sport, AKC’s top executives could attend a much higher percentage of shows. With the larger breed entries of that era, judges could be better evaluated. Mr. Brumby, a highly respected dogman from a family of the same, was front and center at ringside every weekend. Brumby knew the breeders, exhibitors, handlers, and dogs. He’d observe serious people with a history of breeding and showing good dogs.

If he thought you were ready to become a judge or were a judge that he thought should be advanced, he’d tell you that you were ready to judge whatever he deemed appropriate. Sometimes a judge would tell Mr. Brumby they didn’t think they were ready. He’d tell them they were. Case closed. The man had a gift. Getting it right was more important than making it look good.

Click here to read the complete article
74 – September, 2025

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