Page 68 - ShowSight - December 2019

CONFORMATION DOG SHOW JUDGES
BY DR. ANDREA BRADFORD
PART 3 — HOW DFO WE GET WHAT WE WANT?
irst of all, • There are too many shows and that has required too many given that the judges to be approved to cover the shows;
things we want • We are approving the wrong people to judge, and making the are sometimes process to become approved so difficult that the right people
always get what we want (apologies to the Roll- ing Stones). We know that we have judges with varying education and training, and a wide vari- ation in hands on experi- ence in the ring. We do not want all judges to have the same opinion about everything, but we do want their opinions to
be based in the Breed Standards with attention to type, structure and function. We all have opinions about what has happened in the ring and what needs to happen. It seems rare that we work together to try to come to some definition of what the problem is and how to make it better.
What, then, is the problem that we seem to have? The things heard consistently include:
a judge;
• We are approving breeds too rapidly and no one can ade-
quately learn so many breeds adequately in the time frames
between application and approval;
• We need a different venue for “new judges” to learn by doing; • We need a way to provide feedback that is meaningful to the
judges and actionable by AKC.
Are there too many shows? If there were fewer shows and fewer
judges, would that improve the quality of judging? Would it mean that judges would have better entries, better experience, and more exposure to low entry breeds? Entries seem to have decreased in shows across the country, including those areas that have fewer shows. We have, in some areas more than others, deserted our com- munities for venues in the area of another club, and for four and five day clusters of shows. Exhibitors are now able to choose where they exhibit and who they exhibit to in a way that was not possible in the past. Would they go back to entering at shows with larger entries where there would consistently be more losing than win- ning? Has winning become more important than comparing your
contradictory, we can’t are not willing or able to go through what it takes to become
“WE DO NOT WANT ALL JUDGES TO HAVE THE SAME OPINION ABOUT EVERYTHING, BUT WE DO WANT THEIR OPINIONS TO BE BASED IN THE BREED STANDARDS WITH ATTENTION TO TYPE, STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION.
WE ALL HAVE OPINIONS ABOUT WHAT HAS HAPPENED IN THE RING AND WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN. IT SEEMS RARE THAT WE WORK TOGETHER TO TRY TO COME TO SOME DEFINITION OF WHAT THE PROBLEM IS AND HOW TO MAKE IT BETTER.”
66 • ShowSight Magazine, DeceMber 2019