Because it’s a new year, we are programmed to think of an introspective resolution. It’s a time when we look to have a start fresh, lose bad habits, wipe the slate clean, clear a path, and start anew. It is a new year, so it’s time to embrace change. It’s also a great time to consider the bar of quality we have set for the dogs we breed and exhibit. Are we keeping the bar high as breeders? As exhibitors? Have judges been forced to lower their bar? Do we all accept lesser quality than we would have a decade ago?
Aficionados of the sport of dogs start to plan for the coming year in October. The seasoned professional is always planning for the next big thing! Our amateur exhibitors make plans and set goals too. “I want to finish my dog,” is one plan, but those who are plotting towards reaching the Top 10 in their breed are formulating a different plan in October so that they’re ready come January 1 to get moving! They’ve mapped out the year; how they’re going to do it and where they’re going to go, and they’ve budgeted for it. They’ve set a high bar and a lofty goal. I celebrate those goals no matter on which level you are participating. GO FOR IT!
Many of today’s exhibitors believe they are giving a judge a privilege with their entries, whereas before, exhibitors thought it was an honor to show to a particular judge. We sought out their opinions. We conditioned and held dogs back for their assignments. That approach, by and large, is gone. Dog shows are smaller now. There are more of them and they are less competitive. The top quality has been spread out around the country and it’s very easy to finish most dogs these days. By lowering this bar, we accept a different condition of the sport in which many breeds have declined and the best exhibits today are really considered only average by long-time breeders using yesterday’s standards.
What is important at this time of year is to be reminded that the bar must always be set high. Goals should be challenging and difficult to reach. We need to expect better and want for more. Both judge and exhibitor should share in this desire. Sadly, many times, our expectations are not met. I can tell you that there is more disappointment in quality than you might expect. I worry when I hear judges discuss their day and what great dogs they may have had to judge. I wonder if their bar is set too low. Maybe their perspective is off? Average- to low-quality exhibits force judges to lower their bar on quality rather than keep it up where it should be. We can only judge what is in front of us, and it is only after a few justifications of lower-quality dogs that we reach a boiling point, in the judging experience, where we become so offended by the lack of preparation, presentation, and quality that we are FORCED to withhold ribbons from the entry. This really should happen more frequently, but we accept lesser as the norm and move them on. In reality, a judge should be concerned on any given weekend with poor-quality dogs. Or perhaps their frame of reference on the breeds is too low? We should want and require better.
I don’t think many exhibitors today recognize the forgiveness that judges offer. We forgive all the time. We forgive your dog’s missing tooth, its low tailset, its tight rear, its flat foot, and its elbow that is out. We focus on the positive traits and look the other way on those “issues” we don’t like. We try to reward on positive merits, all the while we are keeping in play dogs to be rewarded. We forgive that crooked leg or birthmark on the iris. We forgive lesser quality until we’ve reached the end of our patience, and then, decide to excuse for lacking merit. A judge can become mentally exhausted and insulted by the lack of quality and will withhold awards. I recall a judge friend telling me a story where he had an entry of American Cockers that didn’t have their tails up. He was very upset by this and withheld. (After all, we all agree, MERRY SPANIELS must carry their tails.) Later that same day, his own breed (English Cocker Spaniels) came into the ring with their tails down and he became immediately forgiving. Eventually, he asked himself, “Why is it okay for this dog to be rewarded with its tail down when I’ve already set a precedence that I’m not tolerating it in other breeds?” Well, he shared that he had to withhold in his own breed too. If the bar is set high, you’ve got to apply the rule across the board.
In many low entry breeds today, if you want to have the Number One Dog in Breed points you start now by taking additional dogs to the dog show and get points every time you show. By the end of the year you’re comfortably ahead of the rest of your competition. This is because there are very few weekends of the year when there’s a significant number of entries in that breed. If you go to a couple of those and are successful, you’re in, and you can make up ground within your own kennel. We know how it is done. Been there, done that! I am not sure it is a measure of quality as much as it is a testament to the determination of the owners. But being Number One in a low-entry breed is not a very high bar. It’s a goal that can simply be set and somewhat easily achieved. It’s different when you have a more popular breed. To win Number One Breed points in a competitive breed is a legitimate win and a lofty goal. Two thousand Breed points is impressive and it’s a big deal no matter what breed you have!
A low bar can affect parent clubs too. To produce the winner of a brood bitch award is no longer important to me. I would rather see a Brood Bitch Hall of Fame, where bitches are recognized for the quality they have produced, not necessarily the number of champions. What about the quality of those champions? If you have the space and the network, everyone could have a brood bitch winner because you can eventually just finish them all. But that is not important to the die-hards who have been around. We understand that the true measure of success is not about numbers but rather about the contribution to the breed.
I hear people say, “I just want to be in the Top 10” or “I’d like to be in the Top 20.” In Great Danes, exhibitors talk about being in the Top 25 Owner-Handled. They are roaming the nation all year long to get into that Top 25. They set a goal at the beginning of the year and they make it a mission to achieve certain goals for their dog and for their kennel. And so, they move forward with a high bar in mind. For these people, the start of the new year is very exciting. They’ve set a high bar in a very competitive breed, where many are owner-handled.
Unfortunately, some exhibitors begin the year with a very low bar, and judges have been conditioned to recognize them as traditional or the norm. Truly, these are violations in the sport which are too often passed as being acceptable; all the Daffy in terriers, the dyeing of the saddle in hounds, the taped up, tied-up, or tied-back ears in Yorkies, and the outlines created by over-trimming and over-processing the coats on many popular breeds. The list is a mile long. A manufactured underline is unacceptable in a Setter, Welsh Springer, or Australian Shepherd. They are equally offensive to breeders, yet they’re winning Best in Show awards like crazy. AND we as judges continue to reward them. Many judges have lowered their bar to make it ALLOWABLE to over-barb, dye, and manufacture an outline, sculpt a silhouette, and create a dressed-up version of average only to be rewarded with 40 Best in Show awards. It is disheartening to breeders. It is an Americanization of the breed’s presentation and a lowering of the bar on quality.
The manipulation of the sport’s rules has allowed for many breeds to be dyed. Poodles and Springer Spaniels come to mind. We call it “Bliver” in Springers, and it seems every black Poodle is using black No. 9 in addition to swatches in their topknot. Why is this okay? There are other things too! As a judge, I am not trained to know if there was a neuticle inserted, yet I’m supposed to make a determination under a time constraint. No one has told me how to do this in the 25 years I’ve been judging. I’ve never had a course on how to deal with something that doesn’t just feel right, yet when you feel one you KNOW something is off down there. How do you deal with a dog with one eye? Or one with part of an ear that’s missing? The bar of Judges Education fails to recognize that dogs are not perfect and some are even enhanced beyond recognition of the genetic canine before you. There should be a class on this.
My hope in this new year is that, as judges, we stop some behaviors as the calendar starts over. We should not fall into a lemming mentality and the preordained winner, which seems to happen every March when a lot of the judging becomes mechanical. Remember, we are in the first lap of a horse race now. Everybody is jockeying for position to get ready for the end of the first turn (which is March on the dog show calendar). As an exhibitor, you are all in, looking to just get to the left lane to run it in by year’s end.
I want us to create an environment of higher trust where we can maintain the credibility and sustainability of the sport for everyone so that we have the best of quality. We need to maintain a narrative supporting breeders and exhibitors in an environment of kindness and an exchange of knowledge. It is my opinion that the entire culture of the sport could benefit from some rebranding, and many participates need to have a better awareness of quality or lack thereof. Similarly, there needs to be a willingness on the part of both the exhibitor and the judge to continue to learn. That’s the goal; to create better awareness across the board, which I think starts with identifying some of the challenges we face routinely with quality in the sport. Setting a high bar reminds everyone that we should all have a level of quality in mind that is, hopefully, high and somewhat unobtainable.
As judges, we must be strong enough in our convictions to say that a dog is lacking quality when the entire core of judges is indicating we are wrong. Do you fold under the pressure or do you keep your bar high? The true beauty of the sport is that judging is a singular experience. It’s your own path to take and you have to stay strong.
Last year, I informed my New Year’s Eve guests that it was the year of “making an effort.” This year, we regrouped and I came up with 2025 as the year of “we deserve better.” We don’t want the same, we want better. We want to live better. We want for better. We need to perform to a higher standard across the board. Set your bar higher! And since the sport is driven by goals, why not have this be one of the goals?
