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Judging dogs requires skill, experience, and discernment. Learn how to navigate challenges and maintain high standards in the ring.
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When you judge, you have an opportunity to show the depth of your knowledge to those who entered to you for your opinion. The more you judge, the more opportunities you have to hone your craft and train your eye to sort and reward quality. Well, that is the theory at least!
As you start your path in judging, you are hired by a friend who runs a show, another new judge who runs a show, or even your local show. This is common. These are stepping stones to something bigger. At every dog show, someone will take notice of your ability and say, “I’d like to have that person on my panel” or, “They did a really good job in Dalmatians, so we’re going to have them do Dalmatians for us at our show.” That’s how you gain a following as a judge in the sport of purebred dogs. You earn your assignments by being capable.
As a judge, you often become popular regionally first. Gaining a following where you become well-known and well-liked away from your own state requires more exposure. Your opinion on a breed matches the opinions of the breeders of the area; the locals enjoy your opinion; and you identify with the TYPE of dogs in the region. The level of quality is to your liking and it is rewarded accordingly. There is a successful feeling here—accomplishment for both judge and exhibitor, and you are invited back.
As you progress with additional breeds and more assignments, those appointments will take you to other areas of the country with dogs that may differ from those you are more familiar with. There will come a time when you are asked to judge in an area that you don’t often frequent, or that is more remote, and the quality you are familiar with is simply not there. Here is where you may start to struggle, and perhaps doubt your confidence. You can be faced with an entry in a breed that you are normally extremely capable of judging but, all of a sudden, you think, “I really don’t like any of these. None of them have the make and shape and everything I’m looking for when I judge this breed.” In that moment, you are lost. You are confused by the challenge of having to make something out of nothing.
When you advance as a judge, you are educated on the best specimens of the breed. You go to National Specialties, you do a hands-on, you take a breed course, you take seminars, you take institutes, you do all the requisite requirements and you expose yourself to some of the most beautiful animals the breed has during your education process. Then, six to nine months later, you are approved to provisionally judge the breed and that’s when you start to practice your skills. You practice on the entrants. You practice your knowledge, your training, to evaluate the breed in front of you, and those dogs oftentimes have no remote resemblance to the ones you saw in the classroom. This is the process. Hence, the dilemma.
I’ve been giving this some brain space recently. I’ve heard a judge or two say, “Well, it just didn’t matter who won because I didn’t like any of them” or, “I just ended up picking one, because they were all bad.” These subpar entries are not adjudicated the same as those filled with wonderful examples. I find myself TRYING to make something work and often fail because there are no good choices. It is a no-win situation for any judge. What I have learned is that these entries say more about the breeders who bred these dogs than it does about the judge who is faced with making the difficult decisions on that day. Judges know the difference between good and bad, even if some might struggle to select between good and great.
The challenge of judging mediocre entries is a result of many things; a judge’s experience and knowledge, show location, breeder ability, and lack of breeder mentorship, to name just a few. There are desolate wastelands for breeds all over the world, where breeders function without a guide. Areas where there have been no successful breeders and no architect of the breed present. Yet a judge can draw large entries in a breed there, but the entries lack any real depth of quality. Mind you, there may be prolific breeders in the area but they don’t appear to be very adept at producing the level of quality you expected. Instead, they’re breeding a very midline or below average level and they tend to show them all. Many Toy breeds suffer to these folks. So, you can find large majors in these breeds with very few deserving of them.
The challenge for you, as a judge, is how to prioritize on such a low level—a very different skill set than your classroom training on the superior dogs. Unfortunately, for the exhibitors, they often don’t know that what they have is unworthy. They have no idea of the level of quality they’re bringing to you. For me, this is the biggest problem for the future of the sport. Once again, the entry is less of a reflection on your ability as a judge and more of a reflection of the breeders’ inability to breed quality dogs. A hard lesson for both judge and exhibitor.
As a judge, you ask, “How did this happen? Why is this phenomenon going on?” Well, I believe the influential breeders of the area are gone and the talent behind those breeders, maybe kennel managers or handlers of those breeds, have retired. These locations are missing some important knowledge and inspiration for breeders. They are missing a mentor or top breeder/handler to guide them, to help make good choices prior to breeding, and long before they plan to show. There is no Bill Trainer, no Maxine Beam, no Ric Chashoudian, no legacy breeder to put a stamp on the breed. And so it becomes a little frightening, as we watch the “graying” of the sport, that we start to see that lower level of quality become pervasive and almost accepted so that, in a particular region, breeders only know their breed locally. And yet, if you are experienced and you are traveling the country judging, you know there is life out there beyond that.
This is why so many National Breed Clubs move from region to region to expose breeders to other dogs; to show breeders the dogs that might inspire them to elevate their breeding programs. And it’s why those better-quality dogs are celebrated, and hopefully, emulated in other breeding programs and rewarded over and over again.
I remember in my own breed, Clumber Spaniels, we’ve had our National in very remote areas where I remember seeing the local breeders’ dogs and thinking, “Look at the consistency of the faults of these animals—not the virtues.” They had locked in some pretty major structural faults and these faults had become the norm. I saw three generations of dogs with steep croups and very low tails, and thought, “How did you not get away from that?” Well, it’s due to the breeders’ remoteness and their isolation, and not knowing there are better options and a way out, away from that.
Unfortunately, the easy route becomes just more palatable to most breeders who are satisfied with winning locally and competing with their own offspring. There is this lack of an investment of time to grow animals out, and breeders who can be too quick to place the offspring. I’ve said in a previous article that the selection of potential show dogs is a s-l-o-w process. The longer you keep dogs, the longer you ensure their quality. You’re aware of their quality when they leave. This requires an investment of time that most breeders are not all willing to do.
This is where the lack of breeder education is negatively affecting our sport. Judges can only work with what they have before them. The true issue is learning how to make good choices for the whelping box, not the show ring. If we would all step back and put our breeding caps back on, to learn or TEACH a breed, we could all benefit. Today, the vast majority of people are not breeding on a large scale. They’re breeding because they have a finished champion and they’ve gotten excited about the social aspects of the sport. They may have met new people and they are going to fun places, and they are having dinner out with friends, but they do not aspire to be the next Vin-Melca. These people are enjoying just staying active with something to show. Perhaps that’s okay, too. This level in investment keeps the numbers game happy, even if it is difficult for many to adjust to.
The sport has an opportunity here to ask parent clubs to develop more breeders’ education programming. Let’s all work to bring in the new breeder, or aspiring breeder, to the discussion. We can harness their excitement for their chosen breed and give them the tools early on. Clubs can simplify the process by teaching them the best practices for producing better dogs. Focus on whelping box results and less on show ring results. Serious preservation breeders know there is nothing more rewarding than producing the dog you have designed in your head, heart, and pedigrees.
The sorting process is not always straight forward, whether you are a judge or breeder. The selection is based on your experience, research, and knowledge. As a breeder, you must be open to the messages delivered in a judge’s results—and learn from them. As a judge, you must continue your education process. Judges should be hard graders. They must keep the bar of quality high on the breeds they love and invest in. Let us not be so easily impressed. One should not mistake a cubic zirconia for a diamond. It may look and act and present like a diamond, but it is not a diamond. It is counterfeit. Breeders and judges alike must not be fooled. We know that, even though it sparkles, it can’t hold up to the pressure.
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