Inside The Sport
JUDGING IS FORGIVING AND A LOT OF OTHER THINGS TOO! By Pat Trotter
M
y recent column spotlighting expert mentors produced some reader responses that surprised me. Evidently, not everyone who is successful in a breed is willing to mentor, according to a couple of reports from judges and longtime breeders who are ready to move on from their first group to another. On the other hand, it has also been brought to my attention that master breeders are seldom approached by an individual for further mentoring once that person has been granted that breed. Now what’s wrong with that picture? If most who seek mentors are doing it just in order to accumulate paperwork and run the drill, what does it say about the meaning of the dog show? Consider that many of the very important questions facing judges occur in the process of judging the breed rather than during the preparation process of seminars, mentoring and other activities required by AKC prior to judging approval. Vital to the cause is understanding that judging is a continual learning process. The best advice then for any who would judge a breed is to seek competent mentors in the beginning and then to continue to pursue the learning process by addressing those questions that come to mind once you start judging the breed. As for any master breeder approached by a judge for help, please find the time to work with that individual. Your contribution might very well be more valuable than you’ll ever know. The judging of dogs is a forgiving process just as is the breeding of dogs. Those who identify only faults in the dogs are oblivious to the fact that the absence of faults does not guarantee the presence of virtues. In seeking
the desired traits we recognize that there are tradeoffs in the selection of breeding stock-whether it occurs in the show ring or in your own backyard. Breed improvement is absolutely dependent upon identifying the strengths and weaknesses of each individual and factoring all into the decision-making process. Without a spiritual yet unwritten bond between knowledgeable judges and knowledgeable breeders, lesser dogs become the accepted norm, and breed improvement that took place for decades prior to this century has been wasted. Consider an interesting experience I had a few years ago. Even though I do not judge the breed in question, they do appear in my BIS rings. Thus when the opportunity presented itself at a show where I was not judging, I asked the breed’s acknowledged master breeder if he would give me a repeat mentoring session and allow me to examine yet another of his many outstanding BIS dogs. (He was planning to retire this dog so it would never appear in my ring). At the completion of this second session, I thanked him profusely and stated something to the effect that I know he must stay very busy mentoring people all the time on his popular breed. It totally shocked me when he replied that only a handful of judges had ever discussed the breed with him as we were doing. In fact, it seems some had come to him for mentoring prior to applying for the breed, but
rarely did they ever ask for further guidance once granted the breed. Because I have never been one to seek just one opinion on any subject, I also went to other breeders and breederjudges to discuss this breed in depth and continue to do so. At the same time the valuable guidance of this master breeder remains the most meaningful for me. As a retired educator, I am fully cognizant of the fact that certain details of any subject can be forgotten if not reviewed from time to time. Some animal judging organizations require continuing education and testing regularly after permission has been granted to judge the breed! An operative word in this context is permission which plays into AKC’s rather recent use of the term permit along with the designation of provisional judge. Sometimes it seems provisional judges get rubber-stamped to move on even though their knowledge of the breeds they have begun to judge is questionable. Other times it seems competent provisional judges are given more hoops to jump through due to evaluators who might know less about the breeds in question than the provisional judge. Since it took me 35 years to get out of the 8th grade, I’m no authority on a lot of subjects. But one thing that was clear early on was this fact: When a student knows more than you do about a given subject, learn from that student so you can become a better teacher. Of course for that to happen, the teacher has to recognize when the student is better informed on the subject! If indeed some take for granted their status as a judge, it is a disturbing situation. If there is a school of thought that once ordained no further learning is required, it bodes sadly for the future of our sport. How do newbies who know little learn if those who wear the badges are unable to guide them? My definition of the ideal judge is one who combines knowledge, integrity, civility and guidance to those who would learn. Judges can and do play an integral role in getting a new exhibitor with an inferior exhibit inspired to start the workoriented process to eventual master breeder status. Staying dedicated to this goal is in the best interest of the most important players in our sportTHE DOGS!
“Sometimes it seems
provisional judges get rubberstamped to move on even though their knowledge of the breeds they have begun to judge is questionable.”
14 Dog News