Dog Judging, Rumors and Reality Checks

AKC judge Lee Whittier, founder of Dog Show Mentor and a former AKC Field Rep, and host Laura Reeves talk turkey about judging, judges, the process and the results.

Some of the key take-aways from the conversation:

• Judges are not all created equal. Some ARE better than others.
• Judges WANT and TRY to do a good job.
• Judges spend a LOT of time, money and grief to earn the honor of presiding from the center of the ring. Check out the YouTube video of the PureDogTalk Friday Night Forum panel discussion. Current AKC Executive Field Representative Bryan Martin, and AKC judges Brian Meyer and Sylvie McGee share a TON of information about the process of becoming an AKC approved judge.
• What a judge sees in the center of the ring is often WAY different than what you see outside the ring. When you see a dog week in and week out, the accumulated knowledge may, in some cases, create a different picture than what the judge has during his/her 2 minutes in the ring.
• Judges are NOT hatched from an egg! I say this all the time at the panel discussions. I think exhibitors forget this part. All judges started at basically the same place you are today. They showed dogs, they bred dogs, they schlepped the gear and scooped the poop, they drove the miles and slept in the sketchy hotel rooms. Every single judge in the ring has been there, done that and most likely a whole lot more.
• Lee and I agree that we risk accusations of being a bit Pollyanna and acknowledge that bad apples exist, but that we, the exhibitors, should not allow them to spoil the whole basket.
• Exhibitors will get the most enjoyment from their dog show experiences if they choose a positive social group, do a little research about their judges and try not to get wrapped up in the rumor-mongering when it happens.

Make sure you download and listen to the episode for more “inside insights”