I'll try and give my thoughs on some of the questions in this post. I've had 10 - 12 yrs in the breed ring at probably the lowest level. Owner handler! Yo also have breeder handler and professionally handled dogs.
I handled a few dogs that weren't my own simply because I had a bit of luck showing good dogs of my own and some folks liked wihat they saw with the connections I made with the dogs. That DOES NOT make me a professional handler.
The judges are paid by the number of dogs they see in the ring. They know who the professionals are.
NOW, if you were paid on the number of dogs you see then you KNOW that such and such a por handler is going to show however many dogs in a yrs time as compaired to joe blow who shows up with one dog every now and then. In other words he knows where his pay check is. Don't get me wrong, the Pros "usually"' only handle good dogs. I can honestly say that the majority of times I've been beaten in the classes it has been by a better dog.
Classes
You can't show a dog before it's 6 months old. I always started in the puppy class with a young dog/pup. That is either Puppy Dog or Puppy Bitch class.
The next normal level is the Open class. Open dog or Open Bitch.
we then have the specials class. That is dogs that have earned their CH title.
In that specials class will be both dog and bitches with their CH, Open Dog and Open Bitch, Puppy Dog and Puppy Bitch.
They compete against one another and ANY of them can become Best of Breed. The BOB will be either a dog or a bitch and the runner up of the opposite sex will be BOS, Best Opposite sex. Of the Open Class it will be Winners dog or Winners Bitch. The Opposite sex of that will be Reserve winner. Same with Puppy dog or Puppy bitch.
Once the BOB is determined then that one dog or bitch will enter the Group ring. My group, terriers) has 20 some odd terriers so they will all go against one another for Best In Group and there will be four placements. ALL prestigeous but only the Best in Group will go into the Best in show ring. That means one dog or bitch from each of 7 groups. Toy, Non-sporting, Hound, working, herding, etc, etc.
In the BIS class the judge basis his "judgement on which one is closest to THEIR standard and NOT against the dog in the ring with them. Do these judges know exactly what each or these breed should be? Well, they should know the standards as per written but I've seen many that didn't really know what they were looking at. What then? Remember, at this level they "should" all be good dogs to be where they are so how do they choose?
The judges know all the past yrs big winners because they read the show results in the record books. They also know all the breeders and handlers and may very well have judged some of the dog in the past year. They may even have handled for some of these Breeders in the past.
Who wins? They are all excellent dogs...or should be.
I'm not saying it's all fixed but politics do play a part.
This is all JMHO and again. I'm not really saying it fixed. I've had some excellent wins against big named dog and big named handlers but once the individual dog becomes a CH that Specials class is a whole nuther game.
As to the dog showing well, it's VERY important. The Fox hound for instance. I think it was Betty commented how well it moved with it's head up. #1 It's been trained as a pup for that "look". #2 they are also bred for "that look". I've never seen a show line Beagle that didn't walk like it owned the ring. A terrier that doesn't look like it just conquered the world will get no where no matter how it was trained or bred. The only two losses I really felt I was ran over with a truck was against dogs that had to practically be drug aruond the ring. THAT'S why you keep a log about what judges will put up who's dogs no matter what's in the ring. What judges like your "type" dog, etc.
You don't know who is showing against you until you get the catalog show ring times and #s of dogs. You look at your log and GUESS based on locality and who's judging and make guesses. You don;'t actually know the competition until you get to the show. I've seen large #s i the catalog that don't show up simply because such and such a dog is here with such and such a handler and so ans so is judging. I've seen 6-8 month old puppies win BIS. Are they REALLY that good? Their handler sure is.
Again, this is all JMHO becaue I had some great wins but there are realities to the game.
old dogs LOVE to learn new tricks
Re: Thoughts on Westminster?
Top
Actually, I think it would really cool experiment would to have a series of dogs OBJECTIVELY judged according to breed standard (measurements taken and photographed etc), and then have them judged by a series of judges, to see if judges can accurately pick the "best" dog.
Previous Topic
Index
Next Topic.jpg)
