It is the first Friday in February and Jodi of Heart Like A Dog has asked me to co-host Follow-up Friday again. FUF is always so much fun so I am glad to oblige. Thanks Jodi of Heart Like A Dog for the opportunity!
Follow-up Friday is the the blog hop that:
Lets you wrap up your week and leads you right into the weekend.
More great questions this week, so let’s go!
On Tuesday’s post What To Work On , Jodi commented:
But I’ve often wondered (when watching a show on TV) why the Judge chose one breed over another for Best In Show. Does preference come into play? For instance I’m sure I would more drawn to a lab than I would say to a Basset Hound (not that there’s anything wrong with Basset Hounds.)
The judges are supposed to be judging each dog against the standard for that dog and not against one another. So for example, the Judge should be looking at the Lab and judging it against the Lab standard and the Basset Hound should be judged against the Basset Hound standard. It is not an easy job.
Judge’s spend long days on their feet looking at dog after dog and have seconds to make a choice. It can be a thankless job. They do it for love of the sport and those of us who participate owe them a debt of gratitude because without them, there would be no shows. When we pay our fee all we ask is that the judge look at our dog and be nice to puppies. 🙂
But did you ever wonder how the commentators of some of the more high-profile shows know which dogs are in contention for “Best In Show” before the show even takes place? Well that is where politics come into play. Owners who aspire to the big prizes under take what is called “campaigning a dog”. Campaigning involves hiring a professional handler, (although some handle their own dogs, but not often), and attending dogs shows every weekend. If you can follow a judge or a couple of judges around that you know like your dog or your handler, all the better. Most take out ads in the trade magazines showcasing their dogs. Think of it as creating buzz about the dog. It is very expensive!
To my mind the truly special dogs are those that can manage a Best In Show without all of the above. It happens now and again. Thunder’s grandfather Joshua was such a dog.
becomingcliche shared that she once got a helpful critique of her dog after the show. That is great. Most judges can be very helpful, especially if they are familiar with the breed.
Once we entered a show and the judge was an extremely petite lady. She walked up to Thunder, who I think came up to her chest, and commented to his handler: “That dog should be hunting lions, not ducks”. Needless to say, that did not go over so well with us. I suppose she was making a joke, but we did not know here well enough to know for sure. Thunder had a couple of hunting seasons under his belt by then and had at least one hunt test title. If I remember right, he may have been one of the only dogs entered that day who actually went hunting. Sometimes judges can’t see everything about a dog in the ring.
Nicole wanted to know if I ever thought about handling myself. No, I am just your humble photographer/reporter/dog holder. My husband likes handling the dogs and I like taking pictures, so it works. I did put a CGC on Storm and that was enough stress for me. 🙂
On Wednesday’s post, Hawk aka BrownDog wanted to know:
What do y’all do with the browndawgs when you have ice storms?
They usually hunker down safe and warm inside. We have had a bit of ice this winter, but mostly cold temperatures, wind and snow.
On This ‘N That Thursday, Jane Parry asked:
I have tried to whistle sit Rudy and Rio without much success. Any tips? Or is it just more and more practise? I bet your dogs are very steady when you send them off? My 2 tend to do everything at 100 mph which makes it hard to get them to listen sometimes!!!
Sometimes when the dog blows off the whistle, we will use a voice command. “SIT!!!” 🙂 You can poke around the web and look for drills. Drills and practice are very important.
deborahrhodes thought I could post pictures of the other brown dawgs I took pictures of on Saturday. People would think we got some new dogs and she could point people here. 😆 No problem! Unfortunately, the sun was in a bad place and most of the pictures from that part of the day did not turn out great. But I did get a couple. 🙂
It was nice training with you Deb. 🙂 Just be patient, it will come for Gunner.
Winter has returned here. I am not sure how the weather will be this weekend. It looks cold and snowy. Oh and Storm has come into season…joy!
Have a nice weekend!
This is a blog hop!
I don’t have a pretty link for you, but for WordPress users, here is the link script. Copy and paste into the text screen on your post to add it. 🙂
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Great explanation of “campaigning” … your posts have made the world of dog shows very clear to your readers…and I’ll say again that I love your posts about hunt training…the photo of Thunder with his ducks is wonderful…Thanks for co-hosting a fun FUF
You explain dog shows so clearly!
Always interesting follow-ups, I learn so much that I’d never have known, being an “outsider spectator” to the dog show world.
As always…thank you for co-hosting, we love having you!
Thanks for answering my questions, even though I would be judging dogs based upon breed standards, I would still probably favor Labs. Which is why I’m not a judge. 🙂
Will you be trying to breed Storm this time around, or are you giving her a break?
Have a great weekend!!
No no, we are not breeders…lol. But she is going back to her breeder’s house this weekend to try with a different stud dog. We’ll see. 🙂
Hi Guys,
It’s great that you shared more about conformation, I know my Mum wondered if the judges breed preference would come into the decision too?
Have a fun weekend,
Your pal Snoopy 🙂
Well I never would have thought. Campaigning your dog! Sounds deadly serious and taking out ads too. Mind you suppose the same happens here with serious breeders. You have opened up a whole new world to us. Have a fabulous Friday.
Best wishes Molly
The campaigning is what really bothers me about dog shows. Spending thousands of dollars to defeat a more worthy dog and owner seems highly dishonest.
I guess that is one way to look at it. But I look at it as someone passionate about their hobby. I hate to say how much we have spent on training over the years. I don’t agree that all dogs who are campaigned are not worthy. Many are. In the end it is up to the Judge. If a Judge consistently puts up dogs who are not worthy, then over time people stop entering under that Judge and Clubs stop inviting them. It doesn’t happen often.
We always wondered how the announcer had “inside information”…but now we know! I don’t know how much I agree with the “campaigning” – it would be nice to see a dog win without all that fuss, like you said.
Have a great weekend…and thank you for co-hosting the hop!
Oz
Thanks for the great insight to the sport of judging. I love the “i am a duck dog” photo–pffft…. on those lions. LOL
Also, I love the name Gunner for a hunting dog 🙂 Happy weekend!!
“When in doubt, sniff”! Love that one! We could never show Mindy as she is a” party” dog. She is also part yorkie! Thought one could never tell, I don’t think……..
No, I could not tell. She is cute either way. 🙂
Thank you for explaining. I didn’t know very much about this. Thank you for visiting me. Mommy is glad you got her joke about Detroit looking good from far.
Loveys Sasha
Hi Y’all!
First, …what is it about us Chessies that so many judges just “blow us off like a winter coat” unless all the dogs in the class are Chessies?
Second, my Human is handler and photographer for me. It gets very difficult to get the picture she wants…even though they are mostly fun pics, not hunt trial pics.
Finally, please tell Jane Parry that we learn to take advantage and, maybe even ignore commands if we think we can get away with it…especially if there are more interesting smells to explore. I will be 7 next month and my Human still spends at least 15 minutes a day, usually twice a day, reviewing my commands!
By the way, under the training pages, I still have the page where I was “relearning” my whistle sit. Remember, you suggested we go back to the beginning and “relearn”.
Y’all come back now,
Hawk aka BrownDog
Oh my gosh I did forget…lol. I will have to link to that. Thanks for reminding me. Next FUF. 🙂
“To my mind the truly special dogs are those that can manage a Best In Show without all of the above.” love that and so true! and wish it happened more often!
Hunting lions? How rude. Besides, he’s kind of stocky for a ridgeback. 😉
I didn’t realize you didn’t handle the dogs. For some reason I thought it was a joint effort between you and your husband.
No my hubby or their breeders handle our dogs. I got so stressed over a CGC, I’d rather just throw ducks or something. 🙂
Love the duck dog pic! And thanks for a great post with lots of info…and I enjoy seeing the questions answered! Hey, you can send some of your snow here…we haven’t had much this year, just frigid temps…we’d much rather have snow! Thanks for a great post!
I never knew there was so much dog politics regarding becoming the best in show, its much like real politics isn’t it. A dog with a very rich owner could win over a dog who is really the choice. Am proud for thunder’s grandfather. What do you think the judge meant by that comment, that she was saying he was to big for the breed, or that he just looked very confident maybe?
Thunder is over standard (too tall). In Chessies too tall is not a disqualification, but it is to be severely penalized. I think that is what she meant. We were new to dog shows and took it badly. But not too long after that, Thunder easily finished his Championship.
By finishing the championship do you mean he won the championship?
To become a Champion, a dog has to beat other dogs and earn points (the judge awards them “Winner’s Dog”). The number of points depends on how many are entered and each breed has its own scale of points. Two of the wins have to be in a show where they are awarding at least three points (called “majors”). The dog has to have 2 different judges award them a major, so they just can’t go to the same judge for both. If I remember right, Thunder was named Winner’s dog by 7 or 8 judges, so lots of judges liked him. 🙂
wow thats great are you competing for him to be the best in show, is that the ultimate goal?
No not Thunder. He is mostly retired from the show ring. We wanted to get his CH title on him and we did. We sometimes enter him in what they call the “hunting class” which is offered at some shows. It is for dogs with hunt test titles (Thunder has his Senior Hunter title). We do it mostly for fun and to support our club. Dog shows conflict too much with hunt test training so we spend our time do that instead. 🙂
I understand how showing dogs is “supposed to work” but I also understand there can be a lot of competition. A lot can ride on having a champion dog. I think it is unfair that someone could influence their dog’s success with a lot of money. That’s the way the world works though. Some more popular items are not the best, they just have better marketing.