Update on a Previous Post "Here We Go Again, Foreign Dog Show Judges"

I recently have been told that one or more members of the Potomac Valley Irish Wolfhound Club were allegedly upset that I publicly aired news of their April specialty show debacle involving the foreign judge, Knut Olav Wille. Although out of politeness, I originally did not mention their specialty association by name, nor the Judge's, I am doing so now for several reasons.

Clearly, the situational irony is thick here. This club and therefore, its show officials were happy to accept my hard earned money for my five dogs and their individual entries, yet, they assail me for talking about how their foreign judge was not adjudicating by AKC Rules, Policies, and Guidelines for Conformation Dog Show Judges! As if I were to blame for their failures.

When a specialty club is administered by people who have little to no regard for AKC Rules Applying to Dog Shows, there are after-effects. These by-products are consequential insofar as; first, it makes a mockery of the proceedings. The Best of Breed competition was a parody and several people outside the ring were bitterly criticizing what was happening. Read my Blog Post, "Here We Go Again, Foreign Dog Show Judges" to experience it almost first-hand. Even more, after all was said and done, a few exhibitors mentioned that they were not returning to the show again. If a show giving club does not intend for the Judge to adjudicate in a manner conforming to the established rules of the governing body, AKC, then why not hold your show independent of AKC? Just host a self-governing specialty show without championship points and allow the judge to adjudicate willy-nilly and then let the chips fall where they may.

Why did I mention the foreign judge Knut Olav Wille by name this time? For the very reason that even after his gaffes during the Potomac Valley Irish Wolfhound Specialty's Best of Breed competition, evidently, he did little to nothing to educate himself on how to adjudicate properly according to AKC dog shows. While judging at The Irish Wolfhound Association of the West Coast's two-day specialty in which his assignment was Friday, he allegedly attempted to disqualify an Irish Wolfhound entry for a narrow underjaw. This time, thankfully, there was an AKC Executive Field Representative present who intervened because there are NO disqualifications in the IWCA Breed Standard. How embarrassing for the unfairly censured exhibitor who paid an entry fee and then was publicly wronged. A few may excuse this blunder by saying the judge made a mistake so, what is the problem? These are the same people who are ready to forgive an evident lack of judgment until it happens to them and they are the exhibitors on the end of the lead who are singled out and disqualified in a breed with no DQs at a Breed Specialty dog show. Finally, think about this obvious, uncomplicated reason why this was yet another problem: It was and is disrespectful to the exhibitors and our wolfhounds.  

Irish Wolfhound Club of Canada Quebec Branch Specialty

Though this post is geared mostly to Irish Wolfhound fanciers, particularly in the Northeast, I think others may find it interesting. Though we have attended this specialty twice before, our attending last weekend's specialty was the first time since I began writing my "Musings Dog Blog" and so this is my first opportunity to comment on this club and the show.  

What I feel is the most memorable and enjoyable aspect of this Quebec Irish Wolfhound specialty club are its members and their hospitality towards guests. To illustrate, the members sponsor a luncheon buffet that is delicious and enormous. Homemade food set out as a huge spread under the tent incorporating fresh salads, hot foods, wraps, fresh turkey and roasted hams, desserts, water & soda and the like. A little something for everyone but the club asks only for a token donation.

We do not frequently see such hospitality in the dog clubs any longer. Friendly, welcoming and generous, these members are proud of their show from beginning to end. They host it on a military college campus in St.Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec along the Richelieu River at the northern end of Lake Champlain. The show site itself is alongside a sports gymnasium on a large, level, grassy area with giant shade trees adjacent to one side of the ring. Parking is limited near the show ring, though, and because it is held on a military campus, the security guards patrolling are usually quite stern if one is parked irregularly. The show officials, especially the show steward, were wonderfully patient and entertaining, organized and quite efficient. It is a small show offering down-home Quebec hospitality and Wolfhound enthusiasts should mark it on their calendar for the future. Keep in mind that they do have an official limit on the number of entries being 175, but this is a smaller specialty in which these figures most likely would not be met. Intriguingly, this club, for several years now, has sponsored an international judge to adjudicate and to be honest, I am amazed as to how they can afford to do so!

My only qualm involving our lovely experience this past weekend is an issue in which I have written about several times previously, and that is the level of unpreparedness of some foreign dog show judges for North American dog show assignments. Meaning, they are not knowledgeable in the American, rather, in this case, the Canadian Kennel Club judging procedures. Officiating was an international judge, Mrs. Csilla Juhash, of Glor Na Gael Kennels in Hungary, who has a lovely personality and was very polite and organized. Moreover, she possessed confident mannerisms throughout her adjudication process. However, we exhibitors and spectators became quite confused during the Best of Breed competition, although; it was clear that the judge most certainly was not. She proceeded confidently in what we assumed was according to the Federal Cynologique Internationale (FCI) judging system, instead of the CKC judging process.

As is typical, the Champion Dog entries, Winners Dog, and Veteran Dog were judged separately from the females. She finished examining all the Champion males but did not re-examine Winner's Dog or Veteran Male, which was her prerogative though she did re-gait them. However, it was here that our puzzlement began. The judge declared her top three best males from the entire line-up announcing them as first, second and third. First place was awarded to a Champion as Best Male; the "second best male" was given to Winners Dog and third place to another Champion dog.

Next, she judged all the Champion Bitches, along with Winners and Veteran Bitch, in the same manner as the dogs and selected, as I recall, two females, the first place being Winners Bitch. Now, all the top five re-entered the ring together where she awarded Winners Bitch as her Best of Breed, which by default was then also Best of Winners. After presenting the ribbon, she then awarded her Best of Opposite of Sex to her previously named Best Male. Next, she gave an Award of Merit to her "second best male" who was also Winners Dog. She then awarded Select Dog to the previously named "third best male" and then awarded Select Bitch to the remaining champion female from the top five. So, she apparently was very comfortable and confident in her procedure, demonstrating that she clearly knew what she was doing. However, for those of us who have never shown in Europe, we were bewildered. It would be entertaining to listen to the replay of the gallery of onlookers and the puzzled pleas and questions as to what was going on, if I only had the foresight to record it on my iPhone.

It think it would be particularly useful if the AKC and CKC provided a simplified handbook for the international judges to study before arriving to complete an assignment in our countries. Though the CKC has a "Handbook-for-Conformation-Judges," as well as AKC has their "Rules, Policies, and Guidelines for Conformation Dog Show Judges," neither are streamlined for the foreign judge, though they both do, in fact, require that judges proceed and award in a specific order. But, neither pointedly detail in one small, quick handbook our judging process from beginning to end.

Though certainly not relevant to this specialty show, the foregoing and current guidelines do not discuss frequently seen errors that repeatedly occur at other specialty shows, such as foreign judges asking exhibitors the age of a dog, or bestowing the Select Award on a class dog. Quite often, many international judges are unaware that Select awards will be disallowed if conferred on a class dog/female who is not a champion of record, to include Veterans class winners. Although, in fact, many foreign judges do not know that a Veteran class winner is indeed eligible for the Select Award. Allowable because some, but not all, Veteran class winners are champions of record. Still, most foreign judges are not aware that they are not permitted to ask if a Veteran is a champion. How's that for a vicious cycle?

Other details that would be very helpful to an unfamiliar judge include suggestions useful in judging large classes. For instance, it is not recommended to make a cut leaving only five dogs, for obvious reasons, and that six or more is appropriate. One of the most common mistakes I witness foreign judges make in our breed, Irish Wolfhounds, is during Best of Breed competition. The judge makes a cut and dismisses one of their Winners and or one or both of their Veteran winners. They should know that it is proper protocol to keep both Winners and, if weather permitting, the pair of Veterans for consideration until the conclusion of their awards. Perhaps I might create a helpful, simplified handbook that clubs can provide to their foreign judges before their assignments to facilitate theirs and the exhibitors experience.

One last note, for Americans traveling to Canada, a solution for the passport quandary is simple. Instead of having to retrieve one's passport from your safety deposit box to cross the border, I suggest that fanciers obtain a Passport Card. The passport card is valid for travel between the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda and can be used at land border crossings or sea ports-of-entry, but not international travel by air. It is much more convenient and less expensive than a passport book. The size of a drivers license, the passport card can be kept continuously in your wallet in its protective sleeve with your driver's license and is obtained from the U.S. Passports and International Travel agency.

Hopefully, we will see you next year in Quebec as I am sure you will enjoy yourself!

Foreign Judges

If you read my previous blog posts you will already know that I attended the Westminster Kennel Club 2016 dog show. My take-away on both the breed judging's massive crowds at The Piers in NYC, and the lack of women's restroom facilities has been discussed earlier. I will mention that if I entertain another visit to WKC, I will not attend the breed judging programs, instead just the Group Judging events on both evenings. I'd much rather while away my day enjoying NYC's numerous attractions instead of re-experiencing the awful crowds during breed judging. Being on your feet, as one cannot find a seat, from 8:30AM until 4:00PM and walking the long distances in and between the Piers is exhausting, especially when you cannot view the competitions.  

However, when I posted from the show I did not go into detail about a glaring issue that was maddening to watch. During breed judging it was plain to see that a foreign judge had limited knowledge to proficiently judge dogs in accordance with AKC procedure. Not only did he demonstrate inadequate procedural knowledge but was painfully slow -- as evidenced by the show breed video and my iPhone video. I can confirm that this particular judge took, on average, nearly 3.5 to 4 minutes per dog -- and it was agonizing. All told, he took almost 26 minutes to adjudicate over 7 entries. From my observation point, he most likely would not have been able to complete his assignment if not for the capable hands of his Ring Steward who had to repeatedly explain how to proceed with the awards. This did NOT just occur in one but several of his breed assignments.

The foreign judge required constant consultation with the Steward regarding the awards process -- he would proceed to award Best of Breed and then wring his hands until the Ring Steward counseled him again as to what to do next. Minutes would fly by as the exhibitors were standing, waiting, while he discussed "who knows what" before he would walk over and declare another decision.

He appeared to be quite a jovial chap but that does not excuse his lack of proficiency in adjudicating under the AKC Dog Judging system. Surely, all foreign judges MUST understand and be fully versed in how to judge under our procedures, at the very least, they need to make an effort to do so. It was evident during this foreign judge's breed assignments that this was not the case and it was and remains maddening. If you are going to accept such a privileged assignment then you better know how to do it, properly.

And what is it with Judges, including this international judge, asking exhibitors the age of the dogs?! Are they not aware that under AKC rules, a judge is not permitted to ask the exhibitor such a question? If age is a factor in their decision making process then they must have the steward provide them with this information -- NOT the exhibitor. As any AKC Field Representative will inform you- an exhibitor might lie so you do not base any decisions on what the exhibitor tells you. The question I ask is WHY are foreign judges not versed in this and other procedures? If you are going to accept an assignment in a foreign country you MUST learn that country's federation judging system. You don't just wing it. I find it disrespectful and I know for certain, that if and when I do receive an assignment overseas, I will do everything in my power to make certain I am studied in their adjudication processes.