says mentor, but others love the idea. Mentors will also learn from this process which is the beauty of it. –Kitty Steidel No. For rare breeds prospective judges can be approved without a club sponsored seminar, even if they are offered two or three times a year around the country. If available, judge candidates should have to attend a National Club spon- sored seminar. –Anonymous
IS ENOUGH TRAINING AND EMPHASIS GIVEN TO THE MENTORING OF NEW JUDGES?
available include books, breed seminars, structure and movement seminars, Parent Club materials and breed mentoring. Mentoring is a long term commitment between potential judge and their mentors. Many use the term Men- tor to mean a ten to 30-minute conversation—that is a con- versation, not a mentoring relationship. A judging association or breed club breed seminar is a good start—it is not the end of breed discovery; it is the beginning of a lifelong commit- ment to the breed. Judges need to be committed to breed preservation for each breed they are approved to judge. When the judge is committed to the breed they will find the proper tools to continue their lifelong study of the breed. –Ed Gilbert No. Not only showing dogs, watching from ringside and mentoring, I believe we need to teach a year or so a good attended conformation class with all types of breeds and from all groups. Nothing makes a judge notice more things than asking handlers in classes about their particular breed and the specifics. This is more valuable to me than mentor- ing from breeders on their particular type of dog and gives a more knowledge of dog structure. In a class situation, han- dlers and breeders are more relaxed to ask questions from the instructor or can help other class members. I have also found having some of the better handlers go over all the dogs and learn about them. This camaraderie builds knowledge, confidence and a more general knowledge of structure, tem- perament, gaiting, etc. –Joan Krumm No, more breeder judge mentoring is needed, not just with all breed judges. Judges mentoring with six or more breed judges, attendance of breeders/judges education such as offered at the National would be beneficial. –Lisa Williams No. All breeds have individual differences and unless you have been properly mentored you will not understand. –Vicki Hester No, it is not enough! We can do a lot better. The whole judging approval system needs to be reformed. There have been good ideas in the past but these have been shelved. As it is right now, people are getting new breeds and then imme- diately going for more before learning the ones they have. Exhibitors deserve much better. –Anonymous No, as a Parent Club Mentor, I am amazed how many want me to sign their forms without any or very little mentoring. –Meg Callea Unfortunately, no. We get a few minutes with them at shows and have to sign off they have been mentored. I’m not comfortable with that. And, exhibitors that are not approved mentors spend more time with them than we get. It should be required that all judges have been through the judge’s educa- tion seminar before allowing them to be provisional judges.
I am a mentor for my breed and I have done some ring- side mentoring. I think my National breed club does a good job, mentoring at the Nationals. I do not think we do enough across the country to mentor the new judges. Smaller shows where more time can be allotted to discuss and teach new judges is not a preferred spot to do mentoring. We try to cram it in at larger more prestigious shows rather than at the grass roots levels where the learning really is. So, overall, we do not do a good job of mentoring new judges. –Anonymous There is not enough emphasis. Prospective judges in any breed need to sit with more than one mentor, while watching the breed for which they are requesting approval. The discus- sion should not be in lecture form from the mentor, but rather a Q&A between the mentor and prospective judge. Questions from the prospective judge show he/she is thinking about the breed, as sometimes people are not aware of what they do not know until they are asked to think about it and apply the Standard. –Anonymous Unfortunately, no—with the exception of a few older judg- es, they tend to want a generic show dog. Correct breed spe- cific movement is passed over for fast moving feet, toplines specific to a breed are no longer taken into consideration, etc. I don’t know that newer judges care to learn the nuances of the individual breeds so much as they want to add more and more breeds and groups to their resume. –Pam Williams No. We need more knowledgeable mentors available at more shows to help the new judges understand our standard. –Anonymous More mentoring in the ring is needed. Many provisional judges are sent into the ring without a judge who is very familiar with the breed being judged. My feelings are that a ring mentor is needed at least until the new judge has done an unfamiliar breed for at least two show breed judging is completed. –S. Dixon Mentors need better guidelines. Just because the parent club approves you does not make you an effective mentor. The scripted format of many parent club presentations and mentoring sessions is not optimal. –Anonymous
No. As we all learn in different ways, it is up to the indi- vidual to determine what tools they need. Some of the tools
114 • S how S ight M agazine , J anuary 2017
Powered by FlippingBook