says
IS ENOUGH TRAINING AND EMPHASIS GIVEN TO THE MENTORING OF NEW JUDGES?
in each. Also necessary is a long discussion about the impor- tance of virtues in the areas where function for breed usage is a priority, rather than the often obvious faults in superficial points that do not inhibit the function of the dog for its breed function. –Anonymous I don’t think it’s a matter of enough training. It’s a mat- ter of the quality of training. So many mentors differ in their interpretation and personal ideas of the breed. –Anonymous We need more breeders to qualify as breed mentors so at shows these new judges have a good guide; the rep and the JBC review is not good on breed knowledge or their view. –Jennie Behles Actually, yes and no. I would like more mentoring expe- rience, but often mentors are hard to find and not willing to help. Also, when you do have experiences, they should count. –Erika K. Moureau I do feel that AKC needs to do more and watch more, but I just had a provisional Judge spend about six hours at my home and kennel and I sure went through the ropes show- ing her all of my dogs and the good and bad points of each. Many judges do not understand or are not able to visually apply standards to their judging or just cannot see the correct points or parts of many breeds. –Sharon Pflueger Yes and no. The opportunities are out there, the mentors are out there—but, having given and participating in many a seminar, I can tell you the too large a portion of the judges leave the seminars early, sleep through them, talk through them and spend time on their devices. They do not seek out the mentoring and when they do, it is obvious they are just there to have their papers signed. So, is the system broken? Any system can be improved but, in this case, I believe it is the user who is at the root of the problem. –Penny King “THE OPPORTUNITIES ARE OUT THERE, THE MENTORS ARE OUT THERE.”
dogs that win are better mentors of a breed. Meaning success- ful breeder Judges of their breed or that are mentored by a breeder judge in the breed can be more knowledgeable of the breeds they judge. –Anonymous Maybe. That depends on the judge. We try to mentor judg- es in our breed every chance we get. AKC does provide for credit towards judging a breed for mentoring. We routinely try to be mentored with knowledgeable individuals in other breeds when the opportunity presents itself regardless of whether we judge the breed or not. I think some sort of con- tinuing education would be helpful. I know of judges that once they are approved to judge a breed, they never ask any questions. –Luis Sosa Maybe. Currently there is no feedback between a judge and their mentors. Judges doing initial assignments should report back to their mentors on what they observed and any difficulties they had. Mentors should review their placements and offer any needed advice. If at any time a mentor feels the judge is doing a poor job, the mentor should provide feedback to the AKC judges department. Mentors need to be account- able for what they are teaching. –Anonymous I think they should have more mentoring, but on the other hand who do you have them mentor them. Each breeder has their own idea what the breed should be like. I’ve mentored several and I tell them read the standard, don’t go off who is winning. Some of the winning dogs aren’t winning by the standard their winning on advertising. Maybe one idea would be having three breeders sign off that they feel this person is qualified to Judge. I worked for a pro handler for 10+ years and AKC probably would still have a problem giving me a license to judge. I also feel that clubs need to spread the word when they have had a bad judging where a lot of exhibitors complained about the judge. –Pam Berg I think there it is up to the new judge to seek out quali- fied breeders/mentors, but it is also up to each parent club’s judge’s education committee/mentors to make themselves available for phone calls, breeder visits and tutoring. Anoth- er consideration: parent club judge’s education committees should monitor new judges given permit status and reach out to them to answer questions, etc. –Anonymous The problem I have with mentors is this. Breed clubs assign mentors and if you don’t belong to your National club you can’t mentor regardless of your accomplishments and knowledge. Years ago I talked to Michael Sauve about this and he said you can mentor but now the applications ask if you are a parent club sponsored mentor. So we wind up with people who have not been in the breed long or because a short pool there are misinterpretation of the Standard given to the Judges. My parent club is a closed club and this is a problem of its own. –Anonymous
Yes and no, I believe Judges that are successful breeders that have produced a family of their breed rather than bought
120 • S how S ight M agazine , J anuary 2017
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