Has anyone ever . . . .

They fart around at the sanctioned shows, too. It all just depends on how seriously a person takes the show ring. I let my dogs do whatever while the judge is going over the other dozen dogs in the class, but I do try to keep them up out of the dirt if possible. (Showing in summer is bad for that because if it's Loki in the fun class, she'll sprawl out and make herself comfortable.) I try and keep them well-stacked when it's getting close to our turn, and since we show UKC as well, they know how to gait at a trot and show their bite with a minimum of fuss. (Kind of a running joke that you can easily spot a UKC person in an ADBA show. LOL)

 

Ukc is hands on judging. Adba never puts hands on the dog. And a little attitude on the dogs part seems to help the dog in the Adba ring. Not towards humans of course but other dogs. I think there are politics in both. Maybe more in Ukc. The Ukc is my preferred venue since my dogs fit that type better. They aren't sloppy fat, but not in good enough condition and don't have the long lean muscle and build that Adba likes. Also, there are good and bad judges everywhere. Some that abhor a certain fault and others that will overlook the same fault.
Very few judge strictly by the standard the way it should be. I try and seek those judges out but they are few and far between or either not in my neck of the woods.
Weight pull is the only fair trial as it is based on the dogs performance. Oh yes and there is agility but I only know of a few apbt people that do that. Not that apbts aren't well suited for it, they are, you just don't see a ton of people doing it with apbts.

 

Just to mention, I have seen a judge put hands on a dog at an ADBA show, she did it to see how far the dogs ribcage extended.

 

I show in UKC and other breeds in AKC so it is quite surprising to hear of the way ADBA shows work.

I have a question for you guys:

If there was a judge that did well for you and your dogs and you knew it, would you take advantage of that and seek out more of his assignments to show under or would you be un-biased on making your decisions upon entering shows?

 

In my exp. with speaking to fellow showers....must will often seek out judges that have liked their dogs.

 

I had a good xperience at my first adba sanctioned. I did not agree with how things turned out the first day. Judge gave first place to a dog that was bowlegged, but woot stll got 2nd place and then the next day she got 1st and best puppy. But it was 2 different judges

 

It is better to have it on record that you got all of your majors under different judges in my opinion. But when you show red nose dogs you have to be particular who you show to in Ukc. Some judges won't even look at a red nose dog. Their structure is different from the other dogs. I have even had people debate that with me. I just showed in Hickory NC at a UKC show and caught the judge looking at everything in sight but my dog as we went around. I won't ever show to him again. But I go into the ring not knowing what to expect. I will try any judge once unless I know they are anti-red nose. I base my opinion then on whether I want to put my money up again.
I have friends who have a lot of money that say, just show your dog. Quit picking judges. I ain't rich. I now have a couple of nice dogs that I am proud of and if they don't get picked, I just don't show to that judge again. I ask the judges what I can do to improve my performance in the ring. If they tell me stupid stuff like, they prefer cropped ears, then I won't waste my money again.

 

We know EXACTLEY where you're coming from! We show Spinner in ADBA AND UKC, but he's only 5pts from CH in UKC. But you hit the nail on the head!

 

Depends. UKC, no not really. But that's because we're going for CH and winning under the same judge twice does us no good. In ADBA, if given a chance, I'd follow the judges who consistently like my dogs. But since my travel is pretty much limited to the states that border my own, that's unlikely to happen.

 

I like the shows, and Judge preferences are hard to beat. I always liked to stand next to what I considered to be the toughest competition in the ring. I wanted to make it easy on the Judge and my hounds would always Bulldog-up in the holding area and in the ring. Most of the time it would make it hard on the handlers next to me, and I always felt bad for that show bred charge that would stand behind their handler with that tail tucked. But, some Judges wanted that charge to be as still as possible (stacked square), and I could do that too, if I had to. I knew a Judge that placed hounds off his yard or down from his stock and another that placed his friends. My pack did well in the ring, see attachment.

 

I think that following judges is silly, but especially because of the money factor. I can only attend shows near me. . .

but, if I have a bad experience I may choose to forgo a show because of that judge. This judge I will try again with because I feel that they wanted to choose my dog, but didn't for fear of what the other showgoer would do or say.

People have told me that this person has filed complaints against judges because their dogs did not place and I can understand the worry that may cause. I will just file a complaint against that person if I hear them bitching again in the ring about my dogs.

At the first show were were at together they did the same thing when i was showing a pup against one of theirs. They weren't the one showing the dog even but i could hear them outside the ring bitching. . and my pup won.

but then they took another pup from a different class of theirs that won 1st and showed in best puppy against me, presumably to show the judge whose dog that was, and I lost. . .but i did not care as much that time because it was that puppy's first show and i was just happy to take first.

 

I would like to address two issues here. I know I am new but have been around the block a time or two. First of all, any judge for any registry that is so very uninformed about the dogs they are judging needs to be removed. I spend a lot of time trying to stop some of the BS that this judge is spreading. The UKC and the judge need letters, I would also send a letter to Cindy Cooke of the UKC as she too spends much of her time fighting for these dogs.
The other issue I would like to address is the fact that a ribbon was given to a human aggressive dog. This happens, if the judge does not know that the dog is human aggressive then they have no clue that this portion of the standard has not been met. Did anyone tell the judge, club or the AADR that this dog is human aggressive? No, then you can not blame the judge. When the "partners" of the
AADR know that a dog is human aggressive and still allow it to show and give it a ribbon THEN I have a problem. This happened at Nationals, and the person showing was a sanctioned AADR judge to boot. THAT I have a problem with.

 

I have definately felt as if i were "robbed" at a show. There was one show in particular that i can recall where one of my females was worked steady and was in great shape. I recieved comments as soon as she stepped out of the kennel. I talked to the judge a bit before the show had begun, and he kept stating how good she looked and was asking what type of work i had done to her. Well, she was entered in 3 different classes, in which all three of them she was picked out and looked at nice and hard, more than once. She ended up not placing in any of the classes, and at the end of the show, the judge had asked me, "has she placed in anything today?" I was blown away!! I said, "no, isn't it a shame?" and he said, "yes, I wish i would have paid more attention to her, and not given out so many friendly awards." so you can guess how pissed i was when i heard that statement. He had picked her out time and time again for 1'st and second place, and had ended up giving the award to someone, who's dog, in my opinion, was definately no where in the conditioned state mine was. But you can't be sour about all of the mishaps. Things happen, and all you can do is try harder nex time.

 

If everyone thinks judging is so easy or so political, then why not run out, take classes and become a show judge yourself? problem solved!!

 

Where do you find judging classes? I was under the impression (at least in the UKC) that you need to have bred a certain number of champions to become a judge.

 

I dont know.. you would have to contact whatever registry you would be interested in judging for and go from there. Im sure you have to have shown /handled a certain number of dogs though in any registry and I know in ADBA there are classes you take, then you must judge a number of fun shows..