Simply the Best: Dog show judges aim to find perfection

Freddie Bourne, Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.
·3 min read

Aug. 27—At the River Valley Cluster Dog Shows at the Owensboro Convention Center this weekend, the breeds take center stage.

But there's always a judge inside the ring that is pivotal to the outcome.

And it's not as easy as it may seem to attain that status.

"The judges have to study the standard for each individual breed that they are qualified to judge," said Cindi Ashley Bosley, the show chair for the event. "They take a test through the AKC (American Kennel Club), and then they are observed through an AKC field rep while they're in the provisional state and then will eventually get full status to judge the breeds that they have applied for."

Even after officially becoming a judge, the knowledge doesn't stop.

Nancy Hafner, of Tuscumbia, Alabama, has been judging for 25 years and still has to stay up-to-date frequently.

"We laugh and say you can be brain surgeons as quick as you could ever be a judge," she laughed. "It's a lot of learning."

Ray Filburn, a judge from New Hampshire, said the process is ongoing after 32 years of making the calls.

"You have to steward, you have to judge matches, you have to go to education seminars where they have breeders discuss the breed (and the) standard," he said.

Bosley said judges are permitted to evaluate 175 dogs per day, which can be tiring due to being on their feet the entire time.

"What we have to consider is that they've spent a full day traveling here, and then they will spend a full day traveling to get back home," she said. "It's a lot of work to get them on site, and it's a long day for the judges."

Bosley and Hafner said that judging can be subjective, but it doesn't cause any major conflict.

"Typically, you will not see the exhibitors challenge the judge's opinion," Bosley said. "I always joke and say 'We pay for your opinion with our entry and we get it in the ring.' ...The judges have a vision of the standard; and the way one judge may relate to one standard versus another can differ."

"Some people may like black dogs and other people like white dogs; so eventually what you like, you're (becoming) known (for) — so that's what you'll get as an entry," Hafner said. "It's what somebody likes. It doesn't mean that they're right or wrong, but it means that's their preference within the breed standard."

It also can be stressful, as the judges are continuously looking at dogs and seeing how they compare to the judge's idea of perfection based on the breed's official standard.

"It's not only physical for the judges, but it's a mental situation for them," Hafner said.

"It's a lot of hard work, and it's a lot of brain work," she said. "You have to think about what your dogs are going to be the next day."

Filburn, who judges about 100 shows per year throughout the world, said it's all about compromise.

"You have to forgive what you can forgive and award the virtues that you see," he said.

But the judges never forget what brought them to the ring in the first place.

"First of all, I love dogs. Love them," Filburn said. "And the people — they're all friendly, they're all helpful, and it's fun.

"...We all love the same thing — we all love dogs. That's why we're here."