After reading the articles, I emailed Mr. Fallon to invite him to read this blog. He was kind enough to reply and give me his permission to publish his message. I am reproducing in full the text of his insightful and informed response here. Thank you, Mr. Fallon, for your willingness to contribute your valuable insights to this discussion.
Hello Reform Conform:
Thank you for your email. I enjoyed reading it and also the words in your blog. It is good that there are concerned people, newcomers or 'old timers', that take their time and effort to look into and seek to improve dog show judging in the sport of pure-bred dogs. Every person is entitled to their opinion, about dog show judging, the interpretation of a breed standard and all other facets of the sport of pure-bred dogs. That being said, just as in a real Court room with a real Judge, the crime of 'contempt of court' with incarceration and/or a monetary fine awaits anyone foolish enough to dispute a real Judge's opinion in a real Court. The AKC rules and regulations allow a suspension and/or a fine to a person's activities defaming or disputing a dog show judge's actions while the dog show is on or even ,gasp, before or after the dog show. People have also been brought upon charges for writing or talking about specific dog show judges after the dog show.
In 1973 I judged at two all-breed match shows, for working breeds and the working group also. After the show I thought about it and decided that I did not want to be a dog show judge. It was not my cup of tea. I enjoy being a dog show volunteer, a member of the show committee, the show chair, a steward, even one of the traffic people in the parking lot. I know dog show judges and take pride in assisting people in obtaining assignments, watching them go up the ladder from one breed to many breeds, group judging and BIS. One lady of my acquaintance is a group judge who has judged "our breed" at the Westminster KC, and I am as proud of her as of my own daughters. The world needs good dedicated dog show judges.
If one visits the Library of the AKC you can read the old dog newspapers and magazines with people bemoaning the sad state of affairs with incompetent, uneducated, ethically-challenged dog show judges in the 1890's, the 1900's, the 1910s and every decade since that time to today. Sour grapes say I. If dirty old man dog show judge Mr. so-and-so likes having women rub their breasts against him in the ring, if dowager woman judge Ms. such-and-such favors smiling young men one learns to identify and overcome such situations or one exhibits their dogs before other dog show judges.
The world is not perfect. There were and are dog show judges that favor professional dog handlers. There are dog show judges that appear to assign placing in catalog or numeric sequence, first into the ring is first place, etc. There were and are bad dog show judges. The wise exhibitor maintains a record of the 3,300 dog show judges they exhibit before or watch their behavior in a ring. Some dog show judges place the breed standard over a well trained dog, other dog show judges favor a structurally sound animal over a picture perfect breed specimen. The best dog show judges combine all of the above and select the best dogs before them – withholding an award depending upon the circumstance – all within the time constraint of 150 seconds for each dog and 175 dogs in a day's judging. Faster than a Municipal Small Claims Court Judge or Traffic Court Judge with a full docket of anxious litigants and a 2 p.m. golf tee-off.
If you visit the Westminster Kennel Club website at www.westminsterkennelclub.org or the MB-F dog show superintendent's website at www.infodog.com you can read the 32-page premium list for the 2008 Westminster show. At page 13, the BIS trophies include "The James Mortimer Memorial Sterling Silver Trophy for Best in Show if American-bred, for permanent possession to be won five times by the same owner. A Sterling Silver Trophy will be given to commemorate each win." The late James Mortimer was an outstanding dog fancier, a dog breeder, one of the first dog show superintendents and a popular dog show judge who provided a written opinion of the dogs he judged upon request. He always selected the best dog in the dog show ring. He was hired as an employee of the Westminster club with duties as kennel master, breeder, show superintendent in addition to his private employment as a show superintendent and dog show judge. He did such an outstanding work of employment for the Westminster kennel club that the club offers a BIS trophy for permanent possession to be won five times by the same owner. The closest any one person has gone is Mr. Winthrop Rutherford's dogs that won 3 times, while several people / kennels have won twice. Interestingly since 1907 several of the BIS dogs were owned by members of the Westminster club.
The outstanding award-winning book "Dog Shows Then and Now : An Annotated Anthology" (1999) by author Mrs. Anne M. Hier traces the development of dog show judging in America, with 1 dog show judge, 3 judges, even 10 judges. It is recommended reading for any serious student of dog show judging and the sport of pure-bred dogs.
Louis A. Fallon in New Jersey
Please feel free to add my words to your blog.
