Repost homework - Page 2

Hello Dog1, I will be interested in seeing all your fur friends and meeting you too. Several people from my club are attending and one is showing, as well as a client who keeps some of her dogs here. Congratulations on Ronaldo achieving his SchH 3. The others sound really nice too. I just wish I could show my litter, but we will do this here in June. Sometime you should consider attending one of our events. Best wishes for a successful show!

Thank you all for all the great information. I have been watching this place for a while trying to decide where to go to acquire my "show" prospect. I try not to pay much attention to the ugly nonsense that leads only to personal attacks but to look to those who offer the most productive information (of course it is good to know who the back stabbers are because they are probable less than successful and offer just sour grapes instead of quality dogs). Dog 1, I have found many good informations from you and would think that you are a very honorable person. And after reading the event calendars and seeing the many results of the shows, I am ready to ask a few questions hoping for honest replies. It would appear that you do very well showing your dogs where the judge is the same as the Kennel Name of you dog. Is this an advantage in getting good placements or just that the dogs from these kennel names are very good quality? I have noticed that some clubs seem to have certain kennel names that do better than others in the results all the time. Certain judges seem to place dogs of the same name in their bio consistantly in front spots. Is it advantageous to buy dogs from Germany because the judges come from Germany? As part of my homework, I need to ask if it would be an advantage for me to make note of the judges listed on event calendars as frequent visitors and seek to buy a dog from their kennel so as to better my chances of owning a successful show dog? I welcome any advise from more knowledgable board people.

Spaetzle, The answers would take a lot of time and space are they are complex issues. I count about 20 kennels in my program over the past few years. I'd say about 10% are judges kennels. It's not that easy to get good dogs from judges kennels as they are typically spoken for before the litter is born. Of the dogs I have from judges kennels, none were purchased from the breeder I was second or third owner. I have noticed a kennel's success runs in cycles. One will get a good dog, good line, and the kennel is successful for a peroid of time. As the line falls out of favor or goes away, another promising dog will take it's place. Speaking of the national shows, I can only think of one show where the breeder judged a dog of mine from his own kennel. My little Ursus in the 4 to 6 class. He backed up his win with a win at the 2003 WDA NASS under a different judge so I dont think it was a fluke. Most of the people I talked to there agreed he deserved the win. I'm not sure winning a puppy class establishes a trend. I think judges have an advantage. They travel across Germany or even the world to judge shows. At these shows they see the top dogs and their offspring. They get a window to the breed that few others have an opportunity to view. Top that off with enough demonstrated knowledge to qualify to be a judge and you are one of the few that set the direction of the breed. I find the judges I have shown under to be pretty fair across the board. They have more to loose than gain by placing a class incorrectly. They know many people, see many dogs. If they judge correctly, they maintain a good reputation and the shows they judge draw a crowd. Show favoritism and your attendence is down, get a complaint and you can loose that liscense you worked half your life to get. There are enough judges and enough shows to take a good dog to and get an overall picture of how good a dog is. I would say overall the quality may be a bit better for the reasons mentioned. There are always those that think politics are the way to success. They try different angles and approaches that they think will give them an advantage. I have yet to see one prevail over a good breeding program. I don't know if I answered the bulk of your questions.

Thank you Dog 1. You answered all my questions. I look forward to more of your messages for learning more about doing homework and your knowledge.