field trial scouts

[Chukar12]

I have only been at this a bit under 5 years but I have seen such a limited amount of this "gamesmanship" it is hard for me to fathom the levels or consistency of this that can sour folks. To me, as mentioned earlier, those who are working too hard are terribly transparent and they take away from the dogs performance...and it is hard for them to win. As far as being influenced as a judge because someone else will soon judge me...well that's just too bad. It is about the dogs and if I allowed that reasoning to take a subordinate role then the whole thing would cease to make sense for me. People will make mistakes, but none of them will be life and death...and there is another trial around the corner...just saddle up and do it again, what else are you and your dog doing in April and May...mowing? Trials are what you make them and the more you put in the more you get out, it seems like so many things follow that rule.

[Grange]

True. I didn't even know there was an AKC collar color rule until I judged a Vizsla trial, They are not only the same color, nearly the same size, they are gaited alike.

I judged a puppy stake once with 11 dogs entered. 6 of them were Red Setters from the same litter being run by the Pro. I am glad it was raining that day because otherwise I wouldn't have any idea whether I watched 6 different dogs or the same dog 6 times.

I judged a cover dog derby with one brace had two setters that looked almost identical. The bells even sounded somewhat similar to me. If it wasn't for the difference in their gait I'm not sure if I would have been able to separate them

[Neil]

Not sure how we got to friends judging, but I would rather run under strangers. They are more likely to just judge the dogs. Many of my friends seem to think in order to not show favortism, they need to error against my dogs.

I can assure you all the better the friendship the less likely it is to go my way.