Pointers await their judgment at Westminster. Photo by Lisa Croft Elliott
The breed with the most entries this year at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is the Rhodesian ridgeback — with 40 Rhodesians headed to Madison Square Garden for judging. (Coming in second is the French bulldog, with 39 entered.) How the heck does a dog show judge decide between more than three dozen canines that basically look, well, kinda the same?
In a nutshell, it’s a subjective decision, with each judge applying his or her interpretation of the breed standard regarding all sorts of things like height, weight, coat, colors, eye colors, ear shape, feet, tail, testicular plumpness… as well as general appearance and temperament.
“I find judging, to some degree, baffling,” says Josh Dean, author of the book Show Dog: The Charmed Life and Trying Times of a Near-Perfect Purebred, in an interview with me recently. “Particularly at a big show, it strikes me — as a guy who’s still basically a novice — as an impossible task to pick the best dog out of a bunch of great dogs. But I do think that most judges tend to know the breeds in front of them so well that they’re seeing things I’m not.”
But there’s more to judging the bigger dog shows than this.
Going With the Flow
It might also help if the dog has a little momentum going into an event like the granddaddy of them all, Westminster. Picking up a few Best in Shows at other, lower events only helps your odds on the road to the top. “I heard it said numerous times that judges are indeed swayed by momentum,” says Dean. “They think that if a dog has won often lately it must be a great dog, and so who are they to disagree. Judges don’t want to risk looking stupid in the eyes of their peers. Their popularity is what gets them assignments, after all.”
“Judges are inevitably going to be drawn to dogs they’ve seen before,” Dean tells me, specifically pointing out that advertisements promoting particular dogs are a primary means for getting the word out. Owners can spend crazy cash building a buzz campaign around their dog, in the hopes of creating the appearance of an inevitable win in the judges’ mind.
The Contrarian
Then again, some judges refuse to go with the flow. “It’s worth pointing out that there’s another type of judge who likes to be contrarian,” Dean says. “These people will intentionally pick against a dog on a run just to show their own independence. This isn’t really a bad thing, honestly. Because unless you’re at a podunk show, I guarantee that if we’re talking about a decent-sized field, there are at least a couple other dogs legitimately as good as the one on a roll.”
More Westminster Coverage
Pets Adviser has been covering the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show since 2011. Check out these great posts from the past:
- Which Dog Won the Best in Show in 2011?
- Westminster Dog Show 2011 Photo Gallery
- 10 Mixed-Breeds We Should Have Seen at Westminster
- 11 Oldest Dogs Ever to Win Best in Show
- The Sun Will Come Out… for Chewee
- Westminster’s “Everydog” Storyline Hits New Low in 2011
- Meet the 6 New Breeds Added in 2011
- “Buzz Campaign” Not Just for Oscar Wannabes — Dog Show Contenders Do This Too
- 8 of America’s Favorite Breeds Have Never Won Best in Show
- Name Name That That Chow Chow
- Poodle Flying to 2011 Dog Show in Private Jet
- Jane Lynch Should Lighten Up!
