Hi All,

I was just reading Our Dogs and a thought came to me. If a Vet does indeed find something wrong with a BOB from one of the 15 what penalty will be levied against the judge - if any? I don't know the answer and am yet to see it written down anywhere.
Jeff.

The thought crossed my mind too.  Im not sure theres much they can do surely?  The judge is unlikely to be a vet afterall so they could argue that the medical problems the vet picks up (assuming its not something very obvious like lameness or breathing problem) was something they are not trained to know about...?  I dont know.  Will be interesting to see what happens with this new health thing.

Don't see that much can be done except to ask the judge to be more careful because it is after all one person's opinion on the day. Even if the exhibit is lame it could be that at the time in the breed ring it was not.

It could be reading between the lines but I think the hope is that because of the vet inspection it is hoped the judge will take care not to put up an animal that is unfit and the whole test is aimed at the judge and not the breed.

And even 2 Vets may give a different opinion......

Have met dogs with bad sticky eyes and difficult breathing that I would not place but I did not meet them in the show ring

None of us involved in showing like to see a dog get past a judge with an obvious fault and I remember watching a TV programme from Crufts where a terrier BOB was suffering from a slipping patella, but it may not have happened in the breed ring and his stilted gate may well have been missed in the group although I do not think it should have been. One assumes that this would have been picked up by the vet through manipulation even if the dog was moving OK, how much manipulation of other peoples animals can a judge acceptably do?