Do overseas judges combine holidays with appointments or are they specifically 'hired' by the canine society, and in this case are their travel fees paid for, or do countries do judge swaps? 

Is it only champ level judges who are 'imported' for want of a better word!!

No not just Championship judges our group open has a judge from Russia to judge Borzoi at our next show, her expenses will be paid for by a generous sponsor we could not afford to do it.

We have had judges in the past that are coming here to the UK and have asked us if we would be interested in their judging and of course most of the time we are.

I've judged in Spain and they've paid my fees.  Earlier this year I asked for some of my air fare and asked them to put the rest into the Club funds.

in the past that are coming here to the UK and have asked us if we would be interested in their judging and of course most of the time we are.

I'm being genuinely curious here, not difficult, but why 'of course' - what makes a foreign judge a good thing? is it ever negative?

what makes a foreign judge a good thing? is it ever negative?

One applies the same criteria to an overseas judge as you would to a Uk one which is why I said (most of the time)

FCI judges are approved to judge in the UK providing they are of the needed experience.

>what makes a foreign judge a good thing? is it ever negative?

Foreign judges are likely to view the dogs with a fresh eye, as they won't have been exhibiting among them for years. The difficulty for them is remembering to judge them by the UK breed standard, not the standard of their own country.

is it up to the show secretary to accomodate them? - sorry for making 'them' sound like sub-humans!

is it up to the show secretary to accomodate them?

Those sort of details would be by arrangement, in most cases someone on the committee would welcome them into their home or book a place at a convenient hotel or B & B but as I said this would be between the secretary and the judge or the judge and a friend in the UK.