Has anyone else noted the new Kennel Club ruling that a critique is now mandatory after each judging appointment - about time too I say, after all we pay an exhorbitant amount , get up at the crack of dawn and travel many hundreds of miles for a judges opinion of our dogs - the least they can do is explain the reasons for their placings !.

I like the way they do things on the continent where each exhibitor is given a written critique on their dog at the show  ( and I mean EACH exhibitor not just the first three !.) It certainly sorts out the knowledgable judges from those who
don't have a clue !!!

Yvonne

I saw it and was if nothing else amused by it:P  They don't mention what the repercussions are to be and I would also hazard that it will be nearly impossible to police :-( 

As it is they don't seem to be able to keep on top of Judges Judging too many classes for the lists they are on :-(

I would love critiques to be mandatory, I too also like the European way ;-) I also always write a critique after I've judged :-)

Totally agree with you there.  There's nothing worse than trawling through Dog World for months on end wondering whats been said about your dog,  I reckon that there should be a set time for judges to submit their critiques by.  After all, as you say, a lot of people take a lot of time and effort to actually get to a show, it would be nice to read the comments before the excitement of getting placed at that time was a distant memory.

Lets not forget all the times critiques are sent yet not printed...recently a handling critique where I won, my dad won and my brother came second behind me, critiques had not been published, damm it too I say after talking to the judge at East of England and he was most dissapointed it had not been in the papers, he sent it to us!  A lovely criique that never got printed because either it got lost in the post or lost in the offices!!!

Either way we can't ALWAYS blame judges, and as for every dog being critiqued....wouldn't people start moaning about the time it takes!? just think about how much extra time it would take to do each class!!!

(this is a reason why their is a page on my website for mine and my dad judging critiques....talking of which...need to put them on!!!!!

Yep this does happen and critiques being edited by the papers - there is one of mine in this weeks 'our dogs' and they have only printed the first place critique even though I sent in a write up for 2nd place and named the third placed dogs. It is infuriating to spend time writing them ( and the papers do request write ups for 1st and 2nd placings) and the papers editing them out.

As for a write up on the day for each dog - we do this at our champ shows - the judge dictates a critique to a scribe as he/she is going over each dog. they also grade te dogs from excellent down to poor. The scribe then gives the exhibitor a carbon copy of the write up and the judge keeps the top copy to send in for publication. It works very well even with large numbers and does not slow judging down too much. It does mean that the exhibitor ( and others within ear shot) can hear what the judge thinks of their dog which can be quite enlightening !.

Yvonne

I would happily wait for a few more minutes to have a full critique on my dogs.  Perhaps then it would stop judges who are more attracted to whos at the end of the lead rather than the dog at the bottom of it.

I get totally fed up with my dogs not having their critiques.  None appeared for Crufts this year or Bath so far.  The person who judged us recently at Wales has already got it in the paper. Mind you it has also meant I will not be going under judges who dont do them again.  If they havent got the courage of their convictions enough to publicly print it then in my opinion they have something to hide!

I would imagine that the KC will do nothing about the judges not doing critques as there is no money in for them.  I made a official complaint about the fact no benching was provided for my dogs at Southern Counties and apparantly it was my fault!  Why because I didnt have the foresight to realise who was going to be absent and put my dogs in their spaces????  Why should I have to do this when I have paid for benching.  As yet I am still awaiting a reply to my second letter.

Funny you should say that, Yvonne! Mine got second in open at a show and first and second place critiques were printed (in one paper - yet to appear in the other) for every class but open. It was a breed specialist judge, and I just knew she wouldnt leave out second in just one class - sure enough she was happy to forward a copy of the critique she had actually sent to the papers and there was mine! If I hadnt have known her, I could well have believed that even with a second place, she was not that keen on the other dogs in the class! Another judge actually apologised that her critique was edited and a point she deemed most important was omitted. Again, that critique only appeared in one of the papers.

More annoying when the judge writes a critque for your dog and the paper misses bits of it out or doesn't even print the results from a CH show. The result for my bitch form Sutton DS on the 23rd of May were printed in the Dog World paper on the 9th of July which is probably one of the fastest we've had. Still waiting on her critique from the first Champange show at Ardingly this year! 

Have to say especially during the summer, critiques that have defiantly been received by the papers do not always get printed or sometimes so late you forget you even attended the show let alone had a good win. Sometimes think there is too much padding type reporting on the Champ shows and too little space given to the critiques and breed notes. We all want to know items of news and results, photos are nice and forthcoming shows essential, but I would like to see some pruning as a lot of the Champ info is repeated anyway.

I wonder which UK dog paper 'loses' or 'edits' the most critiques.

Word of mouth has it that OD doesn't print ALL critiques so some judges (allegedly) dont even bother sending them to OD ergo they dont get printed - dumn or what?

David Cavill of OD states that the do print ALL - now is that all critiques ie of each dog or is it of each class?

As far as I know (it's been a while since I bought the dog papers), DW would print the name and critique for the 1st place, and names of 2nd and 3rd at Open Shows, and the name and critique for 1st and 2nd place, and name of 3rd place, at Ch shows (apart from Crufts, where 3rd also gets a critique). However the critique had to be received within 2 months of the show, or it wouldn't be printed at all.

I didn't subscribe to OD - it seemed poor value in comparison.

i  judged at east of england on the wednesday, sent my critiques to both dog paper via email, and theyre in this weeks papers!!!!- so no complaints there  :)

Ah! but that is a Champ show, it is the Open shows that seem to get a raw deal only appearing if and when there is space to fill.

When I judged Flatcoats with CCs at Manchester on the Sunday my critique appeared in DW the following Friday - ie 5 days later.  Fine however after a couple of weeks it still hadn't appeared in OD so I rang them to ask why and they had lost it!!!  So I sent it again sharpish!

However, in May I judged Great Harwood and 2 days later I did Taunton.  Sent the critiques off by the weekend and OD had them in 2 weeks later - fine - but DW did not publish them until this week.  I challenged them on this because I was becoming worried and they said they had both critiques but had not put Harwood in because of lack of space (!) and they were waiting for the photos of Taunton!!! 

I also complained to both papers that when we emailled our crits over they should send an acknowledgement of our email - at least that way we would know they have it.  Guess what - neither paper had thought of it.  Plain commonsense I would have thought!!!

I also like the continental way of doing a critique for each dog - I love writing them - but do remember that on the continent we are limited on how many dogs we can judge in one day - norway and finland have a maximum of 100.

The KC are to be congratulated on this new ruling - it is a step in the right direction.  I have challenged judges in the past as to why nothing appeared and they have said "I haven't had time".  Sorry but if they have the time to judge us then they can jolly well find the time to write about it afterwards - I have also said this to them!!!   If Terry and Zena can get their critiques in with all the breeds they judge then there is no excuse for anyone else.

Becky

Totally agree Becky if a person has time to judge then they have time to write a critique. I find it frustrating waiting for writeups to appear as I rarely show, so know that as exhibitors, we do want to see what the judge thought of our dogs, and fairly quickly too.
When I judge, I always send in a critique, but have taken to emailing it as well as faxing it and have been to known to post it as well! Overkill? Perhaps but even so I have had times when I have had to chase up what had happened to a critique I have written.
I have always said that anyone who would like a copy of a critique I have written for a show, if it does not appear in the papers, can have a copy sent to them.

I always keep copies of all my critiques - partly for reference and partly for my own interest.  As I judge all the Gundog Group at Open Show level it is interesting to look back and see what I wrote about a dog.

Now, the KC have said that we must all provide critiques - however what they have not said is in what time scale.

For example, show secretaries have to send the KC a marked up catalogue within 14 days of the show.  Are they going to say the same of judges.  AND what will happen to those who don't do a critique?????  I reckon if the KC charged £50 to everyone who did not do a critique they would double their profits in 6 months!!!!!

Becky

In reply to longdog

This would be the same David Cavill who earlier this year didnt think it was important to write a critique but has apparantly changed this mind since!

There's nothing quite like being in the import register where not only can you not go in for a group or best in show but when you open the paper there are critiques on every breed that the judge has done except for import register breeds, when it just tells you where they were placed !!

how long does it take for them to be printed after the show? i have got 3 1st places at an open show on 1st aug and it is going into our dogs.
never had a 1st before and just wanted to know the judges write up on him.is there a set time from show to paper?
thanks for any help.

Surely this could have been dealt with as it is by ASPADS in Working Trials by using the invitation letter to set out the terms and conditions of the judging appointment; when the judge responds to the invitation they confirm that they are available and will agree submitting a critique within a specified timescale; voila! game, set and match.

I am a show secretary and anyone invited to judge at that show has to sign a contract - one of the items they agree to is to provide a critique for the dog press.  Failure to do so will mean reporting to the KC.  However NOT every show does this.
Becky

I always keep copies of my critiques. I find it interesting to look over them from time to time especially as I judge some dogs as pups or youngsters, then judge them as adults. That way I can see how they have grown on or changed in whatever way. For example, one dog I gave a BOB to, he was very fit and moved nicely, two years later judging the same dog and he is down the line as he has put on so much weight sadly it affected his overall look, and movement.
As a steward I also keep records of the dogs placed in the classes I steward for as there have been times when the KC has suggested people do contact the steward or judge. Many years ago my dog was placed 2nd at a champ show, when the writeup came out the wrong dog was credited with the win! So I rang the papers who said if I could get the judge to change the report for them they would be happy to print it. They also suggested I contact the KC to see if the correct dog was marked up in the catalogue and therefore the KC records. It turned out it was not my dog credited at the KC, so I had to get the Judge and steward to write to the KC and say this was a mistake. Had the critique not appeared I'd never have known.