There must be a lot of judges on this site.Just wondered would any of you write anything about an unplaced dog in your critiques.Mentioning the dog by name.
Shirley

Hi Rose, No, Iwouldnt. If the dog was not placed, be it a big class or smallish, there would be no reason to mention it imho.

No nor would I, a quite word in the ear that may help like, he should loose some weight, or sorry but your dog is lame today, but never mention by name in a publication. dogs that are not placed first in open or 1st or 2nd at champ should not be commented on in my opinion. Suppose the only exception would be if you witheld 1st & 2nd but the norm would just to say witheld, you may then give the name but not a critique. Having said this if a dog is entered under you, you consider that it is there for your opinion and I supose there can be no redress for the handler if an opinion is given however unexpected. Bit unkind though and not the way to encourage people into showing, like tearing strips of someones child. Jackie

if you are bitten you must (should) report the matter to the KC and that may find it's way into the press, but I don't think that is what you are meaning.

I must admit I like critiques with a judges preamble that says how they found the breed, if any faults becoming prevalent. this allows the judge to point out failings without having to damn a particular dog!

Don't you think to do that Barbara you have to have been in the breed for a good few years, well longer than I have anyway. Could say where I think those entered under me fullfill my idea of the standard & where they fall short but think I would need far more knowledge to make comment that could be of any help to the breed as a whole. Hope you understand what I mean. Ja:)kie

I probably phrased it badly. what I meant to say was that a judge would pick up on any prevalent fault or virtue in the entry.

We all live with our dogs and should know their faults, and try when breeding to compensate, but if we are not judges then we will have no idea how prevalent a failing is, threfore how important to avoid it in our breeding program.

The judge can point out for example that there are a lot of barely aceptable mouths, and if we have this fault and know that it is becoming prevalent, then we are wise to be strict on this fault.

so a judge would not even need to be in th4e breed, just be a good judge to the standard, so that the faults, and lets not forget the virtues are recognised.

An example might be let us say breed A has excellent pigmentation throughout the breed, but your lovely bitch fails in theis point, you as a breeder know that you should be able to correct this point, but if you knew pigment was generally bad, then you would be searching for a stud who not only was good in this but whose relatives and puppies also excelled in this point.

Think I did misread your post Barbara and I see what you mean now. Trouble is I'm sure that some judges comments are helpful but some are not, remember the lady last year who thought everything was too fat, heavy and oversize, as she had a good cross section of our breed under her hand, not that helpfull. Still I'm sure you are right and provided you have judged for enough time to have an overall view of how the breed is moving then a marked change would be noticed and should be remarked on. On a slightly different tack, have you noticed how some judges seem to have a fixation on a certain part of the canine anatomy and remark about it week after week no matter what the breed they are reporting on. Ja:)kie