Is it against KC regs for a husband or wife to steward for their partner?

No, as long as the Committee of the show are happy to allow it. The husband cannot just turn up and expect to steward. KC rules say no-one is permitted to be in the ring other than stewards, judges/judges and of course exhibitors. So therefore the husband couldn't just sit at the table waiting for the wife to finish judging unless they are a designated steward.

Nope not at all, partners, siblings, parents and children all make ideal stewards!  Dad often takes my mum as his steward and I often use one of them or my brother :D  convience when societys ask if you can bring your own steward!!!!

Is it acceptable for a husband to steward in the ring their wife is showing in?
Angela

Can't see why not.

> Can't see why not.

No nor can I, may make it difficult to get your dogs attention if it is looking at dad but no reason why someone should not steward because a relative is in the ring.

Right, I'll get him involved then LOL.
Angela

There is no written rule against it, but I truly believe it is ethically and morally wrong. Think of the position you are putting the judge in. For any show that I organise I would not accept it. Everything has to be seen to be done as correctly as is humanly possible. There are enough people who would condem a judge for not placing them for much lesser reasons. The Kennel Club does not allow husbands or partners to exhibit under a judge already, we don't want any more rules and regulations.

No rule against it, I'm handled when Dad/Grandad/mum have been stewarding in that ring HOWEVER they have on most occasions, got someone else to step in for that breed or class. or have just chosen a different ring compleatly!

Myself and my mum have stewarded for the red and white club shows in the past where Dad handled the dogs and Mum and Dad have stewarded the aussie club shows before where I have handled dogs.

(Can you tell it's a right family affair!

> There is no written rule against it, but I truly believe it is ethically and morally wrong.

How can it be, the steward has nothing to do with the judging and the judge is unlikely to realize the steward is related to that woman exhibiting in post grad. Any judge who is trying to do a good job will probably be totally unaware of who is in the ring anyway.

If the steward and the judge are from the breed in the ring then the judge is going to know everyone anyway in the smaller number breeds so what difference can it be to have a steward related to one of the exhibitors. 

It is extremely difficult to get good stewards and if it comes to it committee members and will get more so with the cost of travelling so why make things more difficult than they are now by piling on the restrictions in what is after all a hobby and those who help do so at their own expense.

Not quite the same, but I was judging obedience on Monday(as a replacement judge)& in my part of the class, my pupil & his dog were drawn in the running order(ten dogs are selected at random to work in the first hour). Now my pupil had a choice-simply not work in the class, train the round or work the round competitively.

He worked the class & won the class not because he was my pupil, but because they were head & shoulders above the rest of the class, the second dog was at her second show(& got placed last week as well) & no one said anything. It was the lowest class Pre-Beginners & it didn't bother me that he was in my class at all. I did ignore him & the dog until after they had worked, not because I didn't want people to know I knew them, but so that I did not distract the dog as he always makes a fuss of me & being a very young dog he is quite easily distracted.

I've judged friends & their dogs before & some have won & some haven't, the difference between conformation & obedience is that if your dog(or you)makes a mistake in obedience that is obvious then you get marked(well you should do)

I simply mark what I see & the standard in the Pre Beginners class is like a curates egg- good in parts-most of the dogs were not ready to work in Novice(the third Obedience class)yet so to have penalized my pupil & his dog would have been wrong(& also against the KC Rules) I am always actually more critical of dogs & handlers that I know, because I know what their potential is & how well they can work. Another friend(who is an obedience ticket judge)actually said to my pupil, he must have worked well under me because I mark what I see & don't worry about who is handling !

Sometimes if I act as a steward friends will work in the class I am stewarding & again it isn't a problem for me, but it could be difficult for the friend & dog as the dog could get distracted.

I actually had my dad stewarding a class I was working with my first BC(& my bitch loved my dad)she actually won the class despite having my dad in the ring with me

I would have thought it would have been MORE of a problem in Obedience because the steward walks behind or to one side of the dog and is speaking to the handler so the dog may well be inclined to turn to look at the steward. Not in the more advanced classes as they will be far more disciplined.

Also in obedience the steward has far more to do with the judging process in that it is the response to their instruction that they are judging.

In the breed ring the steward has no input whatsoever in the judging of the class. Most will tell the judge who is absent from the class and then get on with the paperwork until the judging is completed only walking back into the ring to clean it or, in a large class, to ask them to stand back or that the judge is almost finished assessing new dogs.

It isn't with anyone I train with as we do training rounds with each other giving the commands, the problems come when dogs you know well, but don't train with are in the ring with you.

Oddly enough people I know tend to try harder in my classes when I judge, because they know I"show no mercy"when judging, I use a talley count to record my marks so i don't need to look away from them & miss anything.

I might have a go at judging a C next year, where I will have a ring steward & a scribe(even though I will use a talley counter as well)to write down the errors that I see.

As for relatives stewarding in Breed, they have no input into the choices made by the judge(the same as in Obedience)I've stewarded for Breed judges that I would never enter under & I've stewarded for judges who I would enter under.

I agree with you MM, and get tired of people suggesting that judges are all untrustworthy and immoral.

I'm not daft I know some judges lack integrity. Some are inadequate in their performance but that does not make them dishonest they really do their best, placing the dogs that in their eyes deserve to be placed in the order they feel is correct on that particular day.

There may be many inadequate judges but there are very few dishonest. And what constitutes an inadequate judge, well one that does not agree with the judges at the ringside.

LOL, or the one that chucks our dogs out, ;)

> LOL, or the one that chucks our dogs out, ;-)

LOL Barbara, I know the feeling. ;-)

But I don't know if others who judge feel the same but once the pleasure of having so many quality dogs paraded in front of you has passed, you start to wonder if at least half the watching exhibitors and spectators think you have lost the plot, and of those left there will be the few you have pleased and the rest will think you a poor judge or dishonest.

Suppose it is a small price to pay for the pleasure it gives me but I do wish I did not feel like that and I am sure the continued griping about dishonest judging makes you question everything you do although know you have done things as you saw them and at the time did not give the gallery a thought.

I know there are a few very knowledgeable people that are put off judging because of this.