hi all

could all those with judgeing knowledge please tell me how you go about starting to judge ??

anyone ??

I maybe wrong but I was told to go to a breed seminar and anything your breed puts on and they often may do judging seminars. Also speak to your breed club about doing this and they should point you in the right direction of what to do. You'd start with your own breed and go from there. I believe that you need to have the permission from your club or one of them and have their support in order to do this?

In time after exhibiting you may be invited to judge, in the   meantime if you get the opportunity..........  go to breed related seminars .Also volunteer for stewarding at open shows. good luck x

My experience is that people are invited to judge when it is thought that others would value their opinion.

Sadly westcoast don't think that's true.  I wonder if politics are a major part to judging myself.

not like it was years ago . then  you served your apprenticeship so to speak  and was invited to judge  after a few years in the breed.

:( :(

Mostly your breed club or one of them if you have more than one will put your name on the judging list after you have shown for a while and shown interest in the breed by owning and going to breed seminars and taking and passing the exams set at the breed seminars. You also need to show enough interest in showing and judging to take the 3 exams set by the KC and pass them also a good idea to start stewarding particularly for the breed you are interested in.

Once you have done the above you may be asked or you may have to ask to go on the breeds C list, then you wait to be offered classes. When you have started judging you will acquire numbers of dog you have assessed and will eventually once you have judged the number required by the Breed Club be moved up to the B list and then to the A3 list. Once you are on the A3 list you will have to fill in a form for the KC, a sort of CV and they will either give or refuse you permission to give CCs at Championship shows, if you get permission you will be assessed by a senior judge within the breed who will either pass you or not, please note the judge that assess you is not going to question your opinion or placing of the dogs but the way you handle the ring and your exhibits.

Different breeds and breed clubs have different requirement before putting you on their lists but these requirements are available from the secretary of the club and many list them on their web sites. The 3 KC exams are about the construction of dogs, the handling of dogs and how to run your ring when judging. When I took them one was a written paper, and the other two are assessments of your performance.

Hope that helps, and good for you to be interested go on and have a go.

Here are the requirements for the Newfoundland Club http://www.thenewfoundlandclub.co.uk/judgingcriteria.htm

thank you all for taking the time to answer my question.

Sadly though due to the numbers on the breed club lists it is hard to get judging appointments.  It does seem that how many years you have been in a breed and how well you've done doesn't really matter, I do feel that faces and people who push themself forward get much further.

agreed P.................................. (if i knew how to quote i would lol)  i find that with breed clubs too, years ago all the bigger breeders used to be on the Breed Club  committees and you looked up to them for for advice etc, nowadays lots  peps on breed committees only been in the breed 5 mins.

peps on breed committees only been in the breed 5 mins.

Whilst this is often true :-) in any CC breed 75% the people who sit on the judges sub committee and vote on the judges lists must give CC's, so will not be new and inexperienced

Do you know we spend weeks trying to get judges working our way through lists and it is surprisingly difficult so if you know of a club that has classes for your breed(s) then hide your pride and drop them a note to say you would love to judge ******* for them when they have a vacancy and tell them the list you are on.

Think that some of the problem is that some clubs like to employ one judge to do loads of breeds but that is short-sighted and most would consider your request with relief.

oops i meant Breed Club show committees .

Our breed , might be general though, you have to have three dog in the stud book.  Only going to get that once you start judging lol, and you have to have had the breed for x amount of years.

Let your ringcraft know.  They have an apsiring judges thingymebob to get you started.  You also have to have a minimum of 15hrs stewarding before you can attempt to judge along with your complusary breed seminars.

Definitely contact your breed club. They will tell you when there are seminars regarding the breed, whether there is a judging exam that you can take.  As someone else said, stewarding is now an important part of the climb to judging.

Your breed club should also have a questionnaire that you fill out with your "experience", this will include how long you've had the breed, how many dogs you have owned in the breed & how well you've done in the ring (stud book number/Champions/JW etc).  Some breed clubs will put you on the lowest list as soon as you apply or show an interest in the breed.

Further up the "food chain" of judging, the KC will require you to take exams & seminars in order to give tickets.  I put off doing mine for a long time as I wasn't convinced that jumping through hoops was teaching anyone about my breed or making them better judges.  Then I grew up & realised I couldn't beat 'em, so I joined 'em ;-) :-D

I've done the judging session.  Would like to steward though as this is one of the stipulations of going further.

I was asked to do some novelty classes by my local pet club for their summer show, it was very scary the first time. But I've done it 2 or 3 times now and am getting used to it. Not a bad way to start getting the hang of the judging experience without too much need to worry about breed standards!!