The Judge's Role

According to the guidelines that govern the judging at the Scandinavian shows, guidelines which are generally applied in other countries, the work of judges lies in appreciating and indicating the quality of the dogs that have been appointed to them, as well as establishing the order of merit of the participants. Likewise, they must justify their decisions through written reports.

Dog Anatomy
Special terminology that a judge uses in his written report to present a description of the dog. (The following is a picture of a dog.)

Crane
A dog show in these conditions is purely a beauty contest in which the participants have to resign to the norms of the breed. The dog is to be judged on its physical aspect and the manner in which it perform that day. The judging is primarily based on helping the breeders select among the different dog breeds those that are outstanding due to their physical aspect and breed. Therefore, it is up to the breeder to make use of this information, as well as, of their knowledge of the possibilities of the reproduction of the dog with regards to future breeding. Judges cannot allow themselves to be influenced by the family history of the dog or the background of the breed, nor should they give special regard to any specific dog. The dog show results should not be given value for future generations; rather they should be simply a product of previous generations of breeding. The individual merits of the dog breeds cannot be evaluated on anything other than the classes of breeds.

In order to maintain the element or factor of competitiveness in dog shows, the judging must be restricted to the current rules and that the judge not is influenced by unreasonable factors.