Who would you rather run under? Judge A or Judge B

[Ken Bora]

Note this poll is totally hypothetical. Any similarities to any other RTF thread or persons signature line are purely coincidental. 8)

Picture yourself planning what test/trial to enter. You have two choices for the weekend you want to run. Both are equal travel time for you. Both are great clubs with great grounds. So you look at the judges at the level you are entering. One club has judge A on the team you will run under, the other club has judge B.

Who would you rather run under? Judge A or Judge B

Judge A - Very active dog trainer. Always has multiple dogs running every time you see him/her. Always does very well ether finishing at hunting tests, field tests and hunts or placing in trials. Maybe was a professional dog trainer in the past. Always has a group at the tailgate asking how to fix this and that with dogs. Has very few or zero judging points. You have never seen this person set up a test.

Judge B -Does not have a dog he/she is training right now. Had one great dog years ago that went to the top but has done nothing since. Never goes out to the weekend training groups you see because he/she is always busy judging. Has more judging points than you can shake a stick at. You have run under him/her dozens of times. You know what to expect and have qualified under the set-ups of this judge.

Now everything else is equal, quality of club/grounds/travel time/other judge. EVERYTHING! The only variable is judge A vs. judge B who do you pick? The person that you KNOW is a very good trainer. Or the person you KNOW is a very qualified judge?

Have fun pondering
Ken Bora

[Gun_Dog2002]

Well, Ken I'm glad you made sure this was an original post. I will take judge A over judge B. I have at least two judge B's in mind right now. Have run and passed under them with a high pass/complete rate. They're great people, and I know thier test setups. I know they are fair and reasonable judges. I'd still take the A judge because at the end of the day, it will be designed to really challenge the dog. I didn't go there to just pick up 3 marks and a blind 3 times, I do that daily. I want to be tested.

/Paul

[Chris Atkinson]

The key to me was that the scenario indicates that I've run under judge "B" "dozens" of times. That means 24 or greater times!

I'm ready for some variety! Sounds like judge "A" could be fun and I'm ready for some new scenery!

Chris

[dixiedog]

Until I finish titling my young BLF, I want to pass and will pick Judge B because I can predict how he will set the test up. While I do agree with the above posts in that the point is to test my dog, I can also see the merit in picking Judge A because he has more 'hands on,' present experience with training retrievers-so he may offer more of a challenge. After my dog gets her MH this Fall, I'll pick Judge A every time in the Spring.

[John Gassner]

I will answer for LVL in her absence....."IT DEPENDS"!

If I needed the pass, I would go with judge B. I should know what to expect and what to train for, unless I have never passed in my doezens of attempts.

If I had the title and wasn't chasing getting qualified, or was in no real hurry to title I would go with judge A.

Which personality do you like more? Some judges have no personality at best, and might have a really bad one even if they know how to set up nice tests and judge.

Go where the fun is!


John

[BamaK9]

Until I finish titling my young BLF, I want to pass and will pick Judge B because I can predict how he will set the test up. While I do agree with the above posts in that the point is to test my dog, I can also see the merit in picking Judge A because he has more 'hands on,' present experience with training retrievers-so he may offer more of a challenge. After my dog gets her MH this Fall, I'll pick Judge A every time in the Spring.

it's not about the title, it's about the proverbial "journey" it took to get that title. I want to feel like I earned something, not that I ran under an easy, predictable judge and I got the 'matador' pass towards my dogs title. I love the fact that we have titles in hunt tests and field trials to aspire to, but sometimes that goal tends to cloud our vision of what we are doing with our dogs. I've gotten hunt test titles on current and past dogs, while it still excites me, what really 'cranks my tractor' is when I see that perfect mark, or that perfect line to a blind on a sidehill with a poison bird just downhill. Those things are as good as a pass to me.

[chessieheaven!!@@##?]

I would try to Judge A first. While I like to pass, the limited grounds we run on up here tend to produce predictable set-ups and tests and variety is the spice of life. Nothing like passing a hard/different test!

[dixiedog]

Until I finish titling my young BLF, I want to pass and will pick Judge B because I can predict how he will set the test up. While I do agree with the above posts in that the point is to test my dog, I can also see the merit in picking Judge A because he has more 'hands on,' present experience with training retrievers-so he may offer more of a challenge. After my dog gets her MH this Fall, I'll pick Judge A every time in the Spring.

it's not about the title, it's about the proverbial "journey" it took to get that title. I want to feel like I earned something, not that I ran under an easy, predictable judge and I got the 'matador' pass towards my dogs title. I love the fact that we have titles in hunt tests and field trials to aspire to, but sometimes that goal tends to cloud our vision of what we are doing with our dogs. I've gotten hunt test titles on current and past dogs, while it still excites me, what really 'cranks my tractor' is when I see that perfect mark, or that perfect line to a blind on a sidehill with a poison bird just downhill. Those things are as good as a pass to me.

I do not "pick" my judges-I sign up for the test & do not worry about who the judge is going to be. BUT if I did take notice of who the judges were, I would concentrate on titling my dog, and I certainly agree with you, at that point it is time to find the most challenging tests available to my dog. Instead of looking for a judge that theoretically may be slightly more difficult, just journey on up to the next level of difficulty. After you get an MH, go get QAA, if you get QAA, run AA & try to win there.

I totally understand that a lot of people like to run certain venues & I respect that. I, on the other hand, am always looking for something more challenging & think the best way to accomplish this (for me) is to look for a more challenging venue.

[achiro]

If it were a FT, judge A
If it were a HT, judge B

[Granddaddy]

I will answer for LVL in her absence....."IT DEPENDS"!

If I needed the pass, I would go with judge B. I should know what to expect and what to train for, unless I have never passed in my doezens of attempts.

If I had the title and wasn't chasing getting qualified, or was in no real hurry to title I would go with judge A.

Which personality do you like more? Some judges have no personality at best, and might have a really bad one even if they know how to set up nice tests and judge.

Go where the fun is!


John

I'd have to agree it depends. That said, notwithstanding the experience of judge A related to training & handling - since I don't know what to expect with him, my opinion might change from that weekend expereince. Training & handling experience alone does not make a good judge IMO but it should provide a good indication.