Point taken. Since at some point you quite obviously considered yourself prepared to judge without ever having judged before, perhaps you could share the methods you used to discharge this responsibility to be prepared in the manner you describe.
I started in the sport wanting a well mannered hunting dog - I did what I was told to do during training sessions & observed. The only book
available was James Lamb Free of which I have several copies. There were no videos, there was an occasional Judges Seminar. there were no
clinics, if you needed to correct your dog there were humane ways to reach them & of course, your tennis shoes. There were no training aids.
So I did what they say you should do,
I learned from experience with dogs in the field. I threw a ton of birds, planted a few
blinds, & judged a ton of sanctioned & picnic trials. A 500 mile one way trip on 2 lane roads was rarely done. The trials were also small enough
you could watch all dogs in all stakes.
By the time I co-judged my 1st AKC Derby with Gus Rathert (1965 NAFC Rebel Chief of Heber) in 1969 I already had my 2nd self trained AA dog,
mostly done by working alone after work & with a group of folks on weekends. Though when I worked in the mines I had Bob Sparks & his Yellow
dog, FC-AFC Copper City Buck & his Derby dog at the time who became 1967 NFC-AFC Butte Blue Moon to watch during training. Sometime after
that I judged with Richard Ellis (FC-AFC Lucifer's Lady) & Marvin Hoffman (AFC Allo-Dere-Louise). I don't remember which one was 1st & am too
lazy to look it up.
I became more confident in what I could be done spending about 20 years day training at least once a week with one of the top pro's in the country.
I learned a lot about bird placement from the late Mike Greene. When I agreed to an assignment I judged with whoever the club put with me. That,
along with those who questioned on occasion by competitors who also judged as to why they were not called back told me there were people out there
who failed all requirements to be a judge yet were asked to on a regular basis. They also judge twice or more a year!
I used to keep a rough score card on competing dogs to test my knowledge, if you are a competitor in that stake be prepared to wonder what is going
on, serious mistakes just overlooked?
This was reported to me - at a training session there was a discussion about who would you get to judge that was both knowledgeable & fair. The usual
suspects were bandied about until someone whose dog knowledge I have a great respect for said "I'd nominate Marvin - he really likes stylish dogs, knows how
to train one & set the tests that show they can do the job under control while being fair & impartial, as he really doesn't like anyone associated with dogs".
I consider that an endorsement of how I feel because of the source.
Those who train with their fingertips on RTF don't normally have that level of dog knowledge!!!!
