The American Beagler Forum

recently i was at a little pack trial and in the finals of a three dog cast, we had a dog that reached out and grabbed a check and the other two dogs never heard him and the judge told the handlers to get'em in to the dog. the lead dog made a 180 and had what i would call three maybe four break downs and when the two judges came together the judge on the dog said there were no checks cause the dog never broke down. the dog obviously broke down or quite barking longer than 15 seconds at least three maybe four times in the 180 circle. the judge later approached about it said the dog was still on track making forward progress even though he wasn't barking he hadn't lost the rabbit. will i had to call bs on that cuz the dog wouldn't had stop barking if he would of had scent enough to stay on track and i figure he lost out on at least three checks maybe four. i would like to here some input from other judges on this ruling.

Buddy Wall

not siding with anyone, but anything can happen. for the most part you have to trust the judge. if it is clear then speak out. no judge is perfect.

I'm not taking sides but .... Were you there to see your dog or are you just basing your question on what you heard? Did you file a protest withe the Master of Hounds? Too often we, myself included, think our dog is rolling up a good score only to find out at the end that he may have been barking a lot, but he wasn't scoring. I'll never forget standing a on a hill listing to our cast. One guy commented "That's ol' Blue on that check!" every time the dogs really got to hammering. When the hunt was over ol Blue had a -10. Never had a check.

Do judges make mistakes? Sure they do. We've probably all been a victim once or twice. Do they see everything? Nope. They try to do their best but keeping up with a pack really pounding would require a sprinter and a marathon runner combined. If you didn't file a protest, get over it and get ready for the next trial. We've all been there.

sounds to me like you weren't in the click ..got ripped..not a thing u can do you cant protest checks . but I wouldn't have signed the score card .

i had the pleasure of being able to see the judge and the hound he was flat getting it and the judge told me thats how the dog didn't score. it wasn't my dog, i still didn't agree with the outcome and it wouldn't have matter who's dog it was. checks are a judgement call but you just know when your getting the bottom end of a political mess. i guess you would had to know whose dogs were in the cast, who was judging and how bad they needed hall of fame points. at least one more counterfeit hound in the hall of fame. most who know me know i just call it like i see it.

"I wouldn't have signed the score card ." I agree. That's the only way to get better judging. Might not change the outcome but ....

And that my friends is why I do not go to many trials anymore.

That's the reason I like TCP its just your 4 dogs now run it.

File a protest in Lp What a JOKE

how to handle splits was another issue we had. seems like certain judges would go with certain hounds on all splits not just one or two. the rabbits were abundant and alot of splits.

The race a judge sees and the one that spectators see or hear are most often very different. Judges are only human and can't be everywhere to see everything, plus people make mistakes. On the same token, what you hear may be completely opposite of what is actually going on. I've had guys get mad at me because their dog barked and didn't get a check, but I saw the dog barking in circles making no progress. Sometimes a judge is dong the right thing and just isn't in the right place to see something happen. It's the nature of the beast.

I'm always glad to pull z tree for a judge. He's tough, but consistent. A judge with an assistant would be good, if possible. Another set of eyes doesn't hurt. A judge might be on one side of a blow-down or brush pile and not see what's happening on the other side.

well to me when a hound is barking there's a good chance he has track under him (of course depending on the dog) for grins lets say this is a rabbit dog. when he stops barking there's a good chance he doesn't have track under him and to say he didn't score checks because the dog was making forward progress and was still running the rabbit but not barking for 15 seconds or longer, so when he started barking i guess he was taking a barking break in between. i've never heard of such a thing but i guess it could happen.
its over and you have new hounds in the hall of fame. i guess i should be proud there from oklahoma.

i believe the only way to make the judgeing better is to get more judges and competetitors involved that are honest and hold everyone accountable.
It is really easy to say "well they are helping each other out so we should do that to make it fair."
it is harder to say no matter what i will follow the rules and may the BEST dog win. Giving a dog a win just because "He only needs 5 points for whatever" is wrong if the dog didn't earn it.
The way to make anything better starts with our own personal choices.

I've also seen a man calling whatever dog is opening with the best mouth in every cast in LP his dog. Usually has a truck bed full and sells a lot of them before he leaves for home.

Usually trials at places far apart and even farther from his home.