Is finishing a dog to akc fc still a big acomplishment

[toldyouso]

Well said Jamie Rice and yes you r right Ronald Conroe no one will listen. One thing for sure I for the most part run a crazy swigging cutting dog and it took me years and alot of money to figure out that AKC midwest was not looking for this style of dog. Which is fine by me it is just want i like. Have been a licensed AKC judge for years and have only been called one time to judge a license trial and this was at jackson years ago. My wife and i judged 13 inch bitches after the trial was told we would never be ask to judge again because we did not put the right dogs in the right places. What kind of crap is that. Now the reason i brought this up is a fellow in one of these post says the judge sees 95 percent of the chase which i Do not believe a two legged man as every seen 95 percent of any four legged dog chase. It is probley closer to 75 percent or lower but thats another discussion. If this is true 95 percent is seen by the judges then i would like to believe that my wife and i got it right. So why would this person make a comment like this and it has been true to form. Now I do know that I am not AKC Mid West favorite person but I did judge by the rule book and give 100 percent effort everytime I have every judged. People talk about why people judge and i agree with some but this is never ever why I judged I did it because I love to watch the dogs work period and this my friend is why these organizations r starting to lack good judges we have to many doing it because they believe if i judge i win if i judge i get paid what happen to the LOVE OF THE SPORT Just asking. And Please do not get mad at me I am just talking for the sake of talking. I have alot of very good people that i would call friends in the Mid West but I have refused to be a puppet for any organization And I do mean ANY> Run hard fast and forever.

[Ohiohntr]

This post will probably go in one ear and out the other to most.....sorry for being long winded

I actually like judging more than I like running my own hounds in a trial....the problem this past year has been the stern looks, being called every name in the book, accused of cheating...etc...basically everyone at the end of the day was pissed because their hound was picked up, even 2nd-nbq. Nobody seems to accept that their dog may not have been the best that day and they choose make it well known via behind the back talk, internet, or through rumors.

I judged several trials this past spring (and one this fall)...I never ran a dog...I judged, spent a great amount of money, and stuck to my assignments because I love the sport and want to see good dogs go. Nearly everytime I walked away wondering why I was even judging these unappriciative buttholes dogs....It was not the dogs fault.....the hounds were pretty good. Some were rough, some would not pull to the pack out of a check, some wouldn't stay in the check, some were too fast for their nose and brain, some were too slow because a dog was faster and still maintained accuracy...but all of the dogs were pretty decent as a whole and I always felt like the other judge and myself got the correct dogs on the bench. The problem I saw were the owners of the hounds. It seemed as though nobody could accept their own dogs faults and chose to blame me as the judge rather than opening their eyes and realizing their dog was not the best according to the AKC standards and conditions that day.

So is it the the quality of hounds that are running judges out? I say no, I say it is the handlers unable to accept their own dogs faults and instead of trying to correct the faults, they choose to stand and point out other dogs faults or just tell a judge "you don't know what your f'n looking at". The handlers enter the same dogs week in and week out whether they are right (mentally and physically) or not...their dog finally gets a break one or two trials and from that point on they "expect" the judges to put wins and places on their dog. As Jeff said, "it is not life or death"....every dog has its day and there is no need to lay your hounds burdens on the judges. If you are honest, you know what your hound is doing by sound. If I don't hear one of my females, she is skirting...If I hear her driving too far in front of the pack, she probably cheated to get there. I can pick my dogs faults out by sound....if I don't hear this or that then she is probably doing "ok". Just because you hear your dog open first does not mean it got the check....it means it is barking, could be babbling around or might be opening backwards...How do you know standing 200yds away bragging to your buddies?

I have choosen to back out of judging not only to family obligations but the fact that it seems as though owners and handlers themselves have no idea what the AKC standards are and as thick of skin as I have....well, I am sick of hearing it. Dog up according to the AKC rule book...get your dog right...whatever it takes....quit looking at me as a judge to fix your hounds problems. If I tell you your dog was rough and wouldn't stay on the line, don't enter him or her in the next trial without trying to address the problem cause I will bet ya packing it with 5 other hounds that week probably didn't help it a bit. If you need to....don't enter that hound in another trial for 3 or 4 weeks, there is no need...it will be rough again. Guys who do well consistantly have figured out their hounds "running formula" to get that dog right according to the rules and conditions they will face at the next trial....the rest condition the crap out of their dogs and figure if they throw enough darts, something will hit. But, if it doesn't hit....don't blame the judges. As for the ones complaining about "rough dogs winning"....well a dog that was rough this week may not be the next week or scenting conditions might play in that dogs favor...don't blame the judge because that dart finally found its mark.....chances are the following week it will be back to looking rough because now the owner "expects to win" and doesn't put the same time into it or the conditions are not the same. Go back the next week with your quick turning line control hound and make that high flyer look like an idiot on track....don't complain on the internet, get your dog right and leave no doubt in the judges mind who had the best dog.

By the way....a slower dog can have as many faults as a high flyer. It is up to the judges to weight the severity of the faults accoring to the rules. If I have one that is clean a heck track dog but babbles in the check-fault, if I have one that is clean as heck but walks it backwards out of a check-fault, if I have a clean track dog that disrupts the pack on off game-fault. So is it better to have a dog that has these 3 faults over a dog that over-runs the front by 20yds or skirts one brushpile....I don't know, that is for the other judge and I to figure out.

Does a FC title mean something to me....heck yes it does!! Although having said that....I will see if it was a dart game to obtain the title because I look for consistancy under all conditions, but that is just me.

So there ya go....my .02

[TC]

"Ohiohntr

Spot on!!!!
Good post!!

[Mapel Valley Kennels LLC.]

"Word"

[Aaron Bartlett]

Guys......Dont encourage Kelly! He is just feeling cocky cause he got his Hanna Montana phone back!

[BG BEAGLER]

Is it true kellys phone cover matches Fuzz's bandana....just what I heard

[Katelyn]

hahaha; yelp

[Ohiohntr]

Guys......Dont encourage Kelly! He is just feeling cocky cause he got his Hanna Montana phone back!

Ahhh ha....Hamburger comes out of hiding, poke your fun little man. I lay in wait for you to slip up...maybe next month, maybe next year...You and your chubby chump take the easy strikes...I am more of what they call a "bomb threat". Hug in the corner and shake with your buddy....

Come to think about it...funny I haven't heard anything out of Swafford today....hmmmm...maybe ole' Kelly ain't as dumb as he looks, when an opportunity exists...Kelly takes it, snap..snap

Marple, you might want to call Swafford and find out what I am capable of.

[Jamie Rice]

In the words of Cris Carter,

C'MON MAN

[BG BEAGLER]

Now Kelly that was funny and u know it!!!!!

But here is my two cents on the topic at hand

I came out of lp and I might be one of the judges people talking about...doesn't really bother me....good buddy of mine told me....'we are not judging dogs wr are just writing down what they do'...and I believe that....another judge who I look up too says...'u have to allow for the game'....if u don't know what that means then u don't need a pencil in ur hand....every situation is different weather, dog pressure, how much time u had in ur dog that week,...etc.,it all makes a difference....if u can play softball u can play baseball....some of the rules might be different but it the same concept

And yes FC means a great deal to me....it's what drives us to sleep in our trucks(while running dogs) work all day drive all night to make deadline or judge the next day all day long....just like a dog gotta have heart so does the owner

[Ohiohntr]

just like a dog gotta have heart so does the owner

I like that quote...you are back on my Christmas card list...not the other two yo's though

[Ridge View]

To get back to the question;

Is it a big accomplishment to finish a dog in akc?

I would say Yes without a doub.

With that being said I will dive in.........

The talk has been wild rough dogs......some have blamed a certian cross of bloodline etc... Really! Honestly if you look at the current bloodlines they do not differ much from the 70's on. I believe most rough dogs are not created genetically but evolve from the type of training recieved.

[LaMarr Rhoades]

i dont think any dog or blood line was put down in any way

[eddywilliams]

No one or line was put down it means SOME JUDGES AND ALSO SOME OWNER HANDLERS need to get a pair of glasses to help THEM SEE CLEARLY WHAT THEY ARE PRESENTING AT TRIAL AND WHAT IS BEING JUDGED AT TRIALS.TWO WAY STREET

[jdmart]

MidWest Guys! Best Federation in Beagling! Let's remember that! We may all not agree on every little item, but at the end of the day, we all know we love our format. We may differ some in the style of dog we individually like but we have a common ground. As I have stated before it always seems others try to attack us but I never see us attacking them!