Ms Virginia Lyne
Talks about Judging
I am thrilled that Ms Lyne has contributed to my blog. This is indeed is an honor to have such an esteemed judge like she to take the time to answer my questions.
Background in dogs – Virginia L. Lyne
I came from a family that always had dogs
from the time I could remember, primarily Cocker Spaniels, but I had occasional
connections with Dachshunds and Wire Fox Terriers as a child. No one, however,
had been involved in the exhibiting side of the sport until I bullied my
parents in 1953 into a black Cocker Spaniel and the start of dog shows in my
life, a passion which has grown from there. I am totally committed to purebred
dogs and the conformation events – it is a passion and an addiction.
In 1960 following University I spent a year
in England
and returned home with a black and white English Cocker and the start of the
Ranzfel English Cockers. Initially I was
very active in Obedience and am still approved to judge all Obedience classes. Under
the Ranzfel prefix I have bred numerous Canadian and American Champions with
National and Specialty winners in both countries. In 1969 I started judging with the Sporting
breeds and am currently approved to judge All Breeds.
Judging has been a passion for me. I have the
privilege of getting my hands on a group of quality dogs and being allowed to
‘sort’ for the best is exciting, challenging and demanding. I am a strong believer in learning as much as
one can about the history and development of a breed. Who has been involved in
the development of the breed? What, characteristics
are the ‘drags” on the breed? How has the breed evolved over the decades? What is
the function and purpose of the breed? What is the ‘essence’ of the breed? It is the
possibility of putting my hands on that ephemeral ‘goose bump’ dog that keeps
me coming back to the show ring.
I am still actively breeding English
Cockers and also live with a wonderful family of Whippets. Highlights in the
Ranzfel breeding program include Am. Can. Ch. Ranzfel Newsflash and Am. Can. Ch.
Ranzfel Ambassador who were Group and Best in Show winners in the USA and Canada. Probably
the standard for many judges and breeders of the essence of breed type in
English Cockers, Newsflash won the National under Anne Rogers Clark from the
Veterans class, the Sporting Group at Santa Barbara Kennel Club, the breed at
Spaniel Club and many Best in Shows. He is the sire of over 30 Champions. Ambassador finished his title at the National
the year after he went Best Puppy in Sweepstakes at 6 months. We still finish
dogs, primarily around Specialty competition but we are not campaigning dogs
any more.
My life work was in Education, and I
retired in 1996 after 35 years in secondary education teaching English but
working primarily as a Guidance Counselor and Student Services Co-coordinator.
Probably as a result I am totally committed to quality judges’ education and
have been active in seminar presentations and participation in judges training programs
for many years. I was a presenter at the
first AKC Advanced Judges Institute for Sporting Dogs in California, and have given presentations to
the English Cocker Spaniel Club of America on numerous occasions. For the past 12 years I have been mentor and
leader of a Judges Study Group on Vancouver Island and have been proud to watch
many of the original group go on to achieve Group level status in their
judging.
Currently I am Past President of the
Canadian Dog Judges Association, have worked as dog show representative, on Canadian
Kennel Club Advisory Committees, and on the CKC Ethics Committee, was
previously on the Executive of the English Cocker Spaniel Club of America and a
past President of the English Cocker Spaniel Club of Canada. At the present
time I am chairing a committee for the review of the Canadian standard for the
English Cocker.
I have been privileged to judge internationally
on numerous occasions and have judged in Australia, New Zealand, Philippines,
Thailand, Finland, Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Uruguay and
Colombia as well as regular assignments in the Canada and the USA where I have
been so very privileged to judge at many of the outstanding shows including
Santa Barbara, Westchester, Eastern, Westminster, and other special occasions. Perhaps the judging I am most proud of are
the National Specialties that I have done. In the Sporting breeds these include
Golden Retrievers ( 3 times) English
Cockers ( 3 times) Clumbers, Irish Water Spaniels, German
Wirehaired Pointers, Pointers, Flat Coated Retrievers, Chesapeake Bay
Retrievers and Irish Setters as well as major specialties in most of the other
Sporting breeds.
10 Questions Answered by Ms. Lynes
1. What is the quality of dogs being bred and
exhibited today?
I think that our best dogs of today are truly
outstanding and comparable with the best of any
previous decade. That said, I do find that we have too many dogs being shown that
are lacking in breed type and the essentials of sound movement. I am not
sure of why this is happening but perhaps there is a need to better educate the
breeders and provide more opportunities for judges to do
education while they
are judging. Judges really need to be able to guide the exhibitor with regard
to the quality of the dogs they judge.
2. What is your
opinion of using enhancements?
I will fault anything
that is going to come off on my hands, stick to my fingers or attract my
attention to the detriment of the dog. Done skillfully with a ”natural” appearance
I am not going to get excited. Artificial does not appear in any breed
standard that I have read. I do not like extreme 'fan' topknots with painted
black lines on Shih Tzu, tied ears in Yorkies, and extreme painted faces
in any breed.
3. What advice do you
give to new exhibitors to Confirmation?
This question could be
a book topic. I would try to guide them
to be patient and learn as much as
possible about the breed they have chosen especially to read the standard and
watch the dogs that are being judged. Too many novices exhibitors are
discouraged because they don't have a good mentor to guide them and they jump in the
deep end of exhibiting. I would tell them that they need
to decide what their
goal is. Do they want to enjoyed the friendship of people who love dogs and want
to learn more about their breed and its purpose? Do they want to become
involved in the performance events where the training and competition is
exciting and challenging? Or do they want to become a breeder
of outstanding Group
and Best in Show dogs? Do they have a
long term goal to eventually become a
judge of performance events or conformation? There is so much to learn that
after 5 years in a breed you really don't have any idea what you do not know.
After 10 years you start to know what you really need to know!
4. What one thing would you like
to see changed in our sport?
I think it is probably
summed up in one piece of advice. Play
nice and be kind to each other!
5 . What is the one handling mistake that you see
most often?
Probably moving dogs
at the incorrect speed both for the breed and the dog being shown. Dogs have
an ideal speed that they move best at according to their structure. The trend to one speed - fast - fits all is
very frustrating.
6. How do we attract
more people to the dog fancy?
I guess see the answer
to question 4. I think we drive the new person away when they encounter
some of the back biting and denigrating of people and dogs that goes on around
the shows. I also thinks that the experienced dog people need to make it their responsibility
to encourage the obvious novice who asks
questions and clearly
wants help. I know it is often at the wrong time but at least offer to talk to
them when it would be convenient. Dogs shows are an expensive and sometimes
confusing avocation. Making them more fun and more meaningful to the
beginner might help retain those who come to a show.
7. Do you think judges get proper training?
Generally I think
Canadian judges get adequate training but do not get the feedback on their
performance that helps them to grow and improve. We move our judges forward quite
rapidly compared to other countries which is a necessity because of our
geography and the size of our shows.
When you examine the depth of training that
is mandatory In the Scandinavian countries we are
definitely not doing
the job. I think we need a really well
thought out and meaningful mentoring
of our judges. Senior judges should be required to do interviews and
assessments of provisional, beginner judges. These interviews and assessments should
be part of the requirements for advancement. I do not believe that a person
should move forward to a new application to judge until
they have done a
minimum of 5 assignments where they have feedback from designated Senior
judges.
8. Have you ever
disallowed or dismissed an exhibitor from your ring.
I have dismissed dogs
for menacing and or biting, for faults that are DQ 's under the breed
standard, for being so uncontrolled that I could not examine them, for lameness,
and withheld awards for Lack of Merit.
9. Is poor
sportsmanship a problem in our sport?
I have really not
observed a lot of blatant bad sportsmanship though I know it happens. I have also seen examples of exceptional behavior shown by the owners of a defeated
dog. Being classy is such a good feeling!
10. Has being Best of Breed lost to the need for
Top Dog Points
I have long said that
training of judges should start with approval to judge Best in Show where the
judge sees dogs of quality and trains his eye of the best. Then the learner judge
should be allowed to judge a Group in the group of dogs that they aspire
to judge.
Finally they should be
allowed to judge the breed. It is only North America where the Group and
Best in Show awards have taken on such importance. In Europe and the UK
the breed win is what the exhibitors value the most. Because of the
emphasis in North America on the Top Dog rankings we have lost the appreciation of
what matters, the winners results at breed level.
Originally established in 1994 under the name "The Aids
Assistance Fund", Best friends/Meilleurs amis was conceived,
developed, and operated by founding members who included Bob Boxma, Dick Meen
and Tom Touzel. They, in turn engaged others to become
members of this Canadian Nationally Registered Charity formed to support
and provide assistance to the members of the Dog Fancy who were HIV/AIDS
positive and requiring emergency financial help.
During these early years, little was understood about the disease or the social
impact it would have on our community. Through generous support and many
fund raising initiatives, Best friends/ Meilleurs amis was able to distribute
assistance to individuals who required help.
There have been many advances in research and also the long term treatment of
HIV/AIDS, and many organizations have evolved to support those whose lives have
been affected. With this in mind, today the mandate of Best
friends/ Meilleurs amis has been broadened to encompass the more diverse needs
of our community. Their mission now is to provide help to any individuals
who have demonstrated a commitment to the sport of pedigree dogs,
and who find
themselves requiring emergency support during times of extreme personal
devastation, either due to illness, or other life changing events.
They are setting up at various shows and hope people will come by our booth to learn more about who we are and our goals to help others. I know that dog show people will be generous in their support of the purebred dog community. If you want to make a donation, you can can by their booth at the dog shows or contact Joanne Griffith, Peter Laventhall or Joy Huntley. Here is their contact information as well:
We are still in the jaws of cancer in our family. You may remember that our 24 year old autistic nephew lives with Lyle and me and he was diagnosed with Lymphoma in March. He has completed his chemo treatments, but as it turns out he is chemo resistant. We have now started radiation which is daily treatments. Please keep Zach in your thoughts and prayers. We surely could use some good news at this address.
I apologize for my blog not being weekly of late. As you can imagine, it has been chaotic in our family. I appreciate each and every one of my readers and I love hearing from you, yep, even when you don't agree with me. :o)
This show year is almost over and I hope to see as many of you as we can before the end of the year. If not HAPPY HOLIDAYS and GOD BLESS!
Be sure to go to Canuck Dogs, http://www.canuckdogs.com, to see all the upcoming events and to check stats. You should bookmark it. That's where you will find my blog.
XXXOOO
