.com Forum · Alpha Dog Forum

I am overwhelmed right now with all the judges. I used to have a chart where I listed all the judges, their preferences, handlers, etc., so it was relatively easy for me to pick what dogs to enter under what judges. I gave that up ages ago because I just can't keep up with all the judges! I used to consistently get group wins, as well as BIS placings. Now I'm lucky to make it into the group. It's just too confusing.

I've decided several of my youngsters who are just starting out will be owner handled, just because it's too time consuming to have to look up each judge at each show and figure out what handler to use.

In some of my other kennels, I've stopped showing altogether, which I really miss.

It's frustrating. If they just wouldn't keep changing...

Sorry, just venting...

You're overthinking.

Just take a breath. Enter at your own pace. Don't worry about shooting for BIS. Your dogs are nice enough where they will line up for show placements as they come along.

Within a short time, your entry memory will let you know what judges are good for your breed.

Jeff has built all the info into the game now. No need to keep charts. Judge info and handler rankings are right in front of you when you do entries.

Your dogs are nice enough to go up even on mediocre handlers. So having the #1 handler for a judge isn't that crucial.

If I am having a "I hate this game" moment, I will take a day or two away from signing in and by the time I come back... I am ready to go again.

Will

I like having a huge pool of judges and having the show winners be more varied. But I definitely get how you feel about remembering the technical things, handlers/no handlers/specific traits etc.
I tried keeping excel charts years ago, but I was never even organized enough to keep them up to date back then.
So I just focus on 1 or 2 specials that I want to win group/show placements and I do their entries the slow way, using the in-game preference tables.
I don't worry so much about my class dogs, I just enter where the points are, with which ever high ranking handler is not taken regardless of the judge's preferences... unless it's owner handler.

^^Oops that was me

You got this!

I've been picking up BISs lately on the dogs that I didn't expect it on. The ones I think will do it... not so much. haha

Will

I like the variety of Judges.
Some are Handler free, too.

The judge glitch is the greatest thing to happen to this website. I've been getting group wins and placements all over the place in all of my kennels. It's a teeny bit time consuming but having a wonderful dog place under several judges is so validating.

Actually, despite my venting, I have never had an "I hate this game" moment. I always love it, just some days more than others. And I'm taking your advice. I'm just going to spend some time doing some research and limit my showing to 1 or 2 per kennel. Thanks BarStar. LOL

I'm pretty much ok with the judge thing. I've never been too much into picking judges - perhaps it more of a thing with the real popular judges and high SOP breeds.

Apart from looking for owner-judges I tend to look at entries. I'll stick in a dog where I see only one entry just so someone gets at least one point whether its me or someone else. If I have a lot of dogs to show, I'll sometimes scatter them around all the available shows so that there are at least two in every show.

If I have "special" dogs that have done well under certain judges, I'll seek out those judges for those dogs.

This is pretty close to how I showed my real dogs except the criteria was more like how far away was the show (if its local we go regardless of judge), or do I have friends that I want to visit (if yes and within a reasonable distance, we go).

In real life, nearby shows are too scarce to boycott because of a judge just not picking my dog and distant shows involve too much expense and travel time.

I think all the judges are great. I consider it an improvement. I find since the handler ranking are right there oon each page for selecting a handler it is relatively easy for me. The only thing I keep a chart of, and I've only just started doing this, which judges give placements to my dogs if any. I figure my dogs are either good enough, or not good enough, so I don't worry about judges so much. I do ok.