Judges reading the SOP before a breed.

We've all seen it- "Jersey Woolies to _____'s table!" As we're putting up the first class of whatever breed, the judge frantically flips open his Standard of Perfection and browses the standard for the breed.

I've seen different opinions on this.

Some folks HATE IT. They worry, and it's a justified worry, that it means the judge doesn't know what he (or she) is doing. They worry it's going to be a wasted $3.50 opinion.

Other folks, like me, don't worry about it.

My thoughts are- half the time I can't even remember the max weight on Jersey Woolies and I BREED THEM. I certainly don't have all the particulars of ALL the breeds floating around in my head. Think of all the dwarf breeds- posed differently, different min. and max weights, different allocation of points...... it would be HARD to remember!

I'd much prefer a judge to take a minute to remind himself of how to pose and what the point value on different aspects are, rather than trying to fake it. In my opinion, the worst judges I have ever had are the ones that don't know what they are looking for and don't care to remind themselves. Crack open a standard folks! I will never get angry for waiting an extra 5 minutes so that the judge can do the best job possible.

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry