Today in Montgomery, Judge Melinda Lyon was judging some terriers, toys, and juniors. She is still provisional for many breeds. Good or Bad her choices were her own, and we won't be entering under her again. There were several other much more worthy dogs in the ring today than what she put up, but that is my (and several others) opinion and she pointed to hers. That's why we enter, like it or not, we pay for their opinion of our dogs on that day. Our voices are only heard on this matter in future entries, or lack thereof. Ms. Lyon's placements today are not the point of this note. My point is her lack of concern for dogs in the ring. Many dogs will 'reverse sneeze' in the ring. We have all seen a dog do it. Years ago, as an embarrassed beginner, I tried to continue around the ring with my dog doing that and was instructed by a judge to stop, let the dog compose itself, then continue. That kind judge showed me how to make this happen very quickly. As I became more aware, I realized that many dogs do this, especially in dusty rings. From then on, whenever that happened, I would stop, compose the dog, and continue. On average, this takes less than 30 seconds. So far today, I have received 3 phone calls complaining about Judge Lyon NOT allowing a handler to stop and get the dog's breathing under control before proceeding. This handler happened to be showing a dog of our breeding, hence the reason for the calls to us. That handler is fabulous and is not the type to complain, and it was from others that I heard this story. You know that a judge's actions have made an impact when a someone sees the occurrence, and makes a point of looking up the dog, it's owners and breeders, and feel the need to immediately inform them of what has happened at the show. Ms. Lyon moved this team to the front of the line-up then on that final go-round the dog started to 'reverse-sneeze.' When the handler made an attempt to stop and help the dog, he was instructed to continue. Well, we all know that it is hard enough for us to walk a straight line when we are sneezing, but our poor dogs, being forced to move and while having difficulty breathing, was just plain wrong. As a handler we are trained to 'obey' the judge, and sometimes it's just not a great idea. Occasionally, we are torn between doing what we know is right and what this judge (who we don't want to offend) wants us to do. This dog was still in the ribbons, but that wasn't the point. Had it been any dog, of any breed, that people contacted me about, this post would be the same. What would that 30 seconds delay have meant? Win or lose, it would have leveled the playing field, and most importantly the dog will not have that memory of what happened in the ring. Forcing the dog around the ring rather than giving the handler a minute, probably didn't gain you more than a few seconds in the grand scheme of things. Ms. Melinda Lyon, think about this the next time you judge any breed, and a dog has any sort of issue that might take a minute to get under control. It is about fairly judging the dogs, not about how quickly you can get them out of your ring.
