NORWEGIAN ELKHOUND FORUM

Just a quick note.....more of a rant really as it incensed me so much! I will not name the Society.

Ever wonder why we have such falling entries?

We (as we often do) visited a local dog show over the weekend. When we first started showing this Society put on Elkhound classes but then dropped them. Now it appears they have been reintroduced over the last couple of years. They held 3 classes for our breed and there was not one single entry!

We spoke to the Chairwoman and asked why they had not chosen a listed specialist Judge. Her response was "...we never get more than a couple of entries and in any case I called everyone on B & C list all of whom were not available" . She admitted she did not call the Secretary of the breed Society or even us, despite her knowing that we would have assisted in locating a Judge. I received no call despite being on the judges list and being local and her answer to that was "well I wouldn't would I, I know you're local & would expect you to enter." As far as she is aware we only have 3 veterans the youngest of those being 10 yrs! (she is not aware we have another addition)

The Judge chosen had been listed along with several other breeds as the Committee were obviously looking to reduce costs/number of lunches etc.

By comparison we also have been on Committee for another local society. They also hold their show locally and their policy on Judges is that wherever possible if you are covering more than one breed they still expect you to be on that breeds list. In addition they trawl the 'C' lists for breed Judges as they beleive by actively encouraging upcoming Judges they regularly gain higher entries.


Surely it behoves all of those who take the time & trouble to keep dog societies running and maintaining shows to do so to the best of their ability. I know peole are busy and have lives outside of the 'dog show' & whilst I understand the need to minimise costs from a Committee point of view if they chose specialist Judges their entries will reflect that and costs mostly balance out.

If the Committee cannot find a Judge I am sure our Club, as with others, are more than happy to point them in the right direction if approached. I know from previous experinee this to be the case having used this method myself when sourcing Judges in the past. Societies & Exhibitors alike are all complaining of lack of interest or entries but I find it staggering that such little communication between Societies and Breed Clubs results in no entries and inevitably the ultimate removal of classes.

Sorry ......rant over

Well that's another rant I'm afraid......so many think its 'easy' to get titles under FCI. At Kortrijk the Judge literally counted every tooth in their head.....and as you say if you are not graded excellent forget any placings....rgds Christine

We've tried to support as many open shows as possible over the years but have noticed more societies than ever are giving our breed to all rounders who are judging something else on the day, I have no objection to new people judging the breed as sometimes we need a different view point but I would expect them to have at least shown an interest in the breed and preferably have done the club judges training day, or what is the point in having one? We have quite a few new upcoming judges who have put themselves out to study the breed & are prepared to travel long distances for maybe a handful of dogs, I then find it disapointing not to see their names in a schedule, only to find someone I've never heard of doing the breed along with umpteen others, one of the reasons we no longer enter every show.

Championship Shows ...MONEY...must be the main reason..I reckon it costs upwards of £100 for a day out at a show what with fuel, entry, car park(sometimes), meals/snacks there and maybe on the way, but then the young Elkhounds are not there in numbers nowadays which is another reason for low entries.
Something Malcolm said reminded me, Krister, Fred to me and you, our Swedish Valhund male was graded excellent, won his class but had the CAC withheld and the German Judge told me that he was not 'rural enough', I chose to think that something got lost in his English.

It's a miracle these days to even see an Open Show advertised let alone find out if they have classes and who is judging. If you go to Open shows you can pick up schedules but if you don't go for a while it's hard to even find out what shows are on until you get a list of entries closing. It's not that expensive to put a small advert in the dog papers. The back oft he paper used to be full of Open shows. Now you're lucky if there are half a dozen adverts. I'm sure lumping us in with any judge who happens to be judging is simply a cost cutting exercise but it really is up to those judges too, to refuse a breed they know nothing about or have no interest in. I've been asked several times to judge Elkhounds PLUS- dachshunds, Afghans,Podengos, beagles etc etc . Now while I do know quite a bit about Afghans and Dachshunds I know absolutely nothing about Podengos or Beagles; certainly not enough to judge them and I have refused them but have then also lost the ELkhound Classes because they wanted someone to do at least 3 breeds.

Another reason may be shows being on working days. Recently looked through the show dates year planner & noticed a large proportion of societies who schedule our breed have hound days on a work day, Manchester thursday, Crufts friday, Welks friday, Birm friday, SKC friday, 3 counties friday, Windsor thursday, Leeds friday, WKC friday, City Birm friday, Richmond friday, Darlington friday, S Wales friday, Mid Counties friday, although we didn't intend doing many shows this year a lot of old favorites will have to be missed.