I

ncasesomeofyouarenotsurewhatwedoatthe
institutesandseminarsaroundthecountry,
hereisabriefexplanation:Thereisaone-
and-one-half-hourpresentationonthe
breed,establishingthePBGV’s

originsandhistoryforattendeesto
understandthereasonsforthe
developmentofourkeenhunter.
TherefollowsaQandA.Next,
thereisanexaminationofthe
breedstandardanditsterminology,
followedbyadiscussionofthe
detailsofbreedtype.Inorderto
pointtospecifictraits,oneortwo
dogsareusuallypresentonatable
infrontoftheroom.Finally,the
literaturewedistributeisdiscussedalong
withmoreQandA,andthenatestis
givenonthebreedstandard.Thetestanswer
sheetsaresenttotheAKCJudgesDepartment
wheretheyareplacedinprospectivejudges’folders.

Theremaybeanadditionalhourofwhatwecall“hands

on,”withfourtosixormorePBGVs.Thismeanseach
prospectivejudgehasanopportunitytogooverseveral
dogs.Thehigherthequalityofdogspresent,thebetterthe
experienceforthejudges.Theprospectivejudgeshave
clipboardsandratingsheetsonwhich,aftergoingovereach

dog,theyrecordtheirobservations—virtueandfault,or
plusandminus.Thedogsareindividuallymovedtoconfirm
thejudges’observations/recordings,andtoseehowthedogs
usetheirfeaturestobestadvantage.

Next,thejudgesmayvolunteertoplacethedogsas

theywouldinaclass,andgivetheirreasonstothegroup.
Discussionensues.Breederssometimesmaypointoutwhat
thejudgesmissedoroverlooked.Itisamazinghowdifferent
theoutcomescanbedependinguponajudge’sbackground
andexperience.However,usuallysomejudgesagreeon
numberone,ormightreverseoneandtwo.Andremember,
theseareallqualitydogspresentsothesmalldetailsweigh
heavy!Sometimeswithqualityanimals,afterallthe

tradeoffs,thereisnonumberone,butajudgemust

makeadecisionandplacethemanyway.Of

course,faultswillbeobserved,butalso

notedisthatdegreeofdeparturefromthe

standard.Oftentheminorfaultis

dwarfedbythevirtueorthevirtues

presentinthewholedog.SinceI

wasjudgingaspecialtythenext

evening,itwouldhavebeen

inappropriateformetobe
discussingthedogspresent,soI
askedHelenInghertofindthe

dogsandtoorganizeandconduct

thehands-onexperience.

TheSeminar.Iwaspresenterof

theone-and-one-half-hourseminar

mentionedabove.Helenprovideda

dogtotheseminarthatwouldnotbeex-

hibitedtome.Therewere32judgeatten-

dees,arecordforourseminars!Someofthe

judgesstayedforoneorbothofthespecialtiesthe

nextdayaswell.Weshouldseesomeeducatedjudges
comingupintheranks!

Ihadallattendeessignasheetformetosendnamesto

JaneforprintinginSaberTales,butsomeoneelsecollected
thatlistbymistake.Itmaystillturnup.AKCistosendme
acopy,andwewillprintitwhenitbecomesavailable.

TheHandsOn.Helenhasalwaysbeenextremely

dependable,andonceagainItrustedhertolineupthe
breedersandthedogsforthehandson.Shearrangedfor
sixdifferentbreederstobringqualityPBGVs,knowing
howimportantitwasforjudgestoseequalityanimals.She
reportedthatthereweretypicalsoundPBGVsinattendance.
Helensaidthejudgescomplimentedthebreedersand
handlersonthequalitydogs,notinghowuniformthe
dogswere,yetpossessingshadesofdifferentstyle.Thank
youtoallwhoparticipated!

TheSpecialty.Iwasoverwhelmedwiththequalityof

theentries,thinkingwehavecomeaverylongwaysince
1984andourbeginningsintheUnitedStates.Mostdogs

20

www.pbgv.org

Spring2015

ISaberTails

IPBGVEducation

byKittySteidel,Chair,PBGVCAJudgesEducation

PBGVSeminar,HandsOnandSpecialtyinOrlando2014

...thejudgescomplimentedthebreedersandhandlers

onthequalitydogs,notinghowuniformthedogs

were,yetpossessingshadesofdifferentstyle.