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.