Judging Procedure for the Top Twenty Event

 

 

1.      Each dog will be scored by each judge individually, using the Scale of Points from the Standard.

 

2.      The winner will be determined on the basis of the total score of each dog.

 

3.      In the event of a tie, it shall be broken by using the “Average Placement” (on a scale of 1-100) marked by each judge as the determining factor.  The Average Placement score shall be given by the judge immediately following the judging of each individual dog.  This average placement score means that the dog is taken as a whole and placed  on the scale of 1 to 100, with 100 meaning the dog is in perfect harmony with the judge’s picture of the ideal Alaskan Malamute.

 

Above are simple ground rules that will be followed in the judging of this exciting event.  The rationale for this system is as follows:

 

Whenever the judge examines an individual dog and compares him, mentally, to the judge’s picture of the ideal, the judge is going through the work of judging by scoring.  The scoring system adds the assigning of numerical values to the main factors of the judging, and it demands that the judge indicate where he/she penalizes for less than the ideal characteristics.  The judge must go on the record when scoring.  And more, must go on the record part-by-part and indicate the degree of deviation in the part from the ideal.  The Average Placement score must be done before actually judging the dog.  In other words, the dogs must be taken as a whole and placed on the scale of 1-100 with 100 meaning that the dog is in perfect harmony with the judge’s picture of the ideal Alaskan Malamute.

 

Scoring is much more time consuming than the comparison judging we are accustomed to in the show ring, where dogs are judged at 25 or more dogs an hour.  When scoring dogs a judge can do not more than 6-10 an hour.  But when scoring is complete, it provides a written critique of the dog as seen by the judge.

 

Scoring has another virtue.  It is a strong discipline on the judge.  A fault can seem to stand out and the judge can become sensitized to one difficulty or even one virtue.  Scoring checks this to a marked degree.  It reduces the idiosyncrasies of an individual judge.

 

Five dogs will enter the ring, one at a time, move around the ring twice, then proceed to a judge’s station.  The dogs will be rotated until each judge has scored each dog.  Each judge will move each dog up and back individually.   When the dogs have gone through each of the five individual stations, each dog shall individually complete two revolutions for final evaluation of gait.  This process will be repeated until all participants have been scored.

 

While in the ring, judges will limit their conversation to their stewards and then they will only be discussing the procedure.