Judging by Points. 185 



the Kennel Club. I never heard Mr. Shirley speak against the principle 

 of judging by points, but he once said to me he thought life was too 

 short for its practice. Now Mr. Shirley has recently contributed to 

 Mr. Shaw's book an article on collies, in which he most precisely lays 

 down the absolute numerical value of each point in that breed. Why 

 is this ? figures of speech may be ornamental, but mere numerical figures 

 have to all but statisticians a dreary sameness about them, and plain 

 matter-of-factness which cannot be turned to ornament. I wonder what 

 Mr. Shirley's reflections would be now if , when at school, his tutor had 

 said to him of the multiplication table, " These figures are all very well 

 you know, and you had better learn them, but bear in mind you must 

 never think of making a practical use of them life is much too short 

 for that." 



The simple fact is, judging by points is the only possible way of 

 judging at all, and to arrive at conclusions as to the respective merits of 

 the dogs for adjudication in any other way is mere guess work. 



In the most ordinary friendly chats about dogs, when discussing their 

 relative merits, we say Bob's head is better than Carlo's, and Wagg is 

 better in loin than either, and such remarks are quite understood and 

 appreciated ; it is a rough and loose way of judging by points, and the 

 application of the numerical value to each point, as described in the 

 standard of excellence, is merely giving exactness to it, and facilitating 

 the work of striking a balance between the good and bad points, and more 

 readily, and with greater precision, awarding to each dog his proper place 

 in the scale of merit. 



Of course, we do not use pencil and paper every time we have to 

 deal with figures, but in intricate accounts mental arithmetic is not 

 trusted to. And so it is in judging dogs j practice enables anyone with 

 any pretensions to fill the position of a judge, to weed out quickly 

 specimens so wanting in general excellence aa to be " out of the hunt," 

 but in close competition when the judge is supposed to be very 

 particular as to each good and bad point of each competitor would it 

 not save time and ensure accuracy to put down, in a prepared tabular 

 form, the value put upon each point seriatim, and add them up at the 

 finish ? I do not think life is too short for that ; on the contrary, 

 I think this would prove a lengthening of life, by saving time. 



An able opponent of point judging contends that in the exercise of his 



