34 THE BOOK OF THE DOG. 



railway companies for the insurance of live stock. Five per cent, is the modest request they make, 

 and this is of course too high to be frequently paid. A reduction on this prohibitory charge could 

 not fail to be remunerative to the companies ; and surely, where threepence is charged for effecting 

 an insurance on a human life for a thousand pounds, fifty sovereigns is too high for that of a dog. 



JUDGING. 



Not many shows can afford the expense of engaging a sufficient number of judges to enable 

 each class to be judged by a gentleman who is qualified to do so, and there are very few judges 

 who are able to deal fairly by all breeds. The unfortunate result of this is that many varieties 

 are unsatisfactorily placed time after time, or else certain dogs are constantly found in the same 

 positions, from the fact of the same judges being always selected for the duty. It is unduly hard 

 upon any good young dog to make his first appearance before a judge who has frequently awarded 

 high honours to other dogs in the same class, and who must feel considerable diffidence in over- 

 looking them when a stranger appears. Judges are only mortal after all, and their ideas cannot 

 fail to become so moulded to the form of a dog they have once admired, that the order in which 

 many dogs will be placed at our leading shows is often correctly anticipated before the event comes 

 off; so much so, that many exhibitors reserve young dogs until they can first bring them out under 

 a gentleman whose judgment is unbiased in favour of a certain animal, to whose good points he 

 has already paid substantial recognition. This could be remedied by occasionally varying the 

 monotony which seems at present to inspire the committees in the distribution of their judges' 

 duties. A change seems now to be made in the judges every three or four years, which period 

 represents the average length of time a dog can be shown. If, therefore, a new judge once places 

 first a good specimen which appears simultaneously with him, that dog stands an excellent chance 

 of remaining at the top of the tree during his show career, to the detriment of another's chance of 

 success. The latter should, in justice, have an opportunity given him for success under 'different 

 opinions, and if he fails to win, then the honour gained by his conqueror is doubly increased. 



Point judging is strongly advocated by a large section of breeders, who aver that if a certain 

 number of points be awarded to each property, and the dogs judged by this standard, fewer errors 

 and complaints would arise. Whilst admitting that a standard is most essential for each breed, and 

 that the relative value of each numerical point in the standard is made clearer by being awarded a 

 numerical value, we cannot express any sympathy with those in favour of point judging. The 

 impracticability of consistently awarding the identical number of marks to each dog is so obvious 

 that it is impossible to adopt the system, and the time wasted over the calculations is enormous. 

 The Bull-dog Club, which at its origin ostentatiously included point judging in its programme, 

 has been obliged to abandon the idea as unsatisfactory ; and it may fairly be taken that the 

 system is unpalatable to the majority of exhibitors throughout the kingdom. An especial 

 objection is, that when dogs are judged by points, one notoriously defective in one portion of its 

 anatomy can be awarded a prize, whereas under any other system he could not succeed. 



At some shows the judges have been given catalogues instead of the judging books so 

 commonly used ; and this seems to be a rational action when adopted by committees who permit 

 exhibitors to lead their dogs into the ring. The absurdity of playing at secresy, as carried on 

 by committees who use the blank books and yet permit the presence of exhibitors in the ring, is 

 so conspicuous to all but themselves, that criticising such proceedings is like crushing a butterfly 

 on a wheel ; but there are signs that some day authorities will have firmness enough to stand by 

 their judges, and openly defend their integrity, without admitting a possibility of their acting 



