Judging Dilemma

Has your Specialty Show been faced with a last minute judging change?  It can happened to any Club putting on a Specialty.  There will always be uncontrollable circumstances; so the key is to be prepared and act quickly. 

First off make sure any judge change in the roster has the American Kennel Club approval.  You will find that AKC will help you through the process and in a timely manner. 

You should consider that when choosing a replacement judge; you need to check and see what, when, and if the judge you are considering has other judging assignments.  Individual clubs have contracts with the judges for their Shows/Specialties.  The details of these contracts are between the individual clubs and their judge choice.  They may require that the judge not have any other judging assignments during a specified time period in relation to the date of their show.  In some cases this time period may be longer than what the American Kennel Club uses. 

The contracts between an individual club and a judge are confidential.  So if your club is considering a judge that has a future or past judging assignment within a year of your show date; make sure that the judge is eligible to judge your event. Simply ask them to verify that they are eligible to judge by looking at the contracts they have signed with other clubs.

(provided by Brandykegs Saint Bernards)