Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2011 11:38 am Post subject: Vet check after winning at show.
The KC has brought out a rule that as from 2012, winners of 15 "high profile" breeds will have to pass a vet check before moving forward to best in show. The breeds are, Basset Hound, Bloodhound, Bulldog, Chow Chow, Clumber Spaniel, Dogue De Bordeaux, German Shepherd Dog, Mastiff, Neapolitan Mastiff, Pekingese, Shar Pei, St Bernard, French Bulldog, Pug and Chinese Crested. So OK, this does not affect Labradors at the moment. My guess is that they figured that 15 breeds were the most they could cope with at this stage, but that other breeds will come into the net as time goes by.
In fact most eliminating faults should be picked up by the judge. For example, limping, obviously a vet cannot ex-ray dogs at shows to check for HD so only obvious problems will be caught which should not get as far as the vet in the first place. So I can see judges changing the emphsis of their judging slightly. To say that "OK, that dog had a little limp, but the rest of it was so good that it was placed rather than the lesser dog" wont cut the mustard because the vet will throw it out! Likewise skin conditions in the "Wrinkly breeds."
Not being a show person the first thing that comes to my mind is costs, the vet will have to be paid and presumably au fait with the breeds that s/he will be examining, now we all know that while vets can diagose ailmets (for the most part) will they all be knowledgable on the breeds they are looking at and what problems may be involved with them?
the vet will have to be paid and presumably au fait with the breeds that s/he will be examining
Not really Mary, the vet is not judging the dog, the vet is simply examining for medical problems. Any vet should be able to see a limp, Entrophic eyes or a skin rash, and there is normally a duty vet at large shows. The only difficulty I see is in the breed classes finishing in time for the vet to examine, and still be in time for the group judging.
Think about for a moment, evey new champion would have had to undergo a minimum of three health checks before becoming a champion. And of course with champions being the big stud dogs of the future, to me that must be a good idea!
I think it's a good idea... I've seen limpy dogs winning all kinds, just because of who they belong to, this would certainly help that (as long as the vet is not involved in the particular breed at all). I'd be interested to see how it works out... wonder if we can expect it for Labs in a few years...
I did`t realise there was usually a vet at large shows, although it does make sense of course.
I agree with you that its a good idea if they can get the timings right so the dogs can make it to their next class in time, I imagine that like most things there will e teething prolems and complaints but people will get used to it and come to appreciate it.
I wonder though if there`ll be cpme back on the Judges that allow a dog through that a vet later expels, I bet they won`t be happy about it.
I didn't realise vets didn't check the dogs or have I got the wrong end of the stick?
I show cats and before entering the show hall all the cats have to go through a "vetting in" process. They get individually checked out by a vet to look for all known skin diseases including fleas, respiratory and other infections. If the cat shows any break in the skin, even if it's just a scratch they are immediately disqualified from the show. When they are judged if the judges pick up any faults any placing is withheld and if an injury is found again they are disqualified. This can also lead to fines from the GCCF (Governing Council of the Cat Fancy) in extreme cases.
Sounds like the cat show bench is a lot stricter than the dog show bench!
There will be quite a few details which will need sorting. For example, who appoints the vet? If the show committee then what happens if the vet starts throwing BofB winners out? Will the show committee invite that vet again, or look for a more "amenable" vet next time? Will vets be afraid of rocking the boat? If vets are appointed by the BVA then it preserves their independence.
Cat shows are very different in a number of aspects Lea. If a judge feels a dog is ill then he/she can demand it removed from the ring and examined by a vet before returning. This happend one day when I was stewarding Bulldogs, and made a lot of work for me, particulaly as it was a champ show and I was stewarding single handed that day. Otherwise vets are not involved with the ring in any way.
Judges themselves can be a problem, particulaly where rings are use for more than one breed. I was stewarding Dalmatians one day as first breed in. The judge was writing a criteque on her winners after each class and was judging so slowly! With two more breeds to go into the ring we were running so late that eventually the judge of the last breed had to reshedule to another ring which had finished early. It's not unknown for a breed to miss the group now, so the judging will need to be slick to get all dogs through in time, or the group judging will need to be later in the evening.
I can't see this being a bad thing, as to me Health should always take precedence over Looks. However, I very much doubt this is a popular view, especially amongst the owners and breeders of those 15 breeds.
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