In NAVHDA i had judge miscount my NA dogs teeth this year. I sent in some photos and talked with a few folks but the judge is standing behind his judgement as "on that day" the dogs p1 405 was missing. Says by the pics they are there now but must have come in after the test. 1.5 weeks later. He also slightly confused his statements to me from that day with his statements to the owner of another GSP bitch who had unemerged p1 s. So short of getting a correct jugement in his next test i am at a loss. Ticks me off since i know he just miscounted. My lesson from all this is be educated and dont walk away from the test day until they recount correctly.



On Tuesday, June 12, 2012, Tracy Novoa <gspfreak@aol.com> wrote:
> Our standard reads:
>  
> "The teeth are strong and healthy.  The molars intermesh properly.  The bite is a true scissors bite.  A perfect level bite is not desirable and must be penalized.  Extreme overshot or undershot disqualifies."
>  
> Where in those words does it read a dog must be SEVERELY penalized for missing TWO premolars?  I once again pulled out the canine tooth chart and mapped my dog's mouth.  In the sentences above, he qualifies in all positive aspects.  His teeth are very strong and very clean.  He is missing two, side x side, lower left premolars but all of his molars are there and intermesh and has all the teeth to prove a perfect scissor bite.  These premolars are tiny and spread out on the jawline so two missing, next to the two existing tiny one's in front of them, may give the illusion of many missing teeth.  Of course, the judges don't look on the other side of the mouth either, they stop at those two.
>  
> This past Saturday we won BOB and a Group 3 under different judges who've been in the business a long time.  On Sunday I was mortified when, another long time judge, went digging through my dogs mouth and then dumped us.  When judges do this, he tends to start to resist the bite exam.  It's also very disturbing when you pay a handler a good buck only to be told "he would have been the breed winner had it not been for the missing teeth."  The best one yet is the judge who said if he were ever kicked in the head by a horse....LOL, REALLY?!?
>  
> I travel some good distances to shows so this is very disappointing.  Is this right or wrong of judges to "judge to their own standard"?  In my experience, I think there are a greater number of Canadian judges counting teeth than American. Are both sides of the border being educated? 
>  
> Tracy N.