A key part of putting on a draft test is selecting judges. Those who are not intimately involved with the sport frequently have questions as to why it costs so much for judges, or perhaps more precisely why have three judges and why pay to fly someone in from the West Coast when there are judges who are within driving distance?
A fair question, we will try to explain the “calculus” that goes into selecting judges below.
The BRBMDC is very fortunate that we have a member, Eden Jonas, who is a BMDCA Draft judge and helps the draft committee in judge selection.
The first consideration in judge selection is the BMDCA Draft Title structure.
The draft titles recognized by BMDCA are:
First Level Titles – Passing Once in the Novice Draft (NDD), Open Draft (DD), Brace Novice Draft (BNDD), and Brace Open Draft (BDD)
Advanced Titles – Requires passing 5 times under 7 judges in the respective class - Advanced Novice Draft Dog (ANDD), Master Draft Dog (MDD) in Open Draft, Advanced Brace Novice Draft Dog (ABNDD) in Brace Novice Draft, Master Brace Draft Dog (MBDD) in Brace Open Draft. 5 under 7 is the key!
The difference between Novice (20 lbs/dog) and Open (dog(s) weight rounded down to nearest 10 lbs) is the amount of weight that has to be carried in the freight hall and that the Open level requires a handler out of sit 5 minute stay.
The pinnacle of achievement in the draft world is the Grand Master Draft Dog where the dog has earned all of the advanced titles (ANDD, MDD, ABNDD, and MBDD). Through 2016, only 32 dogs have achieved that level of success (and perseverance). Here is a link to the dogs that have earned that honor.
As you can see from the requirements, once you get that first pass in a class, if you are going to continue in the sport, the Advanced Title requirements become important.
Why have three judges when only two are required, why bring judges in from far away?
The key to answering that question is the 5 passes under 7 judges rule. The math is pretty straightforward. For every two day test, if there were only two judges, then the best that you could do would be 2 passes under two judges. So, if you went to 3 two day test and passed 5 times, you only have 6 judges and have not meet the requirements.
It is expensive to travel to tests (gas, lodging, meals, entry fees, etc), so people want to go to tests with 3 judges. Our experience has been that 2 judge two day tests tend to be under enrolled for these reasons. People new to draft are less likely to travel very far for a test, focusing more on the local club’s test. Once they are bitten by the “draft bug” they are more likely to travel. There aren’t enough “newbies” to fill a draft test.
Ok, I understand the three judge thing, but why not get “local” judges.
It would be fantastic if we had a large judge pool to pull from, but that is not the case. Here is a link to the approved BMDCA judges. It is worth noting that not all are actively judging, or they may have curtailed how much they are doing.
Alright, so there aren’t that many judges on the East Coast, can’t we just use Eden and a couple of others every year?
It’s that 5 of 7 thing again. Judges can become “overused”. If you travel to tests on the East Coast, you see many of your draft friends at multiple tests and they come to the BRBMDC test. If you have judges that are "over used" people seeking advanced titles may pass up the expense of the test..
So, how do you pick judges then?
We put together a spreadsheet that lists all of the BMDCA judges and what tests they have judged on the East Coast in the past two years, as well as who will be judging the Specialty if it is in our region. We eliminate anyone who has judged for us the past two years or is judging at the Specialty which is right after our test (if in the region). We then look at judges who have only judged 2 or less tests on the East Coast in the last year.
You have a short list of judges; how do you pick?
We then Google mapped where they lived relative to the nearest airports. Then we modeled flight costs. Airfare isn’t just distance, but remoteness and connections as well. We also take into account that it is a tough ask to fly across time zones to judge one day. We then start down the prioritized list until we have all three judges secured.
A fair question, we will try to explain the “calculus” that goes into selecting judges below.
The BRBMDC is very fortunate that we have a member, Eden Jonas, who is a BMDCA Draft judge and helps the draft committee in judge selection.
The first consideration in judge selection is the BMDCA Draft Title structure.
The draft titles recognized by BMDCA are:
First Level Titles – Passing Once in the Novice Draft (NDD), Open Draft (DD), Brace Novice Draft (BNDD), and Brace Open Draft (BDD)
Advanced Titles – Requires passing 5 times under 7 judges in the respective class - Advanced Novice Draft Dog (ANDD), Master Draft Dog (MDD) in Open Draft, Advanced Brace Novice Draft Dog (ABNDD) in Brace Novice Draft, Master Brace Draft Dog (MBDD) in Brace Open Draft. 5 under 7 is the key!
The difference between Novice (20 lbs/dog) and Open (dog(s) weight rounded down to nearest 10 lbs) is the amount of weight that has to be carried in the freight hall and that the Open level requires a handler out of sit 5 minute stay.
The pinnacle of achievement in the draft world is the Grand Master Draft Dog where the dog has earned all of the advanced titles (ANDD, MDD, ABNDD, and MBDD). Through 2016, only 32 dogs have achieved that level of success (and perseverance). Here is a link to the dogs that have earned that honor.
As you can see from the requirements, once you get that first pass in a class, if you are going to continue in the sport, the Advanced Title requirements become important.
Why have three judges when only two are required, why bring judges in from far away?
The key to answering that question is the 5 passes under 7 judges rule. The math is pretty straightforward. For every two day test, if there were only two judges, then the best that you could do would be 2 passes under two judges. So, if you went to 3 two day test and passed 5 times, you only have 6 judges and have not meet the requirements.
It is expensive to travel to tests (gas, lodging, meals, entry fees, etc), so people want to go to tests with 3 judges. Our experience has been that 2 judge two day tests tend to be under enrolled for these reasons. People new to draft are less likely to travel very far for a test, focusing more on the local club’s test. Once they are bitten by the “draft bug” they are more likely to travel. There aren’t enough “newbies” to fill a draft test.
Ok, I understand the three judge thing, but why not get “local” judges.
It would be fantastic if we had a large judge pool to pull from, but that is not the case. Here is a link to the approved BMDCA judges. It is worth noting that not all are actively judging, or they may have curtailed how much they are doing.
Alright, so there aren’t that many judges on the East Coast, can’t we just use Eden and a couple of others every year?
It’s that 5 of 7 thing again. Judges can become “overused”. If you travel to tests on the East Coast, you see many of your draft friends at multiple tests and they come to the BRBMDC test. If you have judges that are "over used" people seeking advanced titles may pass up the expense of the test..
So, how do you pick judges then?
We put together a spreadsheet that lists all of the BMDCA judges and what tests they have judged on the East Coast in the past two years, as well as who will be judging the Specialty if it is in our region. We eliminate anyone who has judged for us the past two years or is judging at the Specialty which is right after our test (if in the region). We then look at judges who have only judged 2 or less tests on the East Coast in the last year.
You have a short list of judges; how do you pick?
We then Google mapped where they lived relative to the nearest airports. Then we modeled flight costs. Airfare isn’t just distance, but remoteness and connections as well. We also take into account that it is a tough ask to fly across time zones to judge one day. We then start down the prioritized list until we have all three judges secured.