Posted by Jerry Smith on 8/8/2006, 8:45 pm, in reply to "Re: why dose one judge tell you one thing about your dog and another judge says tells you driffrent" The following is from Mark Threlfal at UKC. Official UKC Conformation Rulebook "When a person observes misconduct by a member of the Event Committee or a Judge at an event. Official UKC Conformation Rulebook These are the paragraphs dealing with Misconduct by a Judge. We do not honor unsigned complaints, postings on message boards, messages forwarded from third parties, unverified allegations, verbal complaints, innuendo or any other such forms of communication that do not specifically address a Judge's inadequacies. We feel that if someone makes a serious allegation against a Judge, it must be signed by the person making the charge or it is useless to us as substantiation of a claim. In the same vein, one complaint is not sufficient for UKC to take action against a judge. Maybe this frustrates a person making a complaint, but if one person's opinion on any given day of any individual's competency was sufficient to discipline that person, there wouldn't be any people in dogs. Instead, we look at the history of complaints and make decisions based on a preponderance of evidence of an individual's inadequacy. That is why we make complaints part of a file and that file is reviewed every time something is added to it. The truth is, the vast majority of people never make a complaint to UKC; they do so to each other on message boards and on the telephone, but UKC never hears of it. I can honestly state that we do not receive 10 complaints per year on Judges. UKC can't take action when we are not informed that a problem exists. The other claim is that people fear reprisals from other judges if they make a complaint. That might make sense if we made their complaints public, but we do not. It also begs the question that if a person is sufficiently dissatisfied with a Judge's abilities to make a complaint, why would they worry about the Judge blackballing them in the future? If you complain about a Judge and then show to them again, you have only yourself to blame if the Judge doesn't judge a class or breed the way you feel it should be judged. If people continue to boycott a Judge, this sends a message to the club not to hire that individual again. If not enough people boycott the Judge and the club continues to hire that person, then your opinion is in the minority and you must be satisfied making a personal statement. Mark E. Threlfall
24.160.135.230
This is simple. You take the time to write to UKC and put the specific details of date of show, club, Judge, breed and arm band number if you can seeit. The UKC will place the complaint in the judges file and when enough exhibitors have the corrage to take a stand, you will see things change. We all get a choice in life. We can watch life pass us by and live in fear of what someone may think of us or we can stand up, do what is right and be proud of our actions.
Section VII, Paragraph C (3)
Any person who becomes aware of an act of misconduct by a member of the Event Committee or a Judge during the hours of an event must file a complaint in accordance with this Section. Complaints about a Judge’s placements must be dealt with in accordance with Section XVIII, Paragraph A."
Section XVIII, Paragraph A.
"Complaints about the Judge’s placements.
By entering in a UKC event, the exhibitor is inviting the opinion of the Judge and must
accept the Judge’s decision as final. Exhibitors are encouraged to discuss placements with Judges but may not argue about the Judge's final placements. Complaints about the Judge may only be lodged with the host club if the exhibitor believes the Judge has violated a specific UKC rule. Complaints about a Judge’s knowledge of the breed may be filed with UKC but must address specific deficiencies. Electronic audio or video recordings will not be considered by UKC when reviewing a Judge’s competency to judge a breed."
Executive Vice President
United Kennel Club, Inc.
