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ABRA Shows Judges Apprentice Program
ABRA Shows Judges Apprentice Program
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ABRA Apprentice Judge ProgramBecoming an ABRA judge will take some time, and committment from apprentices. The ABRA wants to ensure that the Judges we have know their stuff!Someone that is interested in becoming an ABRA Judge may submit a letter to us outlining their desire and giving us some history regarding their involvement with American Bulldogs. We also need an assurance that you are committed to learning and developing your judging skills forever, that you will help the show hosts follow the ABRA rules and take responsibility for returning the show results to us immediately after the show. The results of the show are of paramount importance, we cannot survive if we do not keep an accurate, up to date points listing! Being an ABRA Judge is a difficult job, at the end of the show you are surrounded by many disappointed individuals. If you have done your job well you will be respected but if the competitors think that your decisions were based on anything other than the qualities of the dogs you judged you are in for some serious harassment. We want our new ABRA Judges to be well educated and prepared for their first time in the ring by themselves. Your first job as an apprentice is to completely familiarize yourself with the ABRA breed standard. Read it a hundred times, memorize it, know it inside and out. If there is anything that you do not understand completely, ask questions. Secondly, make arrangements to attend 4 shows as an apprentice judge. While in the ring you have a perfect opportunity to pick the ABRA Judge's brain about every detail of the dogs you see, use this time wisely. Ask the ABRA Judge for a letter of approval, the letter must say that you were very focused, interested in learning, you participated in the analysis of each dog and you understood the Judge's decisions whether or not you agreed with them. Write your letter ahead of time and have it with you for the Judge's signature at the end of the show, when you hae all 4, submit them to us for approval. Your third task is to write a test that we have prepared, the questions will be based on the Standard, the ABRA rules and the Points Listing system. And your final test will be to write an evaluation of 5 dogs that have been previously chosen by an ABRA Test Judge, certain things will be noted by the Test Judge before your evaluation, and you will be expected to pick up on this for at least 4 of the 5 dogs. At the end of this process we feel that you will be well prepared to enter the ring by yourself and choose the next Best of Breed! The written test and evaluations may take place anywhere anytime as long as an ABRA Test Judge is available. Current ABRA Test Judges are Lesli Rose, Lance Rose, Frank Huybregts and Freek van den Berg. (I am in the process of contacting each of our current ABRA judges to determine if they will be willing to be TEST Judges) I would like to thank Frank Huybregts and Freek van den Berg for helping us develop this apprentice criteria, they have been very helpful with the written exam and it was their idea to implement the 5 written evaluations. |