Judy wrote:
>The LIFE Show Standards book said the judges would not count "stained"
>teeth (as opposed to dirty teeth) against a ferret, but I asked one of the
>judges and was told basically that whether they're stained or dirty it
>didn't matter...they were judging for the "perfect" ferret.  (I wish
>they'd change their book).
 
Judy - I can only speak for myself as a LIFE judge, and I am not speaking
for LIFE - and that is that I *never* deduct points from a ferret with
stained teeth - teeth covered in tartar is another story......and the
reason why I don't lower the score is that its not a maintenance item and
in a lot of cases, out of the control of the ferrets' owner.....The only
reference to teeth in the guide is about tartar and how to clean a ferrets'
teeth.  I don't know of any LIFE judges that do deduct points for staining.
 
>At the LIFE show, he didn't even place...in fact, he scored pretty low I
>guess the two organizations look for different things in the "perfect"
>ferret..
 
Different judges score in different ways, I can tell you that from my own
experience..I know that I have had ferrets place in the top 10 alter with
scores in the lower 80s and then some not place with a mid-90's score.  As
long as the judge is consistent in how he/she scores, it doesn't bother me.
The number of time my ferrets didn't place in the top 10 far outweigh the
times they did.
 
Since I have only judged using the LIFE standards, I can't comment on
how AFA judging may or may not differ in scoring.....And its tough to get
top 10 in any of the Alter rings, most times they have over one hundred
ferrets -- the Columbus show, IIRC, had 130+ ferrets entered.
 
I'm sorry that you had what you feel is a bad experience -- I think that
both judging standards and judges try the very best they can to be fair...
 
Lisa, Head Ferret
The Ferret Haven "By-the-Sea"
URL: http: www.kozykingdom.com/ferrethaven
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[Posted in FML issue 2800]