Bonitation

[saschia]

Originally Posted by mijke

So in one month this dog
• did grow 1 cm
• his eyes did change from light brown to dark brown
• his not expressive mask did change in a good mask
• his character did change from optimistic/ less courage’s in optimistic/ well balanced
• and his type did become dry

Well this might be because in Slovakia the R is a part of bonitation code (R1 being the most correct one), while in Czech it is only when the type is wrong, i think.

The definition of light-brown and dark-brown eye is not very precise, so it depends on the judge, what is his opersonal opinion, and it can be also influenced by light.

The height written in code depends on how people measured it, and of course measurement of static object is subject to errors, so what do you expect in living moving dog? Of course if the height is on the edge, than it is more important to measure it very precisely, then when it is in "safe zone" as in this dog.

The character might also appear at different times and to different judges. The dog does not behave the same way all the time. We don't behave the same way every time. So again, it is understandable, and the special attention should be paid if the result greatly affects usability of dog in breeding.

The most problematic in this example I see the mask, as it should be much clearer, when it is well defined and when not. And the not well expressed mask is not good.

So of course there is some differnce in bonitation code, but ideally it shouldn't be affected by judge opinions.

Other thing completely:

Originally Posted by Kerstin

It happend to many people on dog shows. One day a dog is excellent, the next day a dog is good and a month later he is very good. Sometimes even at the same judge

We are talking here about bonitations and not shows. Show is about the momentary appearance of the dog, and its comparison to other dogs. Of course, also bad thing is that lot of judges in show are not competent. But the show is more about personal preferences also in competent judges and it is OK, if it is not against the standard.

But bonitation is (or should be) performed by judges who are competent, have many personal experiences with the breed and ideally should be completely impersonal. And, they don't compare dogs among themselves, they state how the dog looks in comparison to standard.