Differences in bonitations...

[Rona]

Originally Posted by Liesbeth

Hi,
About Ice-Wolf: I know the dog was seriously ill when he was still young and he was always very small and skinny. Since one year, his owner has a second dog and Ice had a break for training. His owner also changed the dog's food and he got really fat. When he started to train him again, the dog didn't loose all the extra weight and he looked bigger and more masculine. His owner wanted to bonitate him again, because the dog really changed a lot. I saw it myself: the dog even looked bigger.
The judge measured him and he appeared to be 65cm... Of course I wasn't standing beside it to check the measurement, but I don't think the judge made him bigger or smaller
Another possibility could be that the dog didn't change, but his exact size is let's say 64,2cm. On the first measurement the dog was maybe not so self-confident and he got measured 63,5. The second measument the dog was maybe standing straight on his legs and full of confidence, a bit older and bigger and measured 64,9...

Lisbeth, what you say confirms the bonitation problem that exsits: the dogs of our friends were sick, underfed, were scared during the bonitation and that's why they didn't reach the minimnum size. By the secod bonitation they have grown, got braver, their bodies have changes etc. and that's why they deserve a better code. People would never say it about the dogs of their "enemies" or competitors. Those were either measured properly and the bonitation results were "lifted" by "dishonest judges" or they do not desereve the bonitation code they have. If the second bonitation code is better than the first one - there definitely must have been some dishonest action....

Don't you guys see this is patethic? If you start questioning bonitation codes given to dogs by competent, reliable, honest judges bonitations will totally lose its value! They will be worth not more than the piece of paper on which the result was printed. There must be a group of trustful judges who cooperate together, set standards and follow procedures and whose judgements will never be undermined or questioned by anybody if the bonitation is to have any sense at all.

The result of the above discussion is such, that I decided not to bonitate my dog. Are you really aiming towards more such personal decisions? If yes - go on arguing....