Columns: No Limits, No Kidding!

CANINE TAIL CARRIAGE TELLS THE TALE

Dogs talk with their tails but the lady from England told me that all this stuff about inverted tail carriage was a lot of hooey because show dogs are different.

Carol Hawke, Guest Columnist, Former AKC Dog Show Judge

October 5, 2026

The handler was sitting there with her dog that had won the breed when a foreign judge joined our conversation - wherein she told me that the withers of her dog were actually four inches below the top of the shoulder blades.

Can you imagine trying to measure ANY breed of dog using a standard AKC wicket below the withers??? I LOL. The English judge never said a word.

So, I dug a little and asked this foreign gal if she judges FCI because UKC runs English shows and FCI covers the rest of the world except maybe Canada and Japan. I know the rules for FCI because when judging I dealt with many FCI breeders and their rule for French Bulldogs is that if the dog has no visible/palpable tail it must be disqualified (DQ).

Since this judge had the notion that inverted tails have nothing to do with bad spines (odd, since the tail is part of spinal column) I asked her if she had to do a visible/palpable exam of each entry. She then spouted this idiocy - that when she judges she can DO ANYTHING she wants... she IS the JUDGE.

I already knew she would lose her capacity to judge at an FCI show if she failed to DQ those dogs with inverted tails. FCI is so tight they go out and examine litters at breeder’s homes/facilities before registering the litter.

So, on top of all that withers nonsense, the handler of her breed winner had shaved the head and ears of her dog... Nobody ever shaved Frenchies in all the decades I showed. When I asked around the net, a friend told me they do that if the dog is actually a "fuzzy" (fuzzy coated) and they want to hide that fault.

If idiocy reigns over the dog world and nobody knows the difference....there is no standard to hold to. No AKC standard for exhibitors, none for judges and none for the dogs. It truly is just "a game" and if that is so, then what is the point? Do AKC Champion titles count?

Does it make any difference what wins or loses and are there any real losers? What is there to gain by any of this if the breed standards don't matter and the dogs are not purebred and nobody knows the rules???

For instance, none of the exhibitors (in a heavy online discussion about a particular AKC dog) knew that the exhibitor has the right to second guess the judge while in the ring, on DQ's only. Any exhibitor showing a dog in any class up to BOB can protest that a particular dog has a disqualifying fault as long as it is done before the judge has finished examining every dog in that class individually.

Yep, I should have been a field rep. At least I know the AKC rules... even if I no longer judge.

More Article Information by Carol Hawke: Carol's Birds

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