Finnish Kennel Club is working together with The Kennel Club to create advanced judging course

The course, entitled ‘Eye for a Dog’, is well established in Finland and due to be incorporated into the Kennel Club’s recently-announced Judges Competency Framework (JCF) which begins in 2019.

All judges in the UK seeking approval through the Framework for their first breed or a further breed (Level 4) will be required to have passed the ‘Eye for a Dog’ exam as a one-time requirement.

The course will ensure judges have a greater understanding of conformation and movement, be able to describe how a dog is constructed and how it moves.  Candidates will also be required to identify various dog breeds.

Part of the course will involve pre-learning on the Kennel Club Academy, the Kennel Club’s online education resource, and existing CC judges wishing to add further breeds will be able to opt to do as much or little of the course as they wish prior to taking the exam.

Simon Luxmoore, Chairman of the Kennel Club, said: - We are delighted to be working with the Finnish Kennel Club in developing the ‘Eye for a Dog’ course under the JCF.  The Finns have a reputation for educating their judges in a very comprehensive and effective way, so we are confident that this collaboration will offer British judges meaningful canine education and exhibitors will know that new judges have demonstrated their knowledge of canine construction.

Harri Lehkonen, Chairman of the Finnish Kennel Club, said: - It is our pleasure to be working with the Kennel Club on this project.  It can only help to produce better judges, which surely is the aim of all kennel clubs worldwide.  We are very happy to be able to assist the development of the newly-announced JCF in this way.

The Judges Education section of the Kennel Club Academy supports resources including the recently-added Conformation and Movement films, the Points of the Dog drag and drop exercise, and films on the ’Requirements of a Dog Show Judge’, ‘Ring Stewarding’ and breed health monitoring forms.  More resources will be added in the coming weeks.  For further details, please visit www.kcacademy.org.uk.