In a response to the need for specialty clubs to be able to have their regular class judges also judge Junior Showmanship, even if they have elected not to judge Juniors at all-breed shows, the American Kennel Club adopted a new Limit Status for Junior Showmanship Judges.
There are some judges who have previously judged Junior Showmanship and elected to no longer be on the list for approved JS judges. Problems arose when specialty clubs sought assignments from these judges for JS in addition to the regular classes. As they were not on the approved list, they could not judge JS at specialty shows. This then made it a hardship for specialties that had to seek out another judge just for JS, regardless of the potential number of juniors likely to be entered.
In order to accommodate these specialty clubs and judges who would like to judge Juniors at a specialty level (even though not wishing to be listed for all-breed shows), the Junior Showmanship Judges’ Limit Status has been implemented.
This is designed to allow individuals to work with Specialty Clubs in being able to judge Juniors at a Specialty of a breed for which they are approved to judge.
To clarify any confusion that may arise, the following is an additional explanation of the Juniors Limit Status:
- A judge once eligible to judge Juniors at an All Breed Event, who has requested Limit Status, will no longer be eligible to judge Juniors at an All Breed Event. Limit Status is only for judging specialties and the decision to convert to a Limit Status means that the judge is no longer listed as eligible to judge Juniors at the all-breed level.
- Eligibility for Limit Status Junior judges to judge Juniors at a Specialty show is only for the breeds that a judge is approved to judge. Judges may not judge Juniors at specialties for breeds which they are not approved to judge.