Well, since Emilie from Echo Rattery is taking a semi-permanent hiatus from the rat world, I’ve volunteered to the NIRO BoD to judge Best In Show at the spring show this year. The problem with BIS judging is that it’s hard to predict whose rats will be up on the table. The best solution is always to have someone who is not showing at all be the judge. It should also be an experienced judge and breeder.
In the past, we had Claudia Nix, who had stopped breeding but still ran the shows and judged BIS. It was ideal because she was not exhibiting any animals, nor were any of the animals on the table of her breeding, so there was no worry about bias. The only problem was that her long hiatus from the breeding world was beginning to give her a somewhat outdated ideal to judge from, as the local standards improved and evolved.
In the past, we’ve made an agreement between our four active judges that whichever of us does not have a rat on the final table will judge BIS. However, that’s a very uncertain way of doing things, and there’s always a good chance that all of us would have a rat up in the final six.
I volunteered to take over for the spring show, and will not be exhibiting, in order to ensure that none of my own rats are on the final table for judging. There’s a certain feeling of relief to not showing this time; there’s been a lot of pressure on me with regards to winning consistently, both positive and negative. Additionally, that will let me breed Stars and Friday in April, as I wanted to, rather than trying to squeeze them in directly after the show.
It’s got me thinking about some of the good and bad I’ve seen across the show table in the last 2 years, and what I’d like to look for, whatever I end up judging (I have no idea which classes I’ll end up judging, but I have asked not to judge Siamese, since I judged it in both shows last year and it’s not fair to the folks who breed Siamese never to get fresh eyes on their stock!)
So here’s the stuff I’m personally looking for this year, both in my own stock and the rats I’ll be judging!
Color saturation
We’re seeing a lot of silvered rats out there, and dull-colored rats. I did not really realize how bad the problem was until Tiffany Robbins (So Licky) started showing up with her AMAZING Russian Blues. I have no idea where it comes from, because they still have silvering and they’re mostly out of the same stock I’ve been using, but no one else has RBs like this. I want to see more of this, across all colors. Less “lilac” Minks, less “silvered” Blacks, less golden Russian Blue Agoutis – MORE RICH COLOR!
Tails
We’ve got a couple good tails out there, but they don’t seem to pass on consistently. I want to see more nice, thick, heavy tails. I want to see less long, thin tails that look like someone tied a shoelace to a rat’s butt!!
Coat Types
We’ve got a lot of Standard coated rats out there with Satin guardhairs. A lot of Rexes with dreadlocks instead of curls. A lot of Satins who have all the hallmarks of Satin in guard hair and length but no real gloss – they could almost be Standards. Enough of that! Let’s see some great representation of coat out there!!
“Fluffy” Rats and Weedy Rats
Obesity is becoming less of a problem than it was, but we’re still seeing a LOT of rats with excessive belly fat and side flaps. We’re also seeing many of the rats who aren’t fat are very delicate, especially the does, excessively small and light for their ages. It’s so hard to get rats to tone, and to control portions in a group setting!
Those are going to be my big 4 points walking into the show I think, and to watch in my own rats this year! I think many of us have gotten very fixated on conformation in the head and neglected some of the other aspects of our rats, I know I have! Hopefully, we can repair some of this in the coming year before it becomes too “set!”





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