2007 USASA Approved Breed Mentors

The list of USASA board-approved breed mentors is being supplied to you, the prospective or present Australian Shepherd judge, so that you may have an opportunity to experience one-on-one mentoring with breeders and in some cases breeder judges.

All Mentors have been selected by their peer group as those who have made a substantial contribution to the furtherance of the breed, and who have the knowledge to assist you.

We ask that you contact one, or preferably several mentors, to arrange appointments. Past experience has indicated that a typical meeting can consume anywhere from one hour to a full day. Should the meeting take place at a show, it would be ideal if part of the encounter could be at ringside to allow discrete critiquing of the Australian Shepherd in competition. We strongly recommend that prior to this first meeting, you had have the opportunity to view the AKC Australian Shepherd video and are familiar with the breed standard.

The Mentor may feel that he/she is best able to assist you at his/her kennel, where various examples of the Australian Shepherd will be available, as well as personal videos, slides and additional information to assist you.

We cannot recommend too strongly that you consider spending time with more than one Mentor. Being individuals, each may or will have definite opinions of what constitutes the “perfect Aussie.” Relying on your knowledge of dogs in general, and having the breed video and the breed standard well understood, combined with using at least three Mentors will provide you will a well-rounded understanding of our breed.

The United States Australian Shepherd Association (USASA) holds their National Specialty in the spring of each year. The USASA Education Committee holds an annual Judges Study Group in conjunction with the Nationals. The program normally starts the evening prior to the judging of regular classes and carries over to ringside mentoring for the judging of classes on subsequent days. The Mentors rotate amongst the prospective judges to assist in ringside assessment. We hope you can participate. Watch the AKC Gazette for additional study group announcements and the details of the National Specialty educational seminars.

We welcome and appreciate your participation in this Judges Breed Study Group.

January 2007