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| Ms. Debra Thornton [18837] RINCON, GA Initial Breed: Newfoundlands Judge (etc.) Rating System: (instructions) This judge has been rated by 53 members
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| Date | Rtg | Display Name | Breed(s) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 16, 2024 | 1 | Owner Handler | Terriers | |||||
| After observing her numerous times I must agree it’s friends and Professionals that get the wins. I have not personally shown under her, but have been extremely disappointed in the quality of her choices. Either she does not know the standards or just does not care. | ||||||||
| Nov 21, 2023 | 4 | 45YearsShowingDogs | Sporting | |||||
| Excellent with puppies and young dogs. Dogs jumping up or twisting around during the exam didn't bother her at all. My dog gave her kisses, so she gave him a kiss on the forehead. Does a good job, knows what she likes. Put up good movement. | ||||||||
| Sep 27, 2023 | 1 | Anonymous | Hounds | Expert! | ||||
| Doesn't know the standards, likes handlers, odd choices, not worth an entry | ||||||||
| Sep 6, 2022 | 5 | BGPWD | Portuguese Water Dog | |||||
| Enjoyed showing to Debra in both breed and groups. Very pleasant and super friendly. Gave each dog a great look. Looking forward to showing to her again. | ||||||||
| Sep 2, 2022 | 2 | Rebecca Armstrong | Long Haired Dachshunds | |||||
| Very lovely woman. Was pleasant to deal with and very generous with her advice and time. But she only picked standards and standards with handlers. I thought people were going to come out of their chairs to protest when she gave Winners dog to a huge standard puppy who was sickle hocked and straight in the rear. And with a handler. It was Lexington Ky Shows, I don't know why I expected anything more. | ||||||||
| Aug 20, 2022 | 1 | Annon | Several | |||||
| Pleasant and patient with inexperienced dogs, but the points seem to go with well known Handlers when they are there. Continue to observe over the year, if a Handler is there they get the wins. Clubs don’t seem to care and continue to hire her. | ||||||||
| Jun 20, 2021 | 1 | owner handler | working | |||||
| Limping dogs don't bother her as long as she recognizes the handler. Not worth an entry. | ||||||||
| Oct 17, 2020 | Lisa Foster | Sporting | ||||||
| Well showed to this judge nice judge but no love, was young puppy so I am going to try one more time. Will see if she likes or appreciates movement..... however will see if she can find structure and movement like seasoned sporting dog judges and can look past the tail. Will update to see if she can see past the tail and pick structure and movement. Nice lady to show to do will see? | ||||||||
| Jul 25, 2020 | 2 | Disappointed | Working | |||||
| After more than 4 months of no shows, we were looking forward to getting back into the show ring after the COVID lockdown. We were excited when we realized Ms Thornton would be judging because of her history of being patient and creating a positive experience for young puppies. Our girl turned 6 months just as everything started to shut down. Despite cancelled classes, and in an effort to keep her mentally and physically engaged, we continued to diligently practice show handling at home and earned her TKN, TKI and RN virtually. Unfortunately, the entry only included class boys so after much debate we the decided to go ahead hopeful for a crossover that often occurs with no same sex competition. As often happens with a young puppy, she was unsure at all of the unfamiliar sights and sounds of an actual show but despite her initial uneasiness, she greeted the judge appropriately, was much more relaxed by her second time around and, in ours and other exhibitors opinions, was not undeserving of a cross over. It was disheartening when Ms Thornton chose not to award a crossover (ironically BOW went to a dog with a handler who was joking with her the whole time) when in the past, she has been willing to in puppies as young as 6 months. It seems that she might not have taken into consideration that, in these unusual times many of the older puppies entered in this show are equivalent to a brand new 6 month old puppy coming into the ring for the very first time through no fault of their own. This is the first judge review that I’ve ever done and respectfully request it be shared with Ms Thornton if possible. I feel it is important to share these suggestions with her and other judges in an effort to keep exhibitors eager to compete when entry inequities are more likely to occur. | ||||||||
| Jul 16, 2020 | 1 | working | ||||||
| It is so sad for and exhibitor. To have to deal with and tolerate a judge like her. She will only put up a dog that is well known with a handler. AKC get it together. We have been out of the sport for months. If judging continues to be like this. Numbers will be down more and more. | ||||||||
| Feb 3, 2020 | 1 | Anon | Hound | |||||
| Agree with previous post regarding her clear ring procedure, friendliness etc. I'd bring her a puppy for a positive experience. She's one to gush over what a beautiful entry it is right before she picks her handlers and dumps everyone else. Her actual judging leaves much to be desired. She measured a dog that was clearly within the standard, excused a dog for lameness when it skipped over a taped area of the mat and put up an undeserving 6-9 puppy over the #1 dog in our breed for BOB. She's a DNS for me | ||||||||
| Jan 28, 2020 | 1 | 25 years Great Dane breeder handler | Great Dane | |||||
| Ms. Thorton on positive notes. Ring procedure and personality to exhibitors a 10. She is a disgrace to being and AKC Judge. She is doing injustice to our beautiful regal Giants. She will only pick handlers for her placements. It is a shame she does not have confidence in herself and her knowledge of our breed to judge correctly. Please stop killing our breed. | ||||||||
| Oct 21, 2019 | 2 | LEF | Terriers | |||||
| Provisional in the Breed. Pleasant to show to, not sure she doesn't look up the lead, but will try again. Perhaps prefers smaller size. | ||||||||
| Apr 16, 2019 | 4 | Tatiana Myers | terriers, schnauzers | |||||
| She is super nice end enjoying her time in the ring. Great with dogs. Didn't notice anything political about her, simply had a good time showing my dogs. | ||||||||
| Nov 24, 2015 | 1 | Sporting dogs | Duck Tollers | |||||
| Update: her judging at the Garden was some of the worst I’ve ever seen for our breed. There was a beautiful entry and she put up the only pro she knew, apparently - on an undersized, body-trimmed male with no tail (how could he possibly Toll?). And she put up dogs who never got their tail to the croup. It was an affront to our breed with many other nice dogs. Not only would I never give her another entry, I would never hire her for any of my clubs. She is everything that’s wrong with AKC. ————————— Really disappointing. Recently got our breed. Put up the only Big Pro (who she was seen animatedly talking with at a party the night before). But she missed the two Owner-Handled Best in Show, National Specialty winners! Instead went with the mediocre dog who has only occasionally managed a group 4 even with a top pro. Nice lady, very sugary but a very poor judge IMO. She should know better. | ||||||||
| Jul 11, 2015 | 1 | Owner Handler | Great Dane | |||||
| Wish I could give her a lower score than a 1. She put up a pet dog from the classes with a very popular handler on it over a top 20 special that was owner handled. Judges like this are enough to drive us breeder owner handlers out of the fancy all together. Her discuss for the owner handlers in the ring was so blatantly obvious, she didn't even watch the oh dogs go around the ring. She just turned back to the handler in the ring and talked and joked like they where long lost friends. This judge has made the top of my DNS list. | ||||||||
| Jan 18, 2015 | 5 | anon | working | |||||
| Very pleasant, easy to show to, really looked at the dogs, also told very nice pup owner why she didn't place her, OH left feeling GOOD we need more judges like this | ||||||||
| Jan 17, 2015 | 5 | Bekki | Pharaohs | |||||
| She was very nice and welcoming. Heard her prior to judging talk to the steward about a safety concern in her ring and adjusted for the dogs best. In Pharaohs she looked at the dogs, understood and was tolerant of puppy antics. And after each class she told her non selections in a nice way why she didn't pick them, and if room for improvement; offered suggestions. | ||||||||
| Aug 31, 2014 | 5 | Anonymous | Basenjis | Expert! | ||||
| Very nice lady. Judges dogs and not who is at the end of the lead. Also forgiving of fidgety puppies on the table. | ||||||||
| Mar 6, 2014 | 1 | Sporting | Expert! | |||||
| Mrs. Thornton did not take the time to get the breed standard. She relied on who was holding the lead instead, and there was much consistency there, same handler for most awards, a friend for the last. Very disappointing performance for a provisional judge. | ||||||||
| Jul 22, 2012 | 1 | Thomas | Sighthounds | |||||
| Ms Thornton got everything wrong except for her WB. Familiar faces and handlers are key to her placements! Placing a poor rear moving (cow hocked) on her BOS and Select dog & bitch and WD/BOW is very disturbing. Plenty of excellent moving Whippets in the ring yet she picked the poor ones with handlers and her BOB was shown by a familiar face. Her Select dog was very cowhocked and had bad ears yet was shown by a handler. I will never be showing under her again! | ||||||||
| Aug 22, 2010 | 1 | Anon | Working breeds | |||||
| Seems to value friendship and faces over breed type and soundness. Really would have expected more. Did put a 3 point major on a dog under her, but only because there were no familiar faces in the classes that day. The rest of what she did that day and every other time I've watched her...I think I'll save my money. | ||||||||
| Jul 8, 2010 | 4 | anonymous | Bernese Mountain Dogs | Expert! | ||||
| Did a very nice job judging for type. She was consistent with what she put up. Will show to her again even if my dog didn't win that day (too big for her). | ||||||||
| Jun 9, 2009 | 1 | Sapphires | Bernese Mountain Dogs | Expert! | ||||
| She was very consistent, handler, handler, handler even in the puppy classes. | ||||||||
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