It’s a career that spans a lot of dog years.
A lifetime spent travelling the world, looking into the eyes of hopeful pooches and assessing everything from how they walk and how their teeth bite to the length of their muzzles and whether those eyes are the right shape, colour and size.
As, arguably, North America’s most respected dog show judge, Ottawa’s James Reynolds figures he has laid hands on as many as 40,000 canines.
But that’s just a ruff count.
“He’s the Gordie Howe of dog judges,” says Will Alexander, one of Canada’s most successful professional dog handlers. “He’s Mr. Dog Show.”
In May, on his 75th birthday, Reynolds will celebrate 50 years as a dog judge by — what else? — presiding over the “best-in-show” finale of an event in Madison, Wis.
But first there is the Super Bowl for the doggie set, the 141st Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, which gets underway Monday in Manhattan.
Reynolds will be judging there for the 14th time, more than any other Canadian, in the herding and hound breeds. In 2006, he became the first non-American in 77 years to judge best in show at a packed Madison Square Garden.
It is such a plum assignment — it can only be done once — that, says Reynolds, “most people would slit their wrists for it. It is huge, huge, huge.”
Getting the call to Westminster is so prestigious that judges do not receive a fee. Although the kennel club recently began covering travel expenses, about two thirds of the judges, including Reynolds, don’t ask for reimbursement. With its associated black tie events, the joke is that even judges without assignments will show up in New York with their tuxes, hoping one of their confreres will die.
“People want to judge Westminster,” says Reynolds, declining to say how much he is out of pocket for the weekend. “It’s a great honour to be asked.”
Reynolds has not only judged in front of crowds of more than 20,000, as he has in New York, the work has taken him around the world, including Australia 11 times and China six times. He gets recognized in airports and bars; at six-foot-five with a beard, he’s hard to miss.
Reynolds limits himself to 24 shows a year, 70 to 80 days of standing on green carpets, cold concrete or muddy fields, and the retired Ottawa-Carleton District School Board superintendent says he still has “wow” moments.
“That’s why I judge,” he says. “It’s those moments, and you never know where they’re going to be or when they’re going to occur, when you’ll say this is what the future may be in this breed or, as one of my friends used to say, the hairs on your arms go up because of watching the performance of a dog.”
Reynolds has been around dogs for more than 60 years. As a boy, his family owned a grocery store in Winchester, about 50 kilometres south of Ottawa, and a hobby farm outside the village.
It wasn’t unusual for the lad to tour the agricultural fairs showing sheep, cattle, horses or chickens. When he was 11, he was featured on the cover of two farm magazines after winning first prize with a ram at the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto. In time, however, his father figured that dogs would take up less land and young James opted for a pet Boston Terrier.
“I could have cared less what it looked like,” he says. “I just wanted a dog.”
At 15, he raised his first litter and showed his first Canadian champion before eventually moving into the breeding of Scottish Terriers. Success with those dogs meant being at shows for the entire day and a certain amount of boredom. Reynolds would watch the judges of the other breeds and sometimes assists as a ring steward, a person who helps the judges.
He found it fascinating and drifted in that direction. He had an eye for it.
He started judging in 1967 — experience in breeding and showing dogs is required, as are tests and exams, to earn a licence from the Canadian Kennel Club — and by the mid-’70s, he was an all-rounder, someone capable of judging all breeds. By the early ’80s he stopped showing dogs himself and put his energies into evaluating other dogs.
“Judging is marvelous because it gives me the opportunity to have my hands on and to react and interact with the top dogs in all breeds all over the world,” he says. “That’s kind of a thrill.”
As Reynolds’ reputation of being both knowledgeable and fair grew, he got invited to adjudicate more shows. He is very proud that he has judged 70 National Specialties in which fanciers of specific dogs gather to select the best of their breeds. It’s a responsibility handed only to the most trusted judges who are voted on and invited by the breeders.
“He has a carriage about him, almost like royalty,” says Alexander. “He also has this James Earl Jones speaking voice. He’s not arrogant by any means but has an air about him where you want his opinion.
“He has an artist’s eye when it comes to those dogs.”
It was Thomas Bradley III, who recently retired as chairman of the Westminster dog show after 15 years, who asked Reynolds to judge best in show 11 years ago. He says the Canadian’s reputation is so stellar there was no pushback from the show committee.
“He’s certainly in the top 10 (in North America), probably the top five,” says Bradley, who will judge best in show this year. “Personally, I’d say he’s number one. Others might argue with me but in today’s world, I don’t think there’s anyone who commands the respect that he does.”
In dog shows, dogs aren’t being measured against each other, although it looks that way. They are actually being measured against a standardized ideal of how the breed should look, move and behave.
That involves a lot of homework for judges as the standard varies from country to country and evolves. Some standards, says Reynolds, are explicit and go on for pages. Others are minimal.
When judging, there are about 200 criteria that are assessed in North America while more than 400 are used in Europe. But it becomes second nature for judges, who are given two minutes with each dog. They assess 25 dogs an hour to a maximum of 175 in a day; Reynolds will be judging 164 at Westminster on Monday.
“The object of a dog show is to assess the breeding stock,” he says. “You take a look at the phenotype and say, OK, I think if these animals were mated, they will improve the breed.”
While Reynolds spends his own money to judge at Westminster, he says he tries to balance charity shows with ones that do pay for his services.
Reynolds won’t say what he charges but Bradley says typically a judge might make $350 to $500 a day plus expenses.
“You have a number of people who retire and do it for the opportunities to travel,” explains Reynolds. “And I think they supplement their retirement income but it’s not something you can make a living at.”
In 50 years of judging, Reynolds says he has only been bitten once, last year, while judging a Scottish Terrier. The dog became annoyed at its handler, turned its head quickly to snap, and slashed its teeth across Reynolds’s palm. The war wound earned him 10 stitches.
Though dogs are his passion, Reynolds no longer owns one. He and his wife, Marcia, now live in a Nepean condominium. While he would be allowed to have a small dog, he says he doesn’t feel right keeping one in such a restricted space.
Besides, his favourite breed is the Irish Wolfhound, which could top 150 pounds. That would be a non-started. The couple does own a Persian cat, a rescue named Onyx.
So, instead, he visits his three grown children, who all own dogs and live close, or gets his fix at shows.
“This has been my hobby for life,” he says. “It’s what I do and where I go.
“I’m not athletically inclined so I insist on rubbing it in the face of those who are that at least I’ve been centre stage at Madison Square Garden.”
The Westminster system
$100 entry fee
2,800 dogs begin process of elimination
202 breeds – top dog from each advances to group competition
7 groups: hounds, sporting, working, toy, terrier, non-sporting and herding
1 from each group moves on to the best-in-show finale
- No cash prize, but plenty of prestige, awarded to best in show
- Much of the proceeds go to dog-related charities and veterinarian scholarships
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