What is 4-H? 4-H is a youth program that while has a national presence, it’s run at state and county levels throughout the US. Each state and county can set their own rules, projects, and activities. 4-H groups youth in clubs of 3-50+ members with adult “advisors” helping to supervise, plan, and coordinate the meetings. Typically the clubs are grouped around one interest area (cooking, dogs, livestock, etc), but not always. The 4-H members are between the ages of 8-18 and a club often has a wide age range. The variation in age and experience level provide for interesting interactions and leadership opportunities for all members. It’s very much about helping the kids to create their own learning experiences.
Here, in Licking County, Ohio, clubs typically start meeting in January or February and run through the county fair. Our fair is in early August. Some counties in Ohio have fairs as early as June and some as late as October.
What is the 4-H dog project? In Ohio, 4-H’ers can do many different dog projects; showmanship, obedience, “You and Your Dog” (dog care) working (raising a service dog puppy) and/or performance (agility, etc). The members work for a period of time to prepare for county and/or state fair where the team participates in a judging similar to AKC type events.
What does a 4-H judge do? A 4-H dog project judge has to know all of the rules for the state and county. I’ve now done judging in 8+ counties and they do not all have the same rules. A 4-H judge creates a positive experience for the youth to show off what they have been working on.
What does that really mean? The judge knows how to score fair and consistently. The judge knows what to ask the 4-H’er to do and how to score the exercises. The judge knows how to move from one exercise to the next and what to ask for at each part. The judge sets up the ring and the day for the teams to have as good of an experience as possible.
Why do I judge? I learn a lot by working with kids, parents, and advisors in different parts of the state. I like to give the kids a chance to show off what they’ve learned and to be talking about dogs and training afterwards. I recognize how hard they’ve worked even if it isn’t obvious from the dog’s behavior.
Why are there complaints about judging? I have a lot of friends and acquaintances who don’t like judging 4-H or who complain about what they see at their fair. They want the kids to be completely positive with their dogs and they want to see really well trained behaviors. Most of these kids have other hobbies and activities. Most of them have instructors or advisors who actually don’t know a lot about dogs and just got pulled into that role. The judging isn’t about comparing to the AKC standard, it’s about recognizing all the effort the teams have put into their training and the learning experiences.
How can I be involved? There are a ton of opportunities for adults to help with 4-H. Everything from advising (leading) a club to helping out a fair or fun show to helping find a field trip or providing a talk or demonstration for a club. It’s amazing the number of people that have contributed to our club over the years. You can find local 4-H clubs by contacting your county extension office (Google search “County name” “extension office”).
2 Comments
Dog Lover · October 19, 2012 at 8:48 pm
While I had heard of 4H while growing up, I honestly thought it mainly had to do with livestock – do to seeing them at county fairs. Dog training seems like a good way to get more kids involved in 4H clubs.
afmd7525 · October 19, 2012 at 9:02 pm
In some regions, 4-H is more oriented (or only for) livestock projects. The livestock projects definitely are the most visible thing at county fairs. There are typically “4-H Display” buildings where 4-H clubs have created a clever visual display of other projects. There are definitely many benefits to 4-H dog projects and it’s very popular in some regions.
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