Judging in Finland
The society has taken out insurance on judges and other officials.
Serious faults
1) Poor condition (physical or mental)
2) Bald areas in fur (except for old rexes)
3) Damaged body parts
4) Inborn curved or too short tail
5) Slight structural deformity
6) Barbered areas on the head (on places the animal cannot reach by itself)
Faults to disqualify
1) Partial or total lack of whiskers or any body parts
2) Barbered except for areas on the head (on places the animal cannot reach by itself)
3) Large cuts
4) External or internal parasites or their eggs
5) Obvious ill health (reason to be specified)
6) Notable thinness or obesity
7) Aggressiveness
8) Pregnant or nursing mother
9) Age under 2 months
10) Obvious occlusion defect
11) Hermaphrodite
12) Testicular defect
13) Kinked or stiffened tail, unless the animal has gained quality prizes from two different judges (standard class) or two accepted grades (A, AB, B or C) from two different judges (pet class + agility)
14) A clear external tumour or abscess, except blocked up follicles
15) Severe structural deformity
If the animal is disqualified or cannot be judged based on the same reason three times in at least two different days/venues, the animal is permanently banned from participating in shows.
Coat varieties (judged in their own classes)
SMOOTH aka NORMAL (sk) Coat to be smooth, thick, soft and naturally shiny. It should have longer top fur and softer base fur.
REX aka CURLY-HAIRED (rex) Coat to be even, thick and not too coarse. As few guard hairs as possible. Coat to be evenly curly all over. A less curly belly side allowed. Whiskers to be curly as well. When a silver-ticked or ticked (agouti-group varieties) rat is rex, less ticking is allowed because there are less guard hair in their fur than in smooth rats. Rexing may have a balding effect in elderly rats, which is normal and should not be punished in judgement. Hand stripping (trimming) the coarse guard hairs before showing a rex rat is optional. Stripping should not cause the rat any pain. Trimming or not trimming the rex rat should not affect the judging.
DUMBO (D)
The ears shall be as big as possible, smooth and round, and set symmetrically behind the cheeks.
DWARF (dw)
In pet-class dwarfs are judged in same class with standards. Only with size and weight some things should be taken on notice – Size of the dwarfs is ⅓ of the standard’s size and weight between 50-150g. Dwarfs are also more energetic, especially at youth. Otherwise the showrules are same.
In standard-class dwarfs have their own show, where all dwarfs are judged in same class – self, ticked, pointed, marked and others
Judging, standard class
The rats are brought to the judge by the stewards one variety at the time, first juveniles (2 –5 months) and then adults (5 months ->). There can be more than one rat in the show tank, if they are clearly different varieties. In each age group the judge gives quality prizes (Quality1 (Q1) = good examples of their variety, Quality2 (Q2) = no bigger faults and the rat is good breeding material). The judge can give as many Q1s as they please. ‘No quality prize’(-) can be given to rats that don’t meet the standard. In each class the judge places 5 rats at most amongst those who have got the Q1 prize, juveniles and adults separately.
Each rat gets a written critique which is placed on top of the show tank after the rat has been judged. Only the rats who have got Quality1 can compete for stars and challenge (Best In Breed 1 – 5). Smooth coated and rexes have their own challenge, and the juveniles and adults compete for the same challenge. If the challenge only has rats of same sex, the best opposite sex rat is chosen outside the challenge. The best juvenile rat is also chosen outside the challenge if no juvenile rats are placed. The best veteran can be chosen, if there are rats over 18 months old who have got Q1. Judges favourite can be chosen as well.
The judge can give 1-2 stars as those rats who have got Q1. A rat can become a Fin Champion by getting 3 stars from at least 2 different judges, Fin Double Champion by 6 stars, Fin Grand Champion by 9 stars and Fin Supreme Champion by 12 stars.
Guide standard are not competition classes.
Self / Black group
BLACK (ba)
BLUE (bl)
BUFF (bu)
CARAMEL (car)
CHAMPAGNE (cha)
CHOCOLATE (cc)
CREAM (cr)
ICE (ice)
IVORY (ivo)
LILAC (li)
MINK (mi)
PEARL (pe)
PINK EYED WHITE (pew)
RUSSIAN BLUE (rb)
RUSSIAN BUFF (rbu)
RUSSIAN DOVE (rd)
RUSSIAN SILVER (rs)
SABLE (sa)
STONE (sto)
WHEATEN STONE (wh sto)
Ticked / Agouti group
AGOUTI (ag)
AMBER (am)
BLUE AGOUTI (bl ag)
CINNAMON (ci)
CINNAMON PEARL (cp)
GOLDEN (go)
LILAC AGOUTI (li ag)
RUSSIAN AGOUTI (rag)
RUSSIAN DOVE AGOUTI (rd ag)
RUSSIAN SILVER AGOUTI (rs ag)
RUSSIAN TOPAZ (rto)
SAFFRON (saf)
SIENNA (sn)
TOPAZ (to)
Pointed / Shaded
Black and red eyed siamese are all judged in the same category.
BLACK EYED SIAMESE
– AGOUTI POINT (besap)
– BLUE POINT (besbp)
– CHOCOLATE POINT (bescp)
– GOLDEN SIAMESE (gos)
– RUSSIAN BLUE POINT (besrbp)
– SEAL POINT (bessp)
RED EYED
– AGOUTI POINT (sap)
– BLUE POINT (sbp)
– CHOCOLATE POINT (scp)
– RUSSIAN BLUE POINT (srbp)
– SEAL POINT (ssp)
HIMALAYAN (hi) & GOLDEN HIMALAYAN (go hi)
BURMESE (bur) & RUSSIAN BURMESE (r bur) & SABLE BURMESE (sa bur) & WHEATEN BURMESE (wh-bur)
Marked
BADGER (/bdg)
BAREBACK (/bb)
BERKSHIRE (/bk)
BLACK EYED WHITE (bew)
CAPPED (/ca)
ESSEX (/esx
HOODED (/hd)
HOODED DOWNUNER (hd-du)
HUSKY (/hu)
HUSKY STRIPED (/hu-st)
IRISH (/ir)
MASKED (/ma)
VARIEGATED (/var)
Other
MARBLE (mrb)
Martens are judged in the same category
MARTEN (mrt) & BLACK EYED MARTEN (be mrt)
SILVERMANE (sm)
Guide Standard
PINK EYED GOLDEN (peg)
COFFEE (caf)
Judging, pet class
In pet class the does and bucks are judged in their own classes. Both smooth coated and rex coated rats can be shown in pet class. With rexes, hand stripping (trimming) the guard hairs is optional, and it shouldn’t effect the judging whether or not their coat is stripped. The rats are brought to judge by steward one at a time, in their show tanks. There can be multiple rats in the show tank, as long as they are clearly different varieties. Each rat gets individual critique first and the judge decides the grade for the rat: A = excellent, AB = good, B = acceptable, C = poor. If a rat gets A it can be given an Honorary Prize (KuMa), and only the rats with KuMa can go to challenge (Best Pet 1 – 5). The best juvenile is either chosen in challenge, or if no juveniles are placed, from among the A-graded juveniles. The best veteran can be chosen from among the A-graded rats aged 20 months or over. Judges Favourite is also chosen. The judge can give as many Honorary Prizes as they wish. Special prizes can also be given.