[quote=apsiber]Also, mentioned the Russian Judges possibly being motivated/influenced by the perk of trip to U.S.[/quote] One way to look at it. Other factors to consider are the political pressure Russian judges are under when judging specialities in Russia. The criticism there is that winners are picked beforehand. Don't know if that is true or not but know for sure that the political pressure is off the Russian/FCI judges when they come here and put up dogs they don't know owned by people they don't necessarily know (well). As an example, I took 7 dogs and pups under a judge once that didn't have a clue all 7 were mine until judging was completed.