The Truth About the Dog Game: Judges Shouldn’t Be Lemmings Are we Lemmings? It is now the end of the first quarter and the dog show year is set. In my household, we have a running discussion about picking who will be top dog in each Group before St. Patrick’s Day. By this time, it seems like the lemmings have lined up and autopilot gets switched on. Actual dog judging, if there is any, ends at Group time when many judges no longer seem to evaluate breeding stock on breed-specific merit.