In the pets class (I assume it's the same at all shows - it was like this at Lymm) you can get your hamster out when you want to - we got Mocha out to show him round and see what colour the experts thought he was before the judging. Also during the actual judging at Lymm everyone was asked to get their own hamster out for the judge to see - so it's not anonymous like the main classes. We then got ours out for the racing as well.
HTH Jane
