CH Mansergh Miss Otis

Thank you to those exhibitors, who, in the present financial climate, gave me the highest entry in the Terrier Group, by a considerable margin, nearly half as many again as the next breed. Friday, M6, NEC, extortionate car park charges are not a good combination!! Thank you to my very efficient steward, who kept things running smoothly, so we could finish in good time, after the very late start due to the problems on the M6. Now, to the dogs themselves! I know that I was very lucky, in that when I started in the Breed, in 1980, I was taught about type, construction and movement by Ted Hutchinson, a master of the sport, who had campaigned the then Breed Record Holder, plus a string of Champions across many other breeds. This knowledge, plus, I would like to think, a natural eye for quality, has served me well over the following years. Therefore, it saddens me to see the type and constructional faults that are creeping into the breed. These faults are now so prevalent, that newer breeders, exhibitors and some judges, probably think, and accept they must be correct, so widespread are they. The Standard asks for an "otter" like head, moderately broad in skull. Too many have excessively broad skulls, giving an exaggerated, almost caricature look, rather than the refined beauty of an otter. Ear set is also a cause for concern. The standard calls for small, V- shaped, dropping forward close to the cheek. Too many ears are perched high, above the line of the skull, dropping forward to the temple, rather than the cheek, giving a foreign, almost Lakeland / Fox Terrier expression. While, I am sure, this may appeal in some quarters, it is totally incorrect on a Border Terrier. Now, to shoulders, and especially upper arms, a major problem today, particularly in the younger classes. Upright shoulders and very short upper arms, mean the front assembly of the dog appears "tacked on". The shoulder should be clean and well laid, with a long upper arm, meaning that the dog can stand with their front legs under them, perpendicular to the floor, rather than like a “milking stool. This, affects movement, giving an action that can only be described as "peddling a bike" and causing no reach on the move .They are, after all, a working breed, who are supposed to be capable of "following a horse". On the plus side, most were in good coat, and moved soundly behind, something which is much easier to achieve. Two exhibits were so thin, I felt their entry fee would have been better spent on a bag of quality food. My top winners are examples of Breeders who have stuck to their ideals, of breeding sound, honest, typical Border Terriers, bred to last, not following fashion by breeding, what, to my mind, are shorter coupled, flashier "terrier" types to appeal to the more modern way of thinking. They wouldn't have looked out of place from when I first started in the Breed, matching beautifully for type and construction.

A few pointers that need addressing. Coat, the standard requires harsh and dense with a close undercoat, not a single one, as many exhibits carried today. Feet and nails, nails were unduly long, hair around the feet needed lots of attention. Also movement, it is not getting any better may be worse, rear movement was worse than front and appeared as if they were on stilts. On the positive side mouths seemed better, I found many with excellent strong teeth set correctly with a good bite

The entry was 142 dogs making 149 entries with 20 absentees and I thank those who entered for doing so and for the sporting way in which my decisions were accepted. Thanks too to my Stewards whose quiet efficiency meant that the judging was completed in four hours. I gather that there was comment in some quarters about how much I moved the dogs and I make no apology for that. I moved each dog individually twice and in each class around the ring sometimes on two occasions and sometime three. In these days when so many Borders are stacked to look as the exhibitor wants them to look, my view is that the only way to see the real outline of the dogs is to move them around a few times and see their natural lines, not the outline set up by the handler. Additionally I know as an exhibitor, that in these large classes the dogs get very bored standing around waiting and they welcome the opportunity to move around the ring. For those of us who still like to 'free-stand' our dogs, that does make a difference and it is only when you see them either 'free standing' or moving in profile, that you can get a true picture of outline. But that's probably rather an old fashioned view these days The dogs were clean and well presented but with a number which were shown with absolutely no topcoat. Far too many have too little coat of the type demanded by the breed standard which asks for it to be Harsh and dense with close undercoat. Size was not bad generally speaking - with fewer excessively over sized dogs than I have sometimes seen before. I was very pleased indeed by the final line up for the dog CC which I thought was particularly consistent for type and quality and the top bitches too were, in my opinion, excellent. Front movement generally still gives great cause for concern and shoulders are not great but there were also quite a few where hind movement was poor too. There were enough good movers to make the top winners strong in that area. I was also able to find enough exhibits with good heads but I have to say that there were rather too many with big heads and rather large, round looking eyes and too much stop. Overall I very much enjoyed judging the breed on this occasion and I was encouraged by the number of good exhibits, particularly in the puppy classes. That makes me optimistic for the breed's future. Best Breeder : Girlings' a very typical group with good heads and well proportioned all through.

Thank you to all the exhibitors for your huge entry, it?s a good job we went outside for Limit Dog as we would not all fit into the inside wet weather ring. I really enjoyed judging the dogs more than the bitches not often is the case but today it was. Coats were either non existence, blown or half and half, just a handful were in double coat and they looked the part. One bad mouth, one had a front tooth missing, all dogs were entire and no bitches in season

It was a great honour to judge this show and I appreciated the large entry and the sporting way my decisions were received by the exhibitors. My overall impression is that the dogs have more quality in depth at the moment and that mouths no longer seem to be a problem in the show dogs. Size and movement are a constant worry, especially front movement where quite a lot were actually crossing in front, something not helped by exhibitors stringing up their dogs. Other judges have remarked that some of the dogs are getting too coarse in the head with too short a muzzle, but on the other hand a lot of the bitches seem too snipey and weak in the jaw, not what we want in a working terrier.