Gameway Midnight Dragon

My thanks to my two excellent stewards who kept exhibits moving along, making my task easier, and to the Yorks, Lancs and Cheshire Club for inviting me to judge. Coats were generally very good with undercoats evident and few showed signs of scissoring and shaving. I was pleased that all the puppy dogs were of a sensible size for their ages and almost all exhibits were spannable; however, shoulder construction problems remain an issue, with short upper arms and poor shoulder angulation resulting in wide, or tied fronts, spoiling otherwise quality exhibits. I noticed that some were roaching over the loin, creating bouncing back ends on the move with the loss of level toplines, and many had a distinct lack of stifle bend, resulting in a lack of driving action on the move. Consider feet - a few needed claws trimming (or more road work). Some heads were untypical and snipey; there were a number of suspect mouths and one undershot puppy, but I was impressed with the overall condition of the entry in general and the winners were a credit to their owner/breeders. The well filled Limit bitch class was outstanding and it was a pity not to have more awards to present. My thanks to everyone for accepting my decisions so sportingly and congratulations to the top winners, whose dogs were so deserving of their wins. Here’s a plea - please use bait sparingly, and not while your dogs are on the judging table. It’s a pity that a number of exhibitors are slaves to baiting their dogs on the table, making the dogs move around and become unsteady, while making it difficult for judges to access mouths and assess facial features. Baiting also affects movement round the ring, with exhibits “crabbing”, watching for the treats.

Thank you to the committee for inviting me to judge, I thoroughly enjoyed my day. My two stewards were very efficient and experienced; they managed to keep my ring running smoothly. I found the quality in the dogs overall to be higher than last time I judged, with in both sexes a slight improvement in movement. Although there are still some that are not driving from behind and covering the ground, and some with short, choppy, odd front movement, sometimes coupled with too narrow fronts and lack of muscle tone. Maybe more road walking would help in some cases to build up muscle, but in others is down to a problem with shoulder construction and pasterns. I found no incorrect mouths, there were a couple with broken teeth, hopefully indicative that we still work some of our show dogs. But there was a shortage of those lovely strong big teeth that the breed is known for and small teeth are on the increase. What also did disturb me was that large heavy ears seem to be creeping into the breed, which affects that lovely typical expression. In a lot of classes places could alter on another day, in fact in some classes I was spoilt for choice and would have liked more than one red card. I was delighted with my top winners who all fitted my criteria very well, every one of them displaying correct Border type coupled with sound and true movement.

Thanks for the large and interesting entry. Although quality was variable there were many good entries to examine. Most were of a good size and generally coats were good, feet very variable, particularly hind ones. Although many moved out with drive, movement in many others was a concern. Many would benefit from more exercise and muscle development. There was only 1 kinked tail and mouths were mainly good. Finally, please realise that if you bait your exhibit on the table the judge can't see it!

My sincere thanks to Blackpool & District Canine Society, for inviting me to judge at this level, for the first time. Even the weather was kind to us!! A special thank you, to the exhibitors for your support, giving me the highest terrier entry, and the sheer joy of going over every exhibit, thank one and all. It was a fabulous entry, numerically and depth of quality. On the downside I found one cryptorchidic, one suspect tail, and a lot of dirty teeth, although mouths were generally good. Coats were at various stages and in some cases they were the deciding factor, movement not too bad, the odd one “pinning in”. There were some attractive exhibits of both genders, that went ‘cardless’ today, for me, there was just too much of them.