Kirkbyvalley Dancing Mist

I would like to thank the committee for their hospitality, I thoroughly enjoyed my day. Thank you to all of the exhibitors for giving me such a good entry of quality dogs. I judge according to the breed standard and I felt that my winners today were extremely fitting.

I would like to thank the Midland Border Terrier Club committee for the opportunity to judge this year’s Joint club show. Many thanks to my two ring stewards Bob and Liz Wright for the smooth running of the ring and the cups of coffee. It was an experience to go over so many dogs of different types; this made my job difficult at times, as each one had different attributes to the next. A few classes I found very hard to decide who my winners would be for this reason. Is the breed getting better or worse? I do not think I am the first to mention that there are too many foreign heads and plain faces with no expression. The breed standard states “a head like that of an otter” and “essentially a working terrier”. Confirmation and movement, I think has improved a little, but the heads and strength of the dogs has declined. When I looked at some of the dogs, I liked them but then had to remind myself that they where dogs not bitches. Thank you to all exhibitors for letting me go over your dogs and the gracious way most of you accepted my decisions.