Show Placings
Driffield A S
21st Sep 2013
Judge: Mrs Charlotte Archibald
My sincere thanks to the Officers and Committee, for inviting me to judge the Border Terriers at this show. We were truly blessed with some lovely autumn sunshine, and a well laid out ring.
Thank you, to all the exhibitors for allowing me the privilege to “go over†your dogs, however, I had concerns about the size and movement of some of the exhibits. I have a fair span and struggled to get anywhere near some dogs, which reflected in the placings.
Consequently, some heavy shoulders, and wide fronts.
Minor Puppy - Bitch /
Reserve
Name at show: Darkarmar Heartbreaker
Yorkshire, Lancashire & Cheshire Border Terrier Club Championship Show
28th Sep 2013
Judge: Miss Elspeth Jackson (Clipstone)
It is always an honour to be invited to judge a club show and my first job here must be to thank Club, Officers, Committee and Members for asking me to judge their show. The hospitality shown to my Mother and myself made it a very enjoyable weekend. Thank you to my capable Stewards Les Moss and Ian Higham for their help on the day.
Thank you all for the great entry both in terms of number and in depth of quality I had to judge. There were some very tough, but enjoyable decisions to be made and in most classes and in the challenges the top honours were fiercely contested. .
I must repeat the often used cliché of not having enough cards on the day. Many who were down the line or even cardless today I would have been happy to have as winners in another entry.
Minor Puppy - Bitch /
Very Highly Commended
Name at show: Darkarmar Heartbreaker
Grantham & District Canine Society Open Show
19th Oct 2013
Judge: Mr R Wright (Totherend)
Puppy /
First Place
Name at show: Darkarmar Heartbreaker
Placing Critique
promising grizzle bitch with good lines, well balanced, correct bite, dark eyes, loose thick pelt, neat feet, should do well as coat comes and movement firms up.
The Scottish Border Terrier Club Championship Show
9th Nov 2013
Judge: Mrs S Williams (Hollybridge)
I would like to thank the Scottish Club for the invitation. It was an honor to judge at this friendly and hospitable club’s show. Huge thanks must go to my very capable & experienced Steward Joyce Orr and her excellent helpers, Jim Stewart in the morning and Helen McKenzie in the afternoon. All did a super job.
Thanks too to the kitchen ladies for the amazing lunch.
I was very pleased to have such a super quality entry. I could have easily given out more tickets if they had been available. Some close decision at times, a true reflection on the high quality of the entries. Presentation of the dogs was very good, mouths too on the whole were correct with only the odd exception. Feet, I was pleased to see a vast majority of neat cat like feet on the dogs, no long hare feet. Tails again seem to be improving, not as many of the over long sickle ones that I have noticed in the past. Coats and pelts: while coats are transient and of course some had more than others on the day, texture was very good and the vast majority had good thick and loose pelts. I think the breed overall is in a good place.
Just one point I noticed, some dogs had to take a lot of steps to cover the ground, watching out that our dogs move with drive is very important and I was happy with my winners in that they, in my opinion, covered the ground well.
Minor Puppy - Bitch /
Second Place
Name at show: Darkarmar Heartbreaker
Placing Critique
Another beautiful puppy, red grizzle. A close decision between her and 1. Loved her head and expression, a very attractive, all round lovely puppy.
Puppy - Bitch /
Third Place
Name at show: Darkarmar Heartbreaker
The Sporting Terrier Association of Yorkshire
10th Nov 2013
Judge: Mrs Elizabeth Barrett (Howthwaite)
Puppy - Bitch /
Reserve
Name at show: Darkarmar Heartbreaker
Class Critique
A class of very promising puppies all at varying stages
Junior /
First Place
Name at show: Darkarmar Heartbreaker
Placing Critique
A compact light grizzle and tan bitch. Sweet head with short muzzle. Nice for size and bone. Standing on well padded small feet. Good coat and excellent thick pliable pelt. Short tail. Balanced and moved very well both in profile and coming and going. Presented and handled well.
The Midland Border Terrier Club Open Show
17th Nov 2013
Judge: Mr Mark Lowry (Ravenside)
A big thank you to the Club for giving me the chance to judge this show, also to the exhibitors for giving me such a nice entry. Special thanks also to my stewards for making everything run so smoothly, and to the ladies in the kitchen for a great meal.
I had some quality dogs to go over and I am confident plenty will go on to achieve greater things. Coats were at various stages which is to be expected and although they don’t change the construction of the animal it can detract from the overall picture when awarding top prizes. Of course they are a working terrier but they are also on show so I have to have both things in mind when judging.
Minor Puppy - Bitch /
Third Place
Name at show: Darkarmar Heartbreaker
Puppy - Bitch /
Very Highly Commended
Name at show: Darkarmar Heartbreaker
Yorkshire, Lancashire & Cheshire Border Terrier Club Open Show
25th Jan 2014
Judge: Mr Ian Hopper (Esyntona)
I enjoyed my day judging and would like to thank exhibitors for entering under me.
A big thank you to Carly and Anita who were very efficient in there stewarding duties.
I found on the day that the bitch classes were stronger than the dogs; coats were at various stages which you would expect at this time of year. All dogs and bitches were spanable. There were no bad mouths one concern is that some teeth are in need of cleaning. Movement in the main winners was excellent and they were shown in fit hard condition.
Puppy - Bitch /
Reserve
Name at show: Darkarmar Heartbreaker
Special Beginners - Dog or Bitch /
Very Highly Commended
Name at show: Darkarmar Heartbreaker
Pontefract DCS
9th Feb 2014
Judge: Miss E W Newton (Nevedith)
Junior /
Very Highly Commended
Name at show: Darkarmar Heartbreaker
Post Graduate /
Second Place
Name at show: Darkarmar Heartbreaker
The Sporting Terrier Association of Yorkshire
16th Feb 2014
Judge: Mr Jem Thomas (Daluce)
Junior /
Third Place
Name at show: Darkarmar Heartbreaker
Yorkshire, Lancashire & Cheshire Border Terrier Club Open Show
22nd Mar 2014
Judge: Mr. David Matthews (Tojamatt)
I wish to thank the YORKS LANCS AND CHESHIRE BORDER TERRIER CLUB for the opportunity to judge at this level many thanks to the stewards Carolyn Richardson, Cally Harris and Julie Price for the help in the smooth running of the show I would also like to thank the exhibitors for allowing me the pleasure of going over their dogs.
Junior - Bitch /
Second Place
Name at show: Darkarmar Heartbreaker
Placing Critique
red bitch shorter in body than 1, feminine head with a kind expression and good bite, large teeth good coat moved well with purpose and drive easily spanned.
Class Critique
1 transferred to open
Special Beginners - Dog or Bitch /
Third Place
Name at show: Darkarmar Heartbreaker
The Border Terrier Club Championship Show
29th Mar 2014
Judge: Mrs Jane Parker (Conundrum)
I would like to thank the BTC club, for giving me a second chance to judge this, the most prestigious of the breed clubs championship shows. I was judge elect in 2010, but caught the awful Noro virus the night before I was due to judge and spent the next two days flat out.
The new venue that the committee has found, has to be lauded. It is large, airy, light, the flooring is excellent. The car park looked huge. From a judges point of view I could see all the dogs clearly at any time. Congratulations on a super venue.
My two stewards, Chris Davis and Liz Barratt were so very organised and kept me informed and on time throughout the day, with good humour lots of smiles and attention to detail. With such a lovely entry numbers wise, it was a long day. Thank you both.
Living in Canada now, it was a real pleasure to judge dogs that I had mostly not seen. Obviously some of the older ones were mere youngsters before I left and it was nice to see how they had progressed through the years. I found no missing testicles, mouths on the whole were good, with only a few missing teeth or one or two misaligned. Heads were in general better overall than when I left, with more who carried a moderately broad backskull and also a lot more with very good underjaw, something one had to look hard to find a few years ago. Coats were on the whole, good, there were a very few however, who had greasy and dirty coats, this I feel is completely unnecessary. A few arrived without their coats, this is just unfortunate as dogs do not know about our ambitions in regard to shows, and if the coat needs to come out then so be it! Feet in some instances were weak, with some flat footed and others harefooted, this breed needs to have really good tight feet, small with thick pads and be well knuckled, poor feet make the whole outline of the dog look wrong. The worst fault I found, as usual were fronts, all the usual suspects were there, wide fronts, narrow fronts, flicking wrists etc. I do begin to wonder if we will ever get this completely right, but if we are breeders looking to the future, we must be hard on this most prevalent fault, and do not use these dogs and bitches in our breeding programmes. Bitches had the most quality through the entry, again, this is usual, however the dogs that were good, were very very good, and the best, were exceptional. Size does need to be watched, this is a somewhat cyclical thing, but there were some big dogs and bitches in the ring. The first and most important words in our standard...â€Essentially a working terrierâ€...if it cannot be spanned, it is too big. In general I feel the breed in the country of origin is in pretty good shape, the top percentage of the dogs I judged were quite lovely and had breed type to spare. In my critique you will no doubt notice expressions I use again and again. I find certain things are ubiquitous (but none the less hugely important to breed type) and have my pet ways of describing them, I hope you forgive my industrial repetition in some regards.
Special Beginners - Bitch /
Third Place
Name at show: Darkarmar Heartbreaker
Harrogate and District Canine Society Open Show
19th Jul 2014
Judge: Mr Bill Gray (Sygar)
Post Graduate /
Second Place
Name at show: Darkarmar Heartbreaker
York Cannine Society
20th Jul 2014
Judge: Ms Judy Stockdale
Post Graduate /
Second Place
Name at show: Darkarmar Heartbreaker
Driffield Agricultural Society Championship Dog Show
20th Sep 2014
Judge: Mrs A C Fryer (Irton)
Thanks to the exhibitors for giving me a lovely entry and to my stewards for keeping the ring running efficiently throughout. We had a good day with a very very slight drizzle; the exhibitors and exhibits seemed untroubled but it did cause the ringside to flee temporarily! There were some very good dogs present and I enjoyed all my winners but there are always some buts, and looking through my notes there was a preponderonce of “OK” over “good”. The standard asks for a dog that has the soundness to follow a horse; this, of course, must be understood in the context of a terrier working with the Hunt on rough moorland ground, but even so only the minority of exhibits could meet this requirement. Inadequate angulation leads to poor ground covering ability and untidy front movement – evident in a lot of exhibits. Whilst most exhibitors take the trouble to present their dogs as well as possible, a number were unfit and lacking muscle tone and would one of the Breed Clubs please put on a grooming seminar which shows exhibitors how to prepare feet and nails?? It is clearly needed. I forgive coats since these are outwith your control and sadly some excellent dogs had to pay the price for coming without a jacket.
Post Graduate - Bitch /
Third Place
Name at show: Darkarmar Heartbreaker
Placing Critique
Another attractive little bitch with an excellent pelt, not quite the match of the winners for head & bone or movement, well angulated and balanced.
Good Citizen - Bitch /
First Place
Name at show: Darkarmar Heartbreaker
Placing Critique
On their own here but a very well matched, impressive trio, good typical heads, presented in excellent coat and looking very well together, all of a similar type even if they each chose their own route round the ring.
Yorkshire, Lancashire & Cheshire Border Terrier Club Open Show
31st Jan 2015
Judge: Miss Claire Tutin (Riseburn)
I would like to thank the officers and committee for their invitation to judge their open show, and their warm welcome and hospitality. I would also like to thank my two efficient stewards on the day, Ian Hopper and John Thomas.
The entry was very pleasing but there were quite a few absentees on the day, especially the dog classes. However I enjoyed my day and was pleased with all my class winners, making a very satisfactory final line up, including some promising puppies, with some difficult decisions to be made. I found one bad mouth and one kinked tail.
Post Graduate - Bitch /
Very Highly Commended
Name at show: Darkarmar Heartbreaker
Special Beginners - Dog or Bitch /
Second Place
Name at show: Darkarmar Heartbreaker
Placing Critique
Smaller, shorter bitch than 1, good in head with good expression, moved well, harsh jacket.
Driffield Agricultural Society
3rd Oct 2015
Judge: Miss Jean Singh
Many thanks to my two efficient stewards who kept the proceedings running smoothly. On the day I was surprised to find 4 level mouths, although a level mouth is acceptable in the standard, a scissor bite is preferable. Some exhibits could have been shown in a fitter condition and have their long nails clipped.
Good Citizen - Bitch /
First Place
Name at show: Darkarmar Heartbreaker
Placing Critique
Nice size and good bone, however she was carrying too much weight and movement both ways could be more positive.
