Holteal Sixpenny Worth

Many thanks for the lovely entry, both in terms of quality and quantity. I thoroughly enjoyed my day with the Border Terriers. When I last judged I felt there were too many with houndy large ears, this did not seem to be replicated in today’s entry which was pleasing and expression was generally much improved. What I did notice was that front action is something that we need to watch. Being Manchester and the last Championship show pre Crufts there were quite a few dogs who had been stripped in preparation and quite a few out of coat. In part that did play a part in some of my fineer placings.

I was honoured to be invited to judge our Club’s Championship Show, 30 years after I last judged here (at a different venue) in 1996. This is my 16th time awarding CCs in the UK. Thank you to the Committee for this invitation. Thank you also to my two excellent ring stewards Janice Johnson and Marina Fleming and to the Collecting Ring Stewards Judy Carr and Judith Fawcett, all four of whose efforts throughout the day kept everything running smoothly so we finished in good time. Many thanks to the exhibitors for bringing their dogs to show to me and for the friendly atmosphere I encountered throughout the day. Win or lose, you always take the best dog home, as they say. I found the quality excellent throughout, with many classes where I was really spoilt for choice. All males were entire and most of the entry had good scissor bites, with only one or two in Veteran being not so “precise”, shall we say. Some of the dogs were a little difficult to span and so paid the price, but on a whole, most were spannable and had good rib shapes. The standard does not ask for a flat rib – I do love to see a good rib shape when viewed from above, with enough capacity for heart and lungs to do their jobs. It is important to the breed’s job of work that they are spannable and have ribs carried well back. Movement is also important as it plays a major part in making them fit for function. An otter-like head takes them apart from a generic terrier and makes them the breed we love to own. When the line ups came into the ring, particularly my bitch line up, I was very pleased to see them all and happy that we have such good examples of the breed.

Unexpectedly judging, this year, being brought forward a year, due to the incapacity of the scheduled Judge. Best wishes to Dave for a speedy recovery. My thanks to the Club for the invitation and to my stewards, Andy and Rob, for keeping everything running smoothly and to the exhibitors for a super entry, which I enjoyed judging. It was a super large ring, giving dogs every chance to really move out and the weather, although a bit nippy at times, held out. Now to the dogs, themselves. On the whole, heads were good, most having the “moderately broad skull” asked for in the Standard, very few being overly broad, with deep stops, more reminiscent of the Asiatic otter, rather than the native River otter. Necks, into shoulder, were, on the whole ok, the main problem, as ever, being short upper arms, giving a front construction, set too far forward, on the body, rather than under it, more Fox Terrier than Border Terrier, meaning that the elbow was the widest part of the dog, not ideal on a dog bred to go to ground. Bone varied, while we don’t want heavy bone, a few were too light, those with straight fronts and quality bone, down to small feet, with thick pads were a joy to find. I’ve got hands like shovels, so the majority were spannable, but even I struggled with one or two! A few were, to my mind, short in rib, lacking the carry back, giving an untypical cut up underline. Topline and tailsets were in the main good, just a few “not quite” sloping in croup. Tails, in the main, were good, not too many long ones. A few could have been thicker at the base, but none curled over the back. The majority had good racy hindquarters, very few showing the stilted rear action that seems to be creeping in to the breed, totally incorrect in a breed that should be capable of “following a horse” as there’s no length of stride, driving from the hocks. The main point of concern, I found, is an alarming number, whose back legs are simply not on the same track as the front ones, when moving, I assume, due to a slight imbalance between the front and rear construction, the angles not matching, to give efficient movement. Coats and pelts were pretty good, even those short of coat, had, in the main, evidence of harshness. Given it’s pretty much the start of the show season, none were unduly penalised, my view being coats are transient, construction is a constant.