Bandicoot Candy Twist

A great honour to judge the breed at this show where Borders were the only breed in the terrier group to have CCs on offer & for the first time. Thank you to all exhibitors who braved the exceptionally cold weather at Newark. Remarkably there were only 6 absentees in the dog classes & 19 in the bitch classes out of a total entry of 114 (2 late entries increased the published catalogue entry). In general I was looking for skulls like that of an otter, the late Walter Gardner told me 30 years ago to place the ears of a Border back to really appreciate the shape of an otter skull & this holds true today. I was also looking for a Border who was easily spanned & most importantly one with good movement & of a size to enable this working terrier to go to ground. I have to say that front movement in many cases was worse than rear movement, with pinning-in & platting much in evidence, while a few were cow-hocked at the rear. All dogs were entire, temperaments overall were excellent, dentition in a few cases incorrect & essentially for the breed, thick pads were noticeably lacking in some exhibits. As always coats were in varying stages of growth, several toplines were not typical with low set tails, otherwise I was delighted with the first placements in each class, all of which were representative of the Standard.

A demanding day with 247 entered, my sincere thanks to all who entered and showed patience when decisions needed time. Also my gratitude goes to our ring stewards who were simply outstandingly efficient. I was very proud of the ticket line-ups and thought the BOB looked superb in the group. What was encouraging was there were many dogs down the line that would not have been out of place there and ?splitting hairs? became a routine technique in several classes to find class winners. Reflecting on the day leaves some lasting impressions. There is no doubt the breed has made great advances in head conformation. Good otter heads with strength in muzzle and strong teeth were very much in evidence. Ears by and large are good but with a trend towards largeness and heaviness which we must reverse. It is very difficult to change the ear shape so embedding any coarseness now must be of concern. Movement too has improved over the years largely driven by progress on stifle angulation but let’s not go too far here as some excess is creeping in. Shoulders still need attention with many severely lacking lay back and of more concern some foreleg assemblies are placed too far forward so fore-chests are vanishing. This produces flashiness but it is wrong. Coats and pelts were generally good and the majority were capable of being spanned. Flat feet were in evidence perhaps driven by a tough winter and lack of exercise but remember this is a sporting breed and needs fitness to be fully appreciated. As a result many nice dogs lost out because of a lack of muscle or flat feet. We have a healthy breed and this was supported by those in the veteran classes and with an 8 year old winning BOB perhaps this is proof enough.

I felt very honoured when I received the invitation to judge at the Open Show and was glad that I could accept this. What an opportunity to see and go over so many Borders in one day. Of course I have seen many Borders during the 40 years that I have lived with them but to see so many together is not possible on the continent. When I received the entry details I really was surprised and felt even more honoured then. The Venue was good but unfortunately it was one of the warmest days and in the hall the temperature rose quite quickly. Nevertheless almost all Borders presented there showed until the very end of the day. The judging went smoothly not in the least because of my exceptionally efficient steward, Peter Roderick, who took care of calling in the next class on time and made sure that there were no mistakes because of the re-entries which I am not used to. Many thanks also to my ring stewards! I was surprised by the high quality presented to me. In some classes it meant that I could not always place otherwise nice exhibits. All Borders behaved themselves wonderfully when being handled, even inexperienced ones. Just one exception to that was a dog that didn't like to be handled on the table, which is not Border like. It occurred to me that it is becoming to be a habit to string the dogs when moving. It worsens their movement in a lot of cases and for me they should be moved with a loosened lead. For some exhibits it made the difference in being placed or not. I found on the whole just a few problems. Just one wrong bite and one tail that was not correct. Feet need attention. Just a few had lovely strong padded catlike feet. As well as front movement which is a real problem in the Border Terrier all over the world. Waving, almost crossing, loose, just a few had a parallel and straight front movement. On the other hand, side movement was in almost all exhibits free and with a long stride. A lot of coats were in between. But I could feel the correct texture being double and harsh. I had a lovely day and want to thank the organisation for their efforts to make me and my sister ? who accompanied me ? feel welcome and of course all the exhibitors for entering and taking my decisions so sportingly. The atmosphere around the ring felt warm, friendly and relaxed.