Oxcroft Ross

It was a great honour to judge this show and I appreciated the large entry and the sporting way my decisions were received by the exhibitors. My overall impression is that the dogs have more quality in depth at the moment and that mouths no longer seem to be a problem in the show dogs. Size and movement are a constant worry, especially front movement where quite a lot were actually crossing in front, something not helped by exhibitors stringing up their dogs. Other judges have remarked that some of the dogs are getting too coarse in the head with too short a muzzle, but on the other hand a lot of the bitches seem too snipey and weak in the jaw, not what we want in a working terrier.

Dogs, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Committee for inviting me to judge the dog classification at their 25th anniversary show, also my very able stewards Christine Horner, and Chris Wallace who did a great job with the organisation of my ring. Bitches, I thoroughly enjoyed this appointment, thanks to my experienced stewards and an entry that contained some really outstanding examples of the breed. I really liked my winners, and handled some extremely promising youngsters. Having said that, the early classes were much more variable, with fewer exhibits that combined quality and breed type. Later classes were more consistent, and it was nice to find a few more classy otter-like heads and neat front construction.