Mansergh Last Hurrah

Firstly, I would like to thank the organisers of the show for the warm welcome and hospitality. Also, The Border Terrier Club for supporting the entry. On the day I was presented with some nice exhibits, I also found one bad mouth and not the best of movements on some. I found my winners based on size, type and movement.

It was an honour to be invited to judge this, our parent club’s show. My thanks to the committee who ran such a lovely event with a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. My judge’s gift is much appreciated and will be a treasured momento of the day. My superstar stewards, Janice Johnson and Liz Barrett, worked hard and unobtrusively whilst keeping the classes moving smoothly over a long day – well done ladies. Many thanks of course to the exhibitors who made the journey on a major bank holiday weekend giving a large and quality entry of 190 dogs making 229 entries plus 10 NFC. I had some lovely sound and typical Borders to go over and, had I had them, I would have had no qualms in awarding 4 dog tickets and 5 bitch tickets. Unfortunately there are always downsides in a big entry and today size was an issue with some overly large exhibits who were not spannable and very heavily built. There were a number of youngsters which were obviously unused to having their mouths examined and more practice in a calm atmosphere would help to make them comfortable and avoid stress for them and their handlers. Ears need watching as some were quite large and spoiled the head. Sadly, as in the past I must complain about long tails. Tails are an integral aspect of the overall picture of a typical Border outline and long is simply wrong. Our breed standard is spartan compared to many others but for tails the description is clear and begins with, “Moderately short; fairly thick at base, then tapering.” Hopefully the issue will be addressed before the untypical becomes the norm. On a positive note … Feet were overall small and thickly padded although some would benefit from trimming and shorter nails. There was a good number of lovely otter-like heads of correct proportions with well placed dark eyes and a keen expression. As is usual these days coat presentation was generally good and today there were plenty of dense coats of correct texture and thick skins. Do I think the quality shown in this entry bodes well for the breed? Yes.

Thanks to the National Terrier Club for their invitation to judge at this prestigious show and to the exhibitors who did me the honour of judging their dogs. I was lucky to have two efficient stewards who kept things running smoothly, thank you Laura and Dave. The entry showed a good depth of quality. In many classes the places were hotly contested with decisions needing to be made on the narrowest of margins. I was very pleased to find that there were some good coats on thick pelts and the nice thick short tails which set off a good border so well.