Lairehope Wizard

Firstly, I would like to thank everyone for a lovely entry and also to the Scottish BTC for this opportunity. Special thanks go to my two stewards for the day who kept everything running smoothly and for their good company. Although the lighting in the hall isn’t the best, it was adequate and the large square ring was perfect for watching movement, something I feel is very important in a border terrier. On that note I found my main winners to excel in this department. I was pleased to judge some strong puppy classes and also some strong adult classes

Firstly I would like to thank the committee for inviting me to judge this show, it was an honour and a privilege, secondly thank you to the exhibitors for entering a lovely selection of dogs for me to go over, and lastly but not leastly to my Stewards, Liz Barret and Val Mason for keeping me right.

Thank you to the committee for inviting me to judge their open show held at Jedburgh, the home of the border terrier. It was a great privilege, and I had some amazing dogs present who are a credit to their owners, thank you for bringing them. Thank you to my stewards for organising the rings so smoothly and keeping me on track so we finished at a reasonable time. The hospitality was second to none and I would like to thank the whole committee for this.

A tremendous entry of 275 Borders ( 25 absentees on the day)to enjoy handling, judging and placing. I must extend my appreciation to my two valiant stewards for their patience and skill in keeping classes moving. Thank you all. I do believe our breed is changing, but in subtle ways. The lack of opportunities for true terrier work below ground for some Borders has been replaced by agility and other energetic pursuits, but lack of hard muscle tone has produced a ‘softer’ body on some exhibits. Some feet are slacker, pads are more spread and thinner and some fronts are wide. Movement is not always positive and a ‘driving’ action is lacking. Size is fluctuating too. We have a ‘working’ breed - let’s ensure that features defining the breed are not lost, i.e. ‘spannability’; a hard, harsh top coat and soft protective undercoat (not enough of those today); a dark, expressive eye, a broad skull and strong quarters – ‘the engine is at the back!’. Heads generally were good, but some bitch heads veered towards coarseness. One thing not lost is the Border’s kind temperament – curious, interested and ready for anything.

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.