Karison Kameo

Firstly, I would like to thank the committee, members and exhibitors for the fantastic entry at this, my first club open show. It was a great privilege to judge here on the 50th anniversary of the Jedbergh show and to be able to get my hands on all these dogs. Thank you to my ring stewards, Jane Morton-Shaw and Janice Johnson for their hard work and efficiency. Thank you also, to Carole MacKenzie for going the extra mile with my lunch and plying me with all sorts of gluten free goodies! All the dogs were entire and I found only two or three kinked tails, but mouths were a bit of a concern. There were a lot of level bites, and although “acceptable” we should all be mindful of this when breeding on. Strong scissor bites with typically large teeth is what we should be aiming for. The majority of dogs were in good fit order, but unfortunately a small number of exhibits were rather thin and lacking condition. The two shouldn’t be confused. There were also quite a number of very short, and in some cases, sprung ribs, and quite a few lacking angulation and length of upper arm in front. On a positive note, there were some very promising youngsters, especially in the young bitch classes, which can only bode well for the future.

My thanks go to the Northern Border committee for their warm welcome and for the honour of judging their Open show. I really enjoyed my day, and the ladies put on a lovely lunch and Christine’s apple pie was the best pudding of the day. I received a lovely entry and I was very pleased with my winners. My thanks also go out to the exhibitors for allowing me to inspect their dogs on the day. My thanks also go to my two stewards who were a great help on the day. It is only my opinion, but I think that the size of the border terriers is slowly returning back in line with the breed standard which I am pleased about as I thought that Border terriers were getting too long in the leg. Mouths were good, all dogs were entire, but just a few exhibits were a bit close at the rear. A few exhibitors could do with spending a little time learning how to tidy their dogs and how to get the best out of the dog on the day.