Manorcroft Take A Shot For Ravenside

My sincere thanks to the Officers and Committee, for inviting me to judge the Border Terriers at this show. We were truly blessed with some lovely autumn sunshine, and a well laid out ring. Thank you, to all the exhibitors for allowing me the privilege to “go over” your dogs, however, I had concerns about the size and movement of some of the exhibits. I have a fair span and struggled to get anywhere near some dogs, which reflected in the placings. Consequently, some heavy shoulders, and wide fronts.

It is always an honour to be invited to judge a club show and my first job here must be to thank Club, Officers, Committee and Members for asking me to judge their show. The hospitality shown to my Mother and myself made it a very enjoyable weekend. Thank you to my capable Stewards Les Moss and Ian Higham for their help on the day. Thank you all for the great entry both in terms of number and in depth of quality I had to judge. There were some very tough, but enjoyable decisions to be made and in most classes and in the challenges the top honours were fiercely contested. . I must repeat the often used cliché of not having enough cards on the day. Many who were down the line or even cardless today I would have been happy to have as winners in another entry.

My most sincere thanks to all exhibitors for giving me such a lovely entry of 117 making 153 entries, the highest in the terrier group and one of only a few to break the 100 mark in the whole show. It is human nature for us all to ringside judge and we are all guilty of this, but going over an exhibit first hand, is further revealing, a privilege for which, I was truly grateful. Some lovely dogs, some more workman like than others, some in better condition than others, a few outstanding ones and the odd one or two I’d love to own! I am the first to admit I love a flashy dog who will stand up and show, but along with that must come the workman like qualities that make it able to be essentially a working terrier. There is nothing to suggest in my mind, that the two trains of thought can’t co-exist, they can and they must. Nervous or aggressive dogs and there were just one or two, were not rewarded, this is surely a temperament to be discouraged. Dour is a different matter altogether, especially when its nearly always on an otherwise, super exhibit, a frustrating combination.