Crimson Magic

My thanks go to the Committee of the NBTC for their invitation to judge their Open Show. I was honoured to receive this appointment and am incredibly grateful to the exhibitors who gave me such a great entry. It was a most enjoyable day and special thanks go to my Stewards, Andrea Pitt and Mark Atkinson, for keeping me on track and helping the ring to run smoothly.

My thanks to the Club for trusting me with a fine entry of dogs at this, one of my favourite shows; to my stewards for their understated efficiency which kept the show rolling; and to the exhibitors for the opportunity to go over their dogs, and for the sporting acceptance of my decisions. The Border Terrier Breed Standard is a very brief document; as such, it needs some interpretation. The clue is in the first clause of it; ‘Essentially a working terrier’. This, together with a knowledge of the work the breed is traditionally expected to perform, gives an idea of the dog required. Thus we need a dog which can keep with the hunt over rough moorland country in what may be inclement weather, and then be able to go to ground and bolt or hold it’s own to a cornered fox. This implies sound, efficient movement, adequate heart and lung room, a weatherproof double coat and a thick, pliable pelt; but at the same time be small enough and flexible enough to follow a fox to ground . Overall, I found most exhibits to be sound, and well presented (sometimes ‘overpresented’ to the extent that coats had more appearance than substance). The most prevalent fault I observed was untidy, converging front movement; an inevitable consequence of short upper arm and upright fronts. I did also find a few faulty bites; one undershot, one youngster with a lower incisor seriously out of line; and several with level bites, which, though permitted in the standard, are not (to my mind) desirable; also undesirable to me were the number of exhibits with small teeth in weak forefaces. There were also a couple of ‘winter noses’, but that, to me, is a purely cosmetic point and not to be penalised. All males were entire.

Thank you to the committee for inviting me to judge at this buzzing, well organised, show. It was an extremely hot day so I moved dogs less than I perhaps would normally, to allow for the extreme temperatures we were all enjoying but the dogs were not. There was a good public attendance who seemed to enjoy the array of breeds on show. Thank you for the marvellous entries in the terrier breeds which made for a very enjoyable day indeed. Border Terrier

Thank you to the Committee for organising such a well run show. The quality of the the dogs was very good, making my decisions more difficult in a good way. Nice atmosphere plus friendly sportsmanship prevailed.

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.