Show Placings
The Border Terrier Club Open Show
15th Oct 2011
Judge: Mr. Stuart Plane (Stuane)
It was an honour to be invited to judge this show and I was truly grateful for such a very good entry
Maiden - Bitch /
Third Place
Name at show: Lairehope Georgianna
Scottish BTC Championship Show
12th Nov 2011
Judge: Mrs K Wilkinson
Thank you to the Members for inviting me to judge what has been for me and many others, one of the favourite shows on the calendar every year. Having won the Bitch CC and Best in Show here at the very first ScBTC Ch show in 1985 with Otterkin Blue Bouquet JW, perhaps I am slightly biased by good memories, but I think most people who attend consider it one of the most popular shows of the year, as there is always a warm welcome guaranteed from the Officers and Committee of the Scottish Border Terrier Club to exhibitors and spectators alike and a good atmosphere at all of their shows.
Many thanks to Marjorie Wanless who officiated as an uncomplaining and efficient steward all on her lonesome all day; what a star! Thanks too for the lovely gift from the Club.
It is good when decisions are accepted with grace, be it win or lose and I thank the exhibitors for that. It is not easy being a judge, knowing you disappoint some but please others, but one has to just judge the dogs and go with your instincts, please yourself, select those you like the best and hope others appreciate that you did your best, to your ability, without fear or favour.
Overall, the quality was high, with a lot to like. There were only a couple who felt too thin, so I will not dwell on this too much this time, except to say that a working dog needs some substance, some strength and endurance and this is NOT achieved when you starve a big dog to try to make it look smaller, as any judge fooled by that is not to be applauded. Going over a dog on the table, I hate to feel all the backbone and see the ribs sticking out. It is cruel and unkind to keep your dog too thin. Borders like their food. Not as many thin ones here as were at Crufts in 2007, just a couple. This is just something for people to watch please.
Teeth were not a big problem – only one slightly undershot and a couple with one tooth out of line. I will not penalise a dog/bitch for one tooth out of line and refuse to put that in the individual dog/bitches critique – that is for me to know (I am sure the exhibitors already know) and for other judges to find (or not) and do as they will. For me, there is so much more that is important than one tooth out of alignment. If such a dog/bitch with one tooth out of line still had a scissor bite and all other good attributes, then it was placed accordingly. I have seen critiques which say “Only one if” – I will not lumber any dog/bitch with that and have everyone wanting to know what it was.
I was surprised to find a couple with kinks in their tails, as exhibitors can feel this easily themselves. This has been touched upon in the 2007 BTC Year Book and judges (including me) have their own views on this, although there is nothing in the UK breed standard about it.
A couple had peculiar coats, with what seemed like some substance in them, which did not make them feel harsh, more sticky and stuck together and although that meant I could not see the skin, it was not because they had good coats and it gave me grubby hands after going over them. Substance in a terrier’s coat fools no-one – please do not do it! On the down side, there were a few more which left my hands dirty after examination. Although they are a working dog, please present them to the judge in clean condition. I didn’t turn up grubby and neither should they!
Overall though, I thought the breed to be in a good place and I was very pleased with all my top winners (well, I would say that, wouldn’t I)?
Special Beginners - Bitch /
Third Place
Name at show: Lairehope Georgianna
Novice - Bitch /
Very Highly Commended
Name at show: Lairehope Georgianna
Class Critique
A very hard decision here in this excellent class. I would have been happy to give this class to each one of the first 3 placed and indeed, each of them had already won a class!
Graduate - Bitch /
Third Place
Name at show: Lairehope Georgianna
Scottish Border Terrier Club Limited Members Show
29th Jan 2012
Judge: Mrs Chris Davis (Hesselemere)
What an honour to be asked to judge SBTC Limit show and many thanks to the committee for the invitation. Many thanks to Joyce Orr, an excellent steward. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and had a good entry of 43 dogs making 65 entries.
Maiden - Bitch /
Second Place
Name at show: Lairehope Georgianna
Placing Critique
Bl/t with good expression on nice head. Good coat and ticking, needs a tidy. Moved ok.
Novice - Bitch /
Second Place
Name at show: Lairehope Georgianna
Special Challenge - Dog or Bitch /
First Place
Name at show: Lairehope Georgianna
The Border Terrier Club Open Show
25th Feb 2012
Judge: Mr. Ian Higham (Comberdown)
I had been looking forward immensely to judging my first breed club open show in the UK. I sincerely thank the officers and membership for inviting me and most importantly, I would thank those exhibitors who attended and valued my integrity and opinion enough to give me the opportunity of going over their dogs.
I was looking for Borders that had all the good breed type points as laid out in our standard, combined with the correct physical construction to be able to cover the rough hilly ground of the region from which the breed originated. I thoroughly went through the entry to find these attributes, and judged with these thoughts in mind right down to my 4th placings.
I am pleased to be able to say that I had no dirty oily coats, or smelly dogs and that every dog had clean white teeth. This is all down to good housekeeping (or dog keeping) and I must commend you all on these points.
However, I was very disappointed to find that three exhibitors presented me with dogs, which had kinked bumpy tails.
I only found one tooth problem and that was a set of badly twisted lower incisors, which were slightly obstructing a scissor bite, but unfortunately, I was further disappointed to find dogs with weak muzzles and no strength to the underjaw. A Border needs to be able to force home an attack on its advesary and to do so must use his//her strong jaws and big teeth. This part of the borders anatomy is of immense importance to its function. I would consider this a fault, which would seriously interfere with a terrier’s ability to work.
I found a variety of movement problems. Some had stilted rear movement, with feet in underneath the dog and lacking propulsion. One dog that crabbed. Dogs with fronts toeing in, some more so than others, and some with wide front movement, or flicking one, or other foot.
Ultimately, there were some very good examples of our breed, that possessed all, or most, of the qualities I was searching for. Some of these did not get top awards on the day, but nevertheless had enough breed type and quality of movement to forge ahead and have a promising future I am sure.
Special Beginners - Bitch /
Reserve
Name at show: Lairehope Georgianna
Maiden - Bitch /
Second Place
Name at show: Lairehope Georgianna
Placing Critique
Was reserve from the class before. She was exhibited adequately by her young handler, who moved her well. She portrays a nice outline in profile. Another with no coat today.
Novice - Bitch /
Third Place
Name at show: Lairehope Georgianna
Scottish Border Terrier Club Open Show
2nd Jun 2012
Judge: Mr David Mitchell (Paleside)
The Scottish Border Terrier Club held an open show where BIS was Lairehope Lord Of The Glen at Tweedburn; RBIS, Picer Gilliflower; & BP, Keycharm Phantom by Ridgebow.
Special Beginners - Bitch /
Second Place
Name at show: Lairehope Georgianna
Placing Critique
narrow in front, in good coat, moved out well fore & aft.
Maiden - Bitch /
Second Place
Name at show: Lairehope Georgianna
Carlisle & District Canine Society
6th Jan 2013
Judge: Mr J Thomas (Daluce)
Graduate /
Reserve
Name at show: Lairehope Georgianna
Open /
Third Place
Name at show: Lairehope Georgianna
The Border Terrier Club Open Show
23rd Feb 2013
Judge: Mrs Anne Gregory (Remony)
I had a most enjoyable day judging the Border Terrier Club’s Open Show at Jedburgh and would like to thank the members and committee for affording me the opportunity to do so. I would also like to thank the club for their hospitality and thanks also to my two stewards, Margaret Warren and Jane Morton-Shaw for their help in keeping everything running along smoothly. Thanks must also go to the exhibitors for a super entry of 190 from 132 dogs and for the sporting way in which they accepted my decisions.
I was pleased with my winners and, in some classes, decisions were close. All dogs were entire, I found no kinked tails, only one suspect mouth and temperaments were good. Coats were at varying stages however, thick, loose, pliable pelts with dense undercoat were in the minority – an essential quality for the work required of a Border Terrier.
Special Beginners - Bitch /
Third Place
Name at show: Lairehope Georgianna
Novice - Bitch /
Third Place
Name at show: Lairehope Georgianna
Open - Bitch /
Reserve
Name at show: Lairehope Georgianna
The Border Terrier Club Championship Show
30th Mar 2013
Judge: Mrs. Doreen Rushby (Dormic)
The Border Terrier Club held a Championship show at Low Hesket on 30 March 2013. I felt very honoured to judge at this show and my thanks go to the Committee and Exhibitors for such an enjoyable day.
Special Beginners - Bitch /
Very Highly Commended
Name at show: Lairehope Georgianna
Selkirk & District Canine Society
20th Apr 2014
Judge: Mrs Anna Duxbury
I would very much like to thank the officers and committee for offering me this appointment, and for their excellent hospitality. Thanks also to the ring steward who kept things running smoothly, and mostly, of course, to all the exhibitors for allowing me the privilege of going over their dogs. Temperaments on the day were excellent; coats were quite varied. I found no dogs with incorrect bites and all male dogs were entire.
Graduate /
Third Place
Name at show: Lairehope Georgianna
Hawick and District Canine Society Open Show
29th Jun 2014
Judge: Mrs M Winder.
Open - Bitch /
Second Place
Name at show: Lairehope Georgianna
The Border Terrier Club Open Show
27th Feb 2016
Judge: Mrs Elizabeth Barrett (Howthwaite)
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.
Novice - Bitch /
First Place
Name at show: Lairehope Georgianna
Placing Critique
Lovely coloured blue and tan. Feminine head. Very good bone and feet. Short well shaped tail. In excellent coat with thick undercoat and a loose pelt.
The Border Terrier Club Open Show
25th Feb 2017
Judge: Rachel Larner (Hawcoat)
Firstly I would like to thank the club and its committee members for inviting me to judge their show, it was an honour and privilege and I thoroughly enjoyed my day. Thank you to my two lovely stewards, Liz Barrett and Anna Duxbury, for their help and assistance and for keeping the show running smoothly. Lastly I would like to thank all the exhibitors for entering and bringing their lovely dogs for me to judge. I have done the majority of my judging, so far, in the south west and wales so it was a real pleasure to go over some dogs that I have not had the pleasure of judging, Northern dogs are a lot hardier than our southerners!!
I had some quality dogs to go over which gave me some tough decisions to make and wish I could have given out more cards. I found all dogs to be entire and no bad mouths, apart from the odd missing tooth in the Veteran class!
I really did have a fabulous day and just want to apologise for not getting this critique out sooner.
Maiden - Bitch /
Third Place
Name at show: Lairehope Georgianna
Open - Bitch /
Second Place
Name at show: Lairehope Georgianna
Placing Critique
Neat little blue and tan bitch in good coat. Liked her size and had a lovely feminine head.
