Show Placings
Northern Border Terrier Club Championship Show
17th Jul 2011
Judge: Mr. W. R. Irving
My thanks go to the Officers and Committee of the Northern Border Terrier Club for inviting me to judge this show and for their kind hospitality during the event. I notice that the last time I judged this show was as long ago as twenty five years ago in 1986! The entry of 226 from 207 exhibits was satisfactory but of course there were several absentees which brought the actual number of dogs present down to just over 140. That enabled us to finish judging in good time. Thanks to my very efficient Steward Mrs Rushby.
My general comments on the breed continue in similar terms to my previous remarks on the subject. But in the main I thought that heads and expressions were, by and large, pretty good. Coats were of course variable in the stage at which they presented but again, by and large they were of quite good texture. I had no bad mouths and only a couple of kinky tails. And tails were, overall, not too bad for shape and length Size is of course variable but again the majority were spannable but some dogs (and bitches) were far too big and too heavy in bone. My biggest problem was with fronts and exhibit after exhibit appeared with fronts which were far from correct. We have a multitude of different front problems and somehow we must tackle this issue and breeders and judges have to pay more attention to this problem. I believe that we are beginning to find the breed accepting bad fronts as the norm. Horseshoe fronts, wide fronts, swinging front legs, flicking front feet and dogs which single track in an excessive way in front ? all of these things need to be penalised to a greater or lesser extent.
Best in Show and the Dog CC went to Orangebox Firecracker (Mr M & Mrs T Anscombe). He has a very typical head, skull and expression with a good muzzle and not over exaggerated. Good neck and shoulder and correct topline and tailset. Correct compact feet. He is balanced and well proportioned being neither too short nor too long and he moved soundly both in front and behind. In the final challenge for the CC he scored for showmanship and went on to be Best of Breed. The Bitch CC and Res Best in Show went to Ch Southash Blue Betty Boo Gameway JW (Mrs P Clark), another with a most typical head and expression. She has a very good coat of the right texture and pelt of the right thickness and she moved very well behind. Enough bone, she presents a good outline going around the ring and exudes quality. Best Puppy was Olderhill Afortunado (Mrs S Wilson). He has a good head and skull, again without being in any way overdone, good neck and topline, good front and moved better there than behind, correct pelt, good tailset and tail and well balanced throughout.
Minor Puppy - Bitch /
Reserve
Name at show: Lairehope Blueberry Bling
Scottish Kennel Club
28th Aug 2011
Judge: Mrs Marion Reeves
Though pleased with my winners, depth of quality within the entry was mostly lacking. It is fair to say that Border Terriers still come in every size and shape imaginable. Though I am aware that it is a matter that sharply divides opinion within the breed, I for one would prefer the breed standard to be more specific in detail of what is desirable. Maybe, perhaps that might head to a more uniform type in the show ring.
Minor Puppy - Bitch /
Third Place
Name at show: Lairehope Blueberry Bling
Northern Border Terrier Club Championship Show
17th Jul 2012
Judge: Mrs. A. C. Fryer (Irton)
My thanks to the Northern Club for the opportunity to judge their 40th Championship show and for their wonderful hospitality; to the exhibitors for giving me such a lovely entry and to my stewards Doreen Rushby & Tracy Peacock for their assistance through the day.
I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed my day, as we expect from this club there was a wonderful atmosphere all day with good support for the winners and, of course, very impressive rosettes!
I was pleased with the entry and thought the Veteran class outstanding. In general exhibits were good types of Border, presented clean and reasonably well muscled. I dislike over handling and excessive stacking of exhibits, these are working terriers and if made right they will – eventually – stand right. In general heads were typical, some with excellent expressions. Coats, of course, were all over the place but where present were of good quality and in the main pelts were OK with some very good examples. Feet generally were OK but good tight well padded feet were definitely in the minority. Similarly ears were generally OK but small, well set, well shaped thick ears were scarce. Tails and tailset were very much a plus with some very good examples, just a few rather long or thin ones. I was pleased to find enough well made dogs who covered their ground cleanly without fuss and flicking but good movement was definitely one of the major problems, particularly in the bitches.
Shoulder placement was a problem in a significant number of exhibits, mostly these were upright shoulders out at the withers giving big problems with front movement. These may look good standing but these dogs are not sound on the move, a vital requirement for a Border.
I accept that an older dog can lose teeth or have a bite move but I was disappointed to find a number of young dogs with incorrect bites, missing and broken teeth. I thought a number of heads were weak, particularly across the jaw and these seem to go with rather small teeth, I wonder if these are related problems?
Yearling - Bitch /
Third Place
Name at show: Lairehope Blueberry Bling
Placing Critique
Appealing in head with a strong jaw and good eye, Good shoulder & quarters with a good rib, nice tail & tailset. B/t coat which was OK but not much ticking, she moved OK here.
Class Critique
Movement was a problem for quite a few bitches here, with a lot of feet flipping about.
Scottish Kennel Club
25th Aug 2012
Judge: Mr Frank Kane (Hirontower)
An interesting entry. I found some very good class winners. I was disturbed by the frequency of poor hindquarters, often a result of poor croups & tailsets & lack of angulation & second thigh resulting in lack of drive.
Yearling - Bitch /
Very Highly Commended
Name at show: Lairehope Blueberry Bling
Class Critique
Good class for depth of quality.
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.
Post Graduate - Bitch /
Third Place
Name at show: Lairehope Blueberry Bling
Crufts
7th Mar 2013
Judge: Mrs Jayne Gillam (Orenberg)
I was indeed a great pleasure to judge at Crufts, in fact I loved every minute of it, and it really completed the Crufts experience for me having won the Dog CC and Best of Breed a couple of times, a bitch CC and Best Puppy there as an exhibitor in the past. I must thank all the exhibitors for their tremendous support with a record entry of 274 dogs making 307 entries, it was truly an international occasion as Crufts seems to be these days, with dogs and handlers representing I think, ten countries giving me a really good sample of winning dogs from around the world.
You often read in critiques that judges say they didn't have enough cards to go round, and with the class sizes I had, this was certainly the case, and the only downside of the day for me was that some very tough descisions had to be made with many, many really good dogs leaving the ring without a card. Overall it was an interesting entry with a large variety of sizes and types, but then the standard allows for that as we have quite a wide weight range, no height reference and only the fact that they should be spannable to guide us.I never get too hung up on differing types or kennel types,as I can appreciate them all, providing they fit the standard.
When judging I am looking for a dog fit for function, well constructed, not exagerrated in any way, fits the breed standard, and is capable of doing the job it was originally bred for.I was very pleased with my winners, my Best of Breed winner had it all, well constructed, in fabulous hard, fit condition, moved as though he could follow a horse all day and had a wonderful attitude in the show ring.
I was thrilled to see him put in a faultless performance in the Group ring and winTerrier Group 4. My thanks go to Frank and Roger my very capable stewards who kept everything running smoothly, enabling me to get through the large entry in good time.
Graduate - Bitch /
Reserve
Name at show: Lairehope Blueberry Bling
Border Union Championship Show
15th Jun 2013
Judge: Mrs Lesley Gosling (Akinside)
Showers, wind and sunshine made for a tactically difficult day for my solo steward, Elaine Waddington, who managed to keep the paperwork dry and get dogs moving in and out of the ring very smoothly. My grateful thanks to her and to all the exhibitors who stoically remained outside as the rain continued to plague us throughout the judging. Not weather the dogs enjoyed much either while standing about.
The entry was very mixed. The dog classes were marginally better and more consistent than the bitches. Fronts are improving but movement still needs attention, both fore and aft, with some hackney front action creeping in. Most heads were breed typical with one or two exceptions which were rather boxy and out of proportion. I was surprised and dismayed to find a large number of dentition problems in both puppies and adults. There were very small teeth, dirty teeth, teeth misaligned and one undershot mouth. Several lacked any depth of coat and were in their undercoats or single coated, with no undercoat at all. Feet were mostly good, but a couple of exhibits were down on their pasterns; claws were in need of attention on one or two exhibits.
Post Graduate - Bitch /
Very Highly Commended
Name at show: Lairehope Blueberry Bling
The Northern Border Terrier Club Championship Show
21st Jul 2013
Judge: Mr. G. Pickering (Picer)
I was honoured to be asked to judge the Northern Border Terrier Club Championship Show and I thoroughly enjoyed my day. I had an excellent entry, but was a little disappointed with the number of absentees. However the weather has been a challenge of late with some very high temperatures which I understand prevented some exhibitors from further afield attending.
I would particularly like to thank the NBTC committee for looking after me so well and also for my expert stewards, Allan Horner and Doreen Rushby, who ably assisted me ensuring that everything ran smoothly. I would also like to thank all the exhibitors for their entries and for accepting my decisions so gracefully.
As for the dogs on the day, coats varied as you would expect, but I do think movement is improving and although there were a few ‘flicking’ fronts, rear movement was in the main correct. I had one dog with a bad mouth and a few with misaligned teeth. This, I believe, is to be avoided in the show ring. All the dogs were entire and I could span all the exhibits. All in all, I was very pleased with both the dog and the bitch line ups, which meant that I had some real quality Border Terriers to pick from. All the winners looked the part – all in hard condition, with good heads and coats – able to do the job that they were bred for.
Post Graduate - Bitch /
Third Place
Name at show: Lairehope Blueberry Bling
The Border Terrier Club Open Show
22nd Feb 2014
Judge: Mrs Karen Stockley (Foxfactor)
My thanks to the Officers and Committee for giving me the opportunity to undertake my first Breed Club judging appointment and my stewards Ken Mackenzie and Margaret Warren for their assistance in the ring.
My enjoyable day started with the picturesque drive to the venue, in the sunshine, a rarity lately! Grateful thanks also to the competitors for an entry of 111 (5 NFC) making 141 entries affording me the opportunity to go over some lovely dogs and sportingly accepting my choices.
The majority were in good coat and condition, a couple difficult to span, due more to being a little plump rather than in construction. All males were entire (a few would have benefited from a hygienic wipe for better presentation !), no kinked tails, one incorrect mouth and a couple of 'acceptable' level bites and some teeth really needed cleaning. I was surprised by the amount of untidy feet and overlong claws considering how claws can ultimately affect posture, balance and movement. I was pleased with both my line ups and had some close decisions to make.
Post Graduate - Bitch /
Very Highly Commended
Name at show: Lairehope Blueberry Bling
