First Place in Open - Bitch, Judge: Mrs Janet Lee (Tythrop)
Sincere apologies to my exhibitors, the committee failed to inform me the proposed order of group judging had changed & the Terrier group was brought forward, the tannoy call was the 1st thing I knew about it. My back spasm during junior dog meant I was reduced to shuffling, sorry.
Most dogs were new to me & temperaments in the ring were good, my winners could do the job they were intended for being free from coarseness & lumber, spannable & narrow, with corresponding good construction & movement.
Several heads were short in skull & blocky, more resembling the balance of an Asian Short Clawed Otter, than an English one, the latter have longer than broad flat skulls, clean cheeks & relatively short muzzles parallel in profile to their skull, Borders should have large teeth with good scissor bite to be effective. Today, square, deep skulls, often with round eyes & very short narrow muzzles with small teeth were in evidence. These too strong square heads tended to have heavy fronts & frames to match.
Many fronts were placed too far forward with pro-sternum behind point of shoulder, which lacked length & layback, the too short & steep upper arms having no support, badly affecting movement, the dogs moved away with their fronts crossing, when only two legs should be visible. As an alternative a few were close behind & swung in front, so again “four legs”. Profile movement lacked ?travel?, being up & down short choppy strides rather than smooth & forward going with drive off the hocks.
Although bone wasn’t generally too fine nor too heavy some didn’t have enough through pasterns into feet, & they lacked the depth of pad to ensure soundness if worked regularly.
My major concern, however, was coats & especially pelts. When I came into the breed Borders were shown in deep double coat, always.Dogs then looked heavier than they were due to these double coats & lots of pelt which the standard says MUST be thick – not because they had big frames with drum tight skins.. Coat density & pelt are directly related, no coat, thus thin skin, but they should still be loose & pliant. Tight, paper thin skins without depth of under or topcoat is not what the standard calls for, nor any use to a working terrier. A great advantage to the dog is a continuous double coat that can be worked or shown all year round.
Good class of quality
Quality typy grizzle of 8 years, age certainly hasn’t withered her, handles & moves like a youngster as a true working BT should still be capable into veteran . Gave her her 1st RCC in 02, then short of coat & heavy she had to stand down the line in 05. Today she was lithe & lovely to go over. Feminine otter head, good skull & strong muzzle with big teeth & good scissor bite. Reachy neck, clean long shoulders & long upper arm with pro sternum well forward. Good length of flat spannable rib, strong coupled to excellent well muscled hindquarters. Blew me away with her profile movement , long, free & elastic, whilst keeping a spirit level backline, could see her following horse or hounds with ease . Straight coming on & driving away. Harsh topcoat starting to blow, but the best deep undercoat & loose thick pliant pelt of the day. BCC. Thought she made a good feminine version of the DCC.