Second Place in Open - Dog, Judge: Mr Graham Pickering (Picer)
I would like to thank the East Anglian Border Terrier Club for their kind invitation to judge their 2015 Championship Show. It was both an honour and a pleasure to accept this appointment. Thank you to the committee for their hospitality, and special acknowledgement to Bev, Laurence and Zoe Jackson for their efficient stewarding and keeping everything running smoothly throughout the day.
I terms of exhibits, there were many difficult decisions during the day and some real quality dogs were left unplaced. In general, the quality was very good and the majority of dogs were spannable and I only saw one example of an incorrect bite. All dogs were entire and as is usual some coats were exceptional whilst others were either just coming in or past their best.
There were a few examples of heads that are untypical of the breed, in that they lack strength of foreface, width of skull and have eyes that are too close together – these are not what I would describe as ‘like that of an otter’.
On a more positive note I was very happy with all my winners, believing them to be excellent examples of the breed and would like to say thank you to all exhibitors for allowing me the honour of judging their dogs
A class out of the Top Draw, some exceptional borders which are a joy to go over – a lovely class to judge.
Another real quality dog, who is a showman through and through. He showed himself to be a quality exhibit as he moved around the ring with sound movement front and aft. A racier built dog than 1st, with another excellent otter head with neat correctly placed ears which fall close to his cheeks. Pleasant in profile, good length of neck, running into clean shoulders, straight front, well-muscled body, good hindquarters, tidy feet and a good double coat. Very little to choose between 1st and 2nd, shame he met 1st place in such good condition today.