First Place in Open - Bitch, Judge: Mr Mark Walshaw (Janmark)
Many thanks to the society for inviting me to award Challenge Certificates for the first time for this breed at this show. The show had a wonderful atmosphere throughout & it was great to see the other terrier breeds gaining support from exhibitors. I was delighted with the entry of 98. Thank you to my stewards Bill and Trish, who kept the ring running very smoothly and to all the exhibitors who entered under me today. I consider it a great achievement to be able to handle & judge this lovely breed I thank the exhibitors for their sporting behaviour & kind comments afterwards. I personally had an enjoyable day, despite been very much under the weather & to be honest really struggled at times, but thankfully I continued to ply myself with tablets, lozenges and drinks. I tried to judge the dogs as I saw them on the day, based on their virtues, difficult at times, due to the varying types. The quality within the entry was in the bitches. Front movement is obviously an issue within the breed & in some classes; I had to be lenient with this obvious fault. Again it was disappointing to find so many with so little muscle tone. Coats & pelts were generally good throughout, considering the time of year & dentition was also good with large teeth in abundance. It was a pleasure to see not one cross word between the dogs & temperaments were excellent. Quite a few were wriggly little devils on the table, but guess all aren’t, or supposed to be statues.
What a cracking class, so much quality to choose from, it was really a pleasure to judge.
Presented a picture of balance, shape and feminine strength in this quality bitch. A strong otter head, dark eye, big teeth & tidy ears Sat on a long, strong neck. Clean well laid shoulders, good length of rib, level topline and well placed tail. good rear angulation, with strong quarters. A good thick pelt. Stood on tidy tight feet with thick pads. Balanced throughout with no exaggeration. Moved really well all ways & well handled. Pleasure to award her the CC, under stiff competition.