First Place in Yearling - Dog, Judge: Mr. Ian Higham (Comberdown)
What a privilege it was to judge my breed again at the Scottish Kennel Club. I am very grateful for the invite.
I would really like to thank all of those who exhibited their dogs under me and for putting trust in my opinion and my integrity. I would also like to thank my very capable stewards Kate Scott and Lindsay O’Neill, who were very confident, efficient and jovial on the day.
My general findings were that the breed is showing a good in-depth quality. Movement is still a bit erratic here and there as one would expect, but I saw plenty of good borders on the day. However, I did notice that thickness of skin was not as evident as in the past and I honestly only found a few really good thick pelts. I found one dog had a very slight deformity near the very end of its tail. I had one or two level bites and one that obviously had recently had a tooth come out and its owner, very honestly, informed me of what had happened. None of these dogs were penalised in any way re mouths. Some exhibits were tallish but spannable, however, there were some that were two heavy in chest and had a rounder shape rib rather than the correct ‘v’ or heart shape.
As usual I was looking for borders that fulfilled the type points as laid out in our standard, combined with correct physical construction to be able to cover the ground well as they would have had to when our standard was written all those years ago.
This 19 moth old grizzle may still have some maturing to do, but today his qualities, especially his movement, was hard to miss. He moves very true in front and behind and in profile he had that lovely flowing effortless movement with reach and drive. His shoulder placement angulation felt right and he has good straight front and hind legs with low hocks. Good small tight feet with thick pads. He is narrow right through and easily spanned. He has a nice border head with correct ear placement and good eye. Good muzzle, teeth and bite. He was presented with plenty of coat today and could have had a little taken off his neck area. He was handled well. In the challenge he had strong opposition from a super junior dog, but today his qualities could not be denied. DCC.