First Place in Limit - Dog, Judge: Mr Chris Wallace (Hobholt)
My thanks to Darlington Dog Show Society for the opportunity to judge my first Championship Show and to the exhibitors for bringing your Borders’. My stewards John and Carol were very helpful and kept the ring well organised. Despite feeling somewhat nervous before judging started I thoroughly enjoyed the day and thank the exhibitors for accepting my decisions.
Our standard mentions moderate 4 times in its current form, it also provides guidance on size (weight) and body (spanning). I mention these points as there were a surprising number of Borders’ that were impossible to span, were too deep in chest, big, heavy and exaggerated in a number of areas. Movement became a key criteria when placing my Borders along with being moderate and not exaggerated. A lot of Borders were “Knitting” in front movement or flicking their wrists outwards, probably best described as erratic compared to the Borders that moved well. Mouths were good overall, one chipped tooth which was of no consequence. Coats and pelts were excellent overall, and the dogs were complete.
Overall, we have a number of promising youngsters coming through and it’s unfortunate judges only have two “tickets” to hand out.
Blu&T, judged this one as a junior, lots to like, Good otter head with dark eye, nicely set ears, narrow, racy dog with good movement, good thick pelt with dense double coat. Easy span with level topline and good strong loins, shown well. Front movement edged it for 1 today.