Second Place in Special Beginners - Bitch, Judge: Mrs Sue Baxter (Mysulan)
Firstly I’d like to thank The Border Terrier Club Committee for their very kind invitation to judge this Open show, I felt honoured and privileged . I thoroughly enjoyed my day and the hospitality on offer , the lunch certainly hit the spot..thank you Nancy Hogg. My two stewards, Jane Morton-Shaw and Marina Fleming kept things running smoothly and I am grateful for their support .
To the exhibitors , my thanks go unbounded as I had a lovely selection of good quality dogs to go over and there were certainly some tough decisions in many of the classes. It is an education to finally go over some of the dogs I have admired from the ring side. I am grateful that my decisions were taken, mostly in a sporting manner.
My general findings were , all males were intact , I found no kinked tails ( 1 dog had a bump on the underside of its tail , not a kink in my opinion), jackets were, as usual , at various stages of growth. I was impressed by the fact that all animals before me could be spanned , some a little easier than others.
Once again I feel compelled to comment on the state of nails and feet. In my opinion , many dogs had nails that were too long and some needed drastic fur trimming to enhance the shape of the feet.In my opinion it is a shame to groom your dogs for the ring but forget that ,especially whilst on the table, the judge has a perfect view of any, long nails and/or woolly “ Yeti” feet .
Nearly 5 yrs old… Lovely feminine head and expression with a short muzzle and good teeth , Ears were of a good size and correctly set on the skull… Nice dark eyes ..Was carrying a pretty hefty jacket but neck underneath was ok.The shoulders were a bit on the heavy side , making the front perhaps a little wider than liked .Excellent texture to the pretty full jacket , also a nice loose pelt. Rear angles were a bit too upright meaning that the hocks were not sufficiently let down and therefore movement was a little bit stilted . A super tail and tail set , with the short appendage coming nicely off the back..