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A terrific entry of 235 from 182 dogs awaited me & I had a truly wonderful day. The lunch was quite a feature, in fact I have never seen so much food at a dog show in my whole life, the catering department had worked their fingers to the bone & it really was a remarkable achievement.
I wrote my report feeling quite inspired & sent it off to Dog World feeling very pleased with myself. When it didn't appear I telephoned to find out when it was going to be published, only to find that Dog World had not received it. Carelessly I had not kept a copy, being in such a rush to get my report posted. So with only brief & sketchy notes to help me, & now six weeks after the event, I am afraid this report will not be very detailed
This was the first time I had judged using two tables & this system worked most efficiently & saved quite a bit of time. I had enormous help & assistance from both show manager Nigel Stevens, who controlled the collecting ring & my lovely stewards. It makes all the difference when you have a heavy day's judging to have a happy and compatible management team.There was a warm & friendly atmosphere all day. Shih Tzus seem to know how to enjoy themselves with their owners & the breed's individual & engaging personalities come through in the ring.
Quality was high, more even in the bitch classes & I had some superb classes to work with. Mouths are still a bit of a "mish mash" with narrow underjaws & higgledy piggledy placed small teeth. Movement in some was more Lhasa style than the typical movement of a Shih Tzu, a feature that must be preserved. Some failed in tail carriage, with the tail lying flat on the dog's back - wrong! |
