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On a positive note, I saw some fantastic heads today and pleased to report an improvement in width of jaw and lack of ’white of eye’. Clearly, there is a lot more to this breed than just the head, but most of today’s entries got off to a good start by ticking the right box in this department.
On a constructive note, I would urge some exhibitors – who choose NOT to free-stand their dog - to concentrate a little more on ’stacking’ correctly. The first thing a judge will look at when judging the individual dog is the profile on the table. The final thing a judge will probably look at, is the dog’s profile in the class line up.
At the end of judging each dog’ s movement, I ask the handlers to free-stand their dog, so I can observe the ’natural’ stance. Most toplines at this point were fine – so how come, the same dog on the table, or in the line-up [when the handler was ’ in charge’] the topline was NOT level? I’ m a HUGE fan of Showdog MEDIA’ s livestreaming [provided it remains positive viewing!] - it offers more people the chance to observe our breed more closely - so whichever way you choose to stack your dog, ’free-standing’ or ’handling’, please apply a little more concentration, and show the viewers a better overall picture of our breed. [Rant over].
I make no apologies if my critique appears somewhat repetitive. A respectable breed-specialist judge recent told me, “It is difficult NOT to sound repetitive in your critique if you have found what your’e looking for”. I found a lot of what I was looking for in many of the winners ’ line-ups, so I have ’ binned’ the Thesaurus, and simply critiqued each dog on its individual merit.
Massive thanks to the committees involved that made this appointment possible. Appreciation also, to the excellent stewards and to those that entered today, thank you! |
