Crufts (Ch - 10/03/2017)

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Critique

A great honour to judge any breed at Crufts but even more so with one so dear to my heart, I have purposefully kept away from the breed since I received the appointment, & I think nearly all the dogs were new to me. However, I now have a Rescue Mittel running around my living room who came two weeks before this appointment & bearing his vitality & enjoyment of life in mind, I went into the ring expecting to see a lot of dogs with the same attitude. In the main I was not disappointed. One dog did really not want to be there & had this been a ‘normal’ show, I would have investigated this further. From a general point of view, I feel the breed is in reasonable form.
I was delighted with my main winners & it was interesting to see kennels come to the fore who had not really featured under me in the past. Likewise, there were kennels who have not really moved on with their breeding. The idea of breeding to is maintain, but more importantly to improve quality. People cannot afford to sit back on their laurels. Size has always been an issue & today I had from near Klein size to well over size. Indeed one dog was nearer a Gros, I think. As a judge, size is considered as much as head shape, tailset etc. I would not penalise an otherwise excellent dog for being marginally over. I had clean hands at the end of the day, so my thanks to everyone who made such efforts in presenting their dogs well. I had a great day.

VD (3) 1 Two classy exhibits. A difficult but pleasing way to start the day. 1 Andrew’s Ch Claran Narada, black with typical profile. Presented with gleaming condition with a glossy black coat. Compact body & loin. Beautiful headpiece with the smallest of ears. Moved with great enthusiasm. Good bone & feet. Seriously considered for RCC; 2 Hewett’s Ch Spellcast Secrets & Lies, cream. Rather longer in body than 1. Excellent neck & forequarters. OK for leg length & tailset. Moving soundly & without any great effort.

PD (5) 1 Orr’s Sobriety Suited & Booted, very sound, well coated, well presented, good bone, well used stifles. So much to like on this young chap. He loves life & his condition shows it. BPD; 2 Hill’s Flamuna Tarvos Of Kilima, not the biggest of browns, but his quality shone. Square & with bone appropriate for size, he is a happy showman. Moving out with a brisk action which is precise in stride size & footfall. So very sound. I preferred the slightly larger frame of 1; 3 Saich’s Hocombewood Ace Of Spades at Lindcoly, an attractive prospect standing with excellent head & expression. Square & well coated. Well presented. Sadly his rear action is not the best.

JD (8) 1 Chambers’ Druitz By Design For Musique, short coupled & compact brown who ticked all the boxes. Very appealing in head/eye/ear size & balance. Excellent body. Well set tail. Shown in full bloom & with free easy movement; 2 Roberts’ Longsdales Turning Tables at Cwrt Afon, cream who was wonderful to go over. Good head, fabulous body & coupling. Very sound in all directions on the move, but very sadly lacking coat today; 3 Hewett & Barnes’ Spellcast Talk Tidee, brown boy, up to size. Standing squarely & showing well. He has rather long hocks & this spoils the profile for me although they don’t seem to hinder too much on the move.

PGD (6,1 1 Saich’s Lindcoly Mischief Maker, not the biggest of blacks but full of quality. Lovely head, good coat, very sound both ways; 2 Poultney’s Daraydala Meet Joe Black at Sirchray, black with very appealing head & profile. Excellent leg length. Not cooperating on the move & not as precise on the move as 1 when he did go straight; 3 Brock & Peterson’s Wyndlee Storm Chasing for Pomkins, lot to like about this lad. Good for overall balance. Good for bone. The coat rather obscures the outline. Ear set is rather wide & does not need more weight! Absolutely lovely in body proportions & coupling.

LD (10,1) 1 Heslop’s Flamuna Arktouros, compact, square, not overrated, masculine, so many good things. Lovely profile with a jacket that hides nothing but a body that is in great condition; 2 Hamer & O’leary’s Borndownunda Talking Heads Of Clarmer, a sound cream with good skeletal shape. Good head with excellent pigment. Front could be better set & needs to watch weight; 3 Nokelainen’s Talking Tails Sterling Steward, parti who comes at the smaller end & rather surprised me. A revelation to go over with everything in the right place & this showed on the move. A keen, happy showman, he never stopped. He powered around the ring. I would prefer a little more all over but his overall quality deserved this place.

OD (10) A stunning class with many quality dogs to choose from. There were dogs who I would normally have used in the past but had to miss out on this occasion. 1 Leary’s Ch/Ir/Int Ch Amoyalois Rufus for Cadasaro, at first look, perhaps a little much for me, but on the table & on the floor, he excels. A stallion male. Most beautiful head piece with well set eyes & ears. Good neck & forequarters. Good body & coupling & shown at the correct weight. Well set tail. Quality bone & lovely feet. Moved out well & never stopped showing. CC; 2 Cook & Clayton’s Ch Studholme Moon Orbit, br/w/parti with freckled legs. Such a lovely lad. Excellent head & textbook body. Good tailset. Well presented, moved at the correct speed for his size. A smaller dog but such a lot to like; 3 Garrein’s Lux/Fr/B/Ger/Int/Bnl/Nl Ch Lotus A Little Grey Cloud, a sable who grew on me as I went over him. The head type does not appeal, being very short muzzled & with a deep stop. However the rest of him if quite lovely. Very well built frame & a quality double coat. Moving with great ease & a typical stride.

GCD (4) 1 King’s Ch Grizwold Loki, shaded orange with many good qualities but very out of coat. Not placed in an excellent open class. Compact body & coupling, well set tail & as sound as they come; 2 Wilson’s Nickila Silver Sovereign, rather longer coupled than 1 but very well presented. Head is a little rounder than I prefer. Well set tail & good feet. Does not need more weight; 3 Brock & Peterson’s Wyndlee Storm Chasing for Pomkins.

VB (4) 1 King’s Druitz Cariad Bach Of Grizwold, standing foursquare, very sound in all aspects. A mature bitch who wears her years very lightly; no excess weight & a solid type. A good double coat that does not detract from outline. Satisfying to go over. RCC; 2 Moir’s Ch Nixtev Liberty at Jansanleis, a cream with less coat than preferred but what she had was clean & well presented & with a good texture. Rather lightly boned for size. A very spitzy head & well set tail. Moving with ease; 3 Alfred’s Rossfort Black Girl at Teamor, small attractive black, looking lovely standing. Compact & with well set tail. Lovely head proportions. Not moving well today.

PB (2) 1 Moir’s Jansanleis Envy, an absolute showgirl but with a bit of the naughty puppy gene mixed in there. Always good to see that. Square, compact with short well muscled loin. Well set tail on flat croup. Moving straight & tracking true. Lovely head & ears. Enough coat & it was well prepared. BPB, BP; 2 Mountain’s Hocombewood Touch Of Mink, sable with a different profile being rather longer in back & with a low set tail. Pretty head & ears. Moving rather erratically today.

JB (6,1) 1 Garbutt’s Nixtev Yazara, well proportioned, square girl with good bone. Very sturdy to go over with great muscle tone. Feminine head. Moving as she is built, sound & true. Well plumed tail & in absolute prime show condition; 2 Hewett & Barnes’ Spellcast Now Ya Talkin, square brown, more lightly built than 1 but very Spitz in outlook. Good strong coupling. Another quality bitch & strong & sound on the move. Head proportions are good & eyes well placed; 3 O’leary’s Cadasaro Lets Parti, larger parti girl, rather masculine in outlook, I thought. Balanced & sound but standing over a lot of ground. Pretty head with enough muzzle. Not showing her ears very freely today. Moving easily.

PGB (7,1) 1 Hewett & Barnes’ Spellcast Speaks For Itself, very square, very spitzy, shown in good coat. Strong headpiece, good length, excellent tailset; 2 Garbutt & Corkin’s Nixtev Xamira, well coated & good for size. The coat does make her look short on the leg which she is not. She has a well balanced side gait but tends to be a little wide in front; 3 Wells’ Bulabs Lady Penelope at Wolfcreek, she left her coat at home but this meant you could see everything. She is so satisfying to go over with one of the few where the elbows are correctly set to the body enabling good front movement.

LB (6,2) 1 Garrein’s Our Dream Fiona A Little Grey Cloud, lovely sable bitch, perhaps a little longer than for preference but her overall balance, both static & moving is very impressive. She was one of the few with the correct croup & tailset. (Having a lot of hair on the tail does not automatically make it a good tailset, although the furnishings often hide this.) Moving truly in every direction & tracking true; 2 Hamer & Cree’s Clarmers Mischief Making, another one who had decided that coats are to be discarded when entries go in! However, a lot of quality there when you go over her. Very feminine outlook. Tail high set. Hocks could be neater; 3 Saich’s Lindcoly Pixie Princes, very attractive black well presented & with a lovely head. Sadly she was not moving well today.

OB (14,4) A delight of a class to judge. This makes it hard work, but nonetheless enjoyable. If I had been on the Continent, there would have been a lot of ‘excellent’s awarded. 1 Rajala’s Cib/Fi/Dk/Se/No/Cz/Lt/Hu Ch Pianta’s American Dumdum Pops, absolute class, beautiful profile on such a typical bitch. Square, compact with good body proportions & strong loin. Excellent leg length & she used them well. Moving, she has a well balanced stride both in side gait & in up & down. Her bone was just right for the size, her coat was profuse without obscuring her assets & in great bloom. Her head is text book & the ear size & set exemplary. I was happy to give her CC & BOB. Although she did nothing in the group, she certainly represented the breed well; 2 Garbutt’s Ch Oh My God Av Ostretunet, another lovely girl with so many qualities. A cream with a very typical outline. Lovely overall proportions. Good head, although I do prefer the head of 1. Moving out with enthusiasm & with a good brisk gait; 3 Duncan’s Ir Ch Spellcast Talk Of The Town, quality black but rather longer cast than 1 & 2. Showed & presented well. Moving OK but not the balanced side gait of the above.

GCB (2) 1 King’s Druitz Cariad Bach Of Grizwold; 2 Blight’s Flamuna Curtain Call for Rosechow, square shaded black with less coat than preferred. Well set on tail & sound enough. Just needs some hair!

HAZEL FITZGIBBON