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Judges Report: JP Lubbe

Northern Free State Bull Terrier Club Championship Show:

11 September 2010

I want to start by expressing my thanks and appreciation to the hard working Committee of the Club for the invitation to judge this very prestigious Show. Thank you for making us all feel welcome and for so meticulously arranging every last detail, from the preparation of the Ring to the price awarding dinner afterwards. I want to encourage all to keep up the fantastic work!

We had an entry of 30 – split evenly between the two sexes. There were 3 Champions (two were female) present and only 2 absentees- one from each sex.

Introduction:

After 23 years of involvement in breeding and judging Bull Terriers, I have not yet seen the perfect Bully and I very much doubt that I ever will. There is always some imperfection that spoils the picture. There is always a single virtue more exquisite found in another dog – like a better profile, a better bite, better movement, better substance etc –and which your ‘perfect’ dog is lacking to a degree- excellent as it might be in many other aspects.

 Judging is therefore a matter of weighing each dogs faults against its virtues and finding the one who offers the most important positives. By that I mean that every fault doesn’t carry the same weight and neither do the faults: certain faults might carry for argument sake 10 points while another might carry 100 points – and subsequent disqualification (like blue eyes). Different judges simply award different values to these different aspects- which is the reason why different dogs win under different judges.

A breeder/ judge might deem an extremely good head for instance as of more importance than a Terrier Specialist would-  who in turn might rather reward the better mover, even if it comes with the plainer head and mostly with the condition that the mouth is correct!

 Many make the fault of thinking that the judge is ‘overlooking’ a fault-and therefore should be criticized for not putting up a ‘perfect’ dog, while he is actually weighing up the different virtues and imperfections- and hopefully rewarding the virtues more than he is punishing the faults.  

So: When the winning dog is not perfect, it doesn’t necessarily imply that the judge is not knowledgeable: it might simply be a matter of different emphasis due to a different frame of reference, a different level of knowledge and experience.

In the light of the above it can be quite irritating when the only comment a person can make in assessing a judge’s work in the ring is: “The dog has this and that fault! We could see it from the side of the Ring, why couldn’t the judge pick it up?’

As I stated above: the assumption is made that the winners must all be perfect and blameless- while the judge is more often than not, perfectly aware of the faults, but decided that the dog’s virtues weigh more. This is called ‘virtue-judging’ – in contrast to ‘fault- judging’, which is a practice in which the “baby is thrown out with the bath water’ and which can be an extremely damaging approach to judging and also breeding in general!  

This approach means that no judge will ever do a decent job in some critics’ eyes. All they do is to wait for the Class Winner or Best of Breed, find a fault somewhere in the winner (it is bound to be there) and then high light the fault in isolation…and wham: the judge is a fool!

The question to ask these critics is of course: “…and who would you have awarded BOB  and why?” Then seize the opportunity to comment on what is wrong with his choice!  It is  easy, because you have gone over the dogs, looked into the mouths, felt the muscle tone or lack there-of, felt the slipping patella’s, stroked away the lips to find no bone underneath, felt the lack of bone and substance, saw the irregular movement from the best seat in the house – all before making your decision!

The decision might be a close and difficult affair- and the winner appointed only after weighing up a myriad of issues: but the difference between the judge and the ‘professor’ at ringside is that when you are the judge, you are forced to decide….which makes all the difference!  Often is the best remedy for the ‘professor’ is to give him a judge’s appointment- and force him into explaining why his BOB is not perfect!  

In terms of the above, it is perfectly understandable that different judges will come to different conclusions and decisions. I even think it is a good thing…

…BUT with one all important condition:  a judge must be able to explain his thought patterns and eventual decisions.  I believe every judge brings his own ‘blend’ to the table and must feel free to ‘spice’ up proceedings with his own unique touch, as long as he is accountable to his peers and those who participate in the sport: whether they show under him or not.

In my view a properly written critique – and sometimes with that- a few minutes of proper discussion, might play a greater a role educating all of us than a week of seminars, because it spells firsthand experience with dogs we are familiar with and : ’on the job training’!

Critique:

Dogs:

There was only one male pup to judge: The Minor Puppy Jedidja’s Lazarus ( owned by EJ Bannister).  Barely six months old he promises to become a substantial dog: good bone, lovely hindquarters with good movement going away and a perfect mouth. His shoulders are loose – let’s hope it will improve in time.

The Junior Class offered 5 dogs of different shapes and sizes- all with their own virtues and faults. Bellators Golden Boy of Rhizen (owned by R Oosthuizen) won me over with his type: Middle of the Road- the only correct type. He is square- short in the back and wide in the chest (with good spring of rib). He offers the balance between the Substance of the Bull and the elegance of the Dalmation- to me a very important virtue as too many dogs in the world lack balance: too high on the leg- without the spring of rib, thickness of bone or muscle tone to provide the substance and power that is called for in the Standard.

He owns a strong, wide and deep head, a very powerful deep under jaw (a rare commodity)- and with that a perfect scissors bite with teeth set “square to the jaw” as the Standard calls for. Ears are well placed and with small, dark eyes he sports great expression.

 His other outstanding virtue is his hindquarters: well bent and with perfect tail set, he moves with great drive but also wide: another scarce virtue of great value and not seen often in the show rings of the world.

He doesn’t have the best set of elbows and that is his draw back as it reflects in his movement, but he has good bone and cat feet and while it remains to be seen how much his shoulders will improve( he is 15 months old) , I had to weigh up his many outstanding virtues against his fault.

I awarded him Best in Show on his type, balance, outstanding width of muzzle, perfect scissors bite and canine placement, great expression and absolutely outstanding hindquarters and wide movement behind.  

The Reserve Challenge Certificate was awarded to the winner of the Open Class: Morningside Danny Play Me (owned by CW Nel). A lovely, substantial dog that’s conformation was good enough to also win him Best Mover in Show! Unfortunately he lacks real Bully head type- the head is not deep and strong nor wide to the end of the muzzle and lacks in profile and strength- although he has a perfect mouth. But on the positive side there are many virtues: lovely spring of rib, powerful hindquarters, a straight front, good enough bone- and as I said: outstanding movement!

Winner of the Champion Class and Reserve Best of Breed was Ch Stelron Hawk Eye Jack of Carradice (owned by WJ Lourens)., This dog really demanded my attention with his striking lines, lovely tail set, straight front and drive on the move. He owns a long head-with a lovely profile, has good expression (correct eye placement) and a correct mouth, but I felt that he lacked in fill and width of muzzle- not enough power there to challenge the BIS winner. He excels in elegance, neatly packaged - but he unfortunately was too much Terrier in type and while he is a mature 3 years of age, could not match the substance and balance of the 15 month old winner of the Junior Class on the day. He was handled with great expertise and pipped the CC bitch at the post for RBOB-with his superior movement and better expression.

Females:

I left the show extremely impressed with the depth of quality amongst the Females.

The Best Puppy in Show was a Puppy Bitch by the name of Gwaza Piggy- owned by CN Pitt – all the way from Natal. She is still immature and lacks muscle tone, but she showed a lot of promise and impressed with a lovely profile on a feminine head. I trust that she will fulfill her huge potential and become an influential force in Natal!

The Junior Class was filled with classy bitches and won by Villopoto Miss Electra of Machattashoek ( owned by C Smith) and who also later was awarded Best Head in Show. What a little star she is: lovely, clean, feminine head on a well constructed body. Her high tail set unfortunately spoils her topline and she didn’t co-operate in the final CC line-up with her handler as she was looking for the ball and that messed up her  movement. I even afforded her another chance to straighten up, but she failed that test too. I am sure that in time she will mature into something very special.  

In the same class was MMD Taljaard with Stelron Hurricane Hanna- a substantial yet elegant lady, who in the end lost a close decision due to a mouth fault, but she hugely impressed with her spring of rib, good front movement and lovely low tail set. The head is filled, the ears placed perfectly and even with her mouth fault, she will stay competitive and I am sure eventually prove her value in the nest.

In the Open Class there could only be one winner: Ipon Lady Ciska (owned by GJ Cloete). She was also awarded the Reserve Challenge Certificate. She is a cobby bitch with good tail set and strong hindquarters. She is not a top drawer mover though- she toed in a touch in front and is a bit close behind –but she did move with good reach and drive. She has a perfect mouth and a lovely, feminine head and was shown very competently- making the best of what she had.

My CC winner came from the Graduate Class:  Ipon Dream Girl ( owned by M Van den Doel). She immediately impressed me as being typey : typical of the breed as described in the Standard. She is short in the back and has a lovely deep and wide ribcage. At the same time she has lovely, elegant lines-perfect tail set, great turn of stifle and good layback of shoulder. She owns a beautiful clean head, filled and turned and a perfect bite –the only blemish being “kind” eyes (albeit the darkest of eyes). She is not the best mover: I would have loved to see better drive- and I had to weigh her beautiful ‘packaging’ while standing against that.  I rewarded her classical elegance mixed with enough substance to make her typey and Middlle of the Road! She was also the Best Colored on Show.

The winner of the Champions Class for Bitches was Ch Elru Lara Croft of Narciano ( owned by DJ Rupping). Even though she shows the effects of maternal duties (and it unfortunately spoils her tuck up), her class is still obvious. She owns a lovely filled and turned head-but has lost a tooth or two and the bite is off. She moves well coming but is not the best going away- although she still moves with adequate drive. Thank you, Dirk for showing a Supreme Bull Terrier under me - even while she is past her prime!  

Summary:

I can honestly say that I was pleased with the overall quality of the Bull Terriers on Show. I can name about 6 more exhibits not mentioned above that showed the potential to become Champions. I know of many more promising youngsters lined up to be shown next year. I am absolutely positive that we are improving our standard and that soon we will impact the World –even to a greater extent than we have been-with what we are breeding!