Third Place in Open - Dog, Judge: Mr Alan Hedges (Ramblix)
I considered it a great honour to be invited to judge this show. I looked forward to it greatly and I was not in any way disappointed. A classy club with a classy committee. My stewards were great and we had some interesting moments through the day, but we coped. Thank you to all involved with the club and most of all the exhibitors for doing me the honour of having me judge your dogs. Thank you.
Whenever I judge Staffords, which is my own breed I always make the point that exhibitors should rid their dogs of any reasons to get beaten. Long pointed nails are not a good look, nor are they good for the dog. Even I can make a decent fist of a borders coat and as a singular part of the breed and its identification a bit more attention would not have gone amiss in some. Excess weight is not good for anybody, least of all, what is ostensibly a working terrier. I think there may well be some stars of the future in some of the lower classes and I shall watch with greater interest now when I am at the border ring. Thanks again to you all for coming and entering into the spirit of the day. I had a brilliant day and I hope you did too.
This was a good class and an enjoyable one to judge. All of the first four had good heads but to my taste number 4’s was the best. He also had the best pelt all day, but he was giving too much away to the other guys in this class.
Similarly to above a dog with plenty of quality. As an exhibitor you kind of think, yes thats all well and good, so how come I am only third, and in this instance I just preferred the two above. A smart dog who has lots of quality to him.