Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 6:34 pm Post subject: Labrador coat in showing
I went to a gundog breed show over the weekend and felt that my dog's general condition was good enough for her to be shown.......all bar the fur on her tail. I got through the breed judging fine and then waited untill the variey classes after Best in Show. Well.........I stepped up to let the judge go over ellie and he run his hand over her back and down towards her tail and he commented that she was (exuse this part) bare naked. Well, to say that I was gobsmaked was an understatement, after I moved her I went and got her ready for the final judging. She got placed but not as high as I would have liked.
She was in fairly good coat so cant understand the comment that he made........both my indoor dogs started to shed at the same time but because I show ellie she has a far better thickness of caot than my other dog does.
Can any tell me whether the new growth starts at the neck and works down to the tail........because if this is the case.........then ellie is fine. It was the judge who was at fault.
Yes, you are right Colette, but yes, so was the judge. A judge is only allowed to judge what he can see ON THE DAY, not what he believes, or even what he knows to be the case. If a dog's coat has blown, even if the judge has seen the dog many times in the past he must still mark it down on that occasion. Look at it this way. Supposeing a judge was judging a dog for the very first time, and it's coat was a bit thin. Should he guess that it was simply moulting? Of course not. It could, as far as he knows it might be a dog with a very poor coat. So he MUST downgrade it, even though he honestly believes it to just be blown. So obviously, he must do the same with all the dogs in the ring.
So yes, the judge was perfectly correct in what he did.
You said the Judge ran his hand over Ellies back and down towards her tail before making the comment, could it he felt her coat was blown all the way down?
The standard calls for a "Distinctive feature, very thick towards base, gradually tapering towards tip. Medium length, free from feathering, but clothed thickly all around with short, thich, dense coat. . . . . . . . ."
So yes, if the coat in the tail is a bit thin then it would count against. As in all things, some judges attach more importance to certain things. With one judge it might be movement, another heads, could be that this judge has a thing about coat.
Colette, there may have been other factors that lost her the placing on the day.. It is the overall dog that is judged, not just one factor.. all taken into account... its hard at times when you feel you have a good dog, and others just cant see it there will be other days, and other shows.. take the rough with the smooth when you take G1 one day and get booted the next, against the same line up, THEN you can start scratching your head lol.....
I had my hands on Ellie on sunday and she has enough coat on the body but not on tail...........The judge on the day was none other than RIchard Stafford and he has been known to punish dogs that are even slightly lacking in coat
but as Kay says another day another placing
just keep up the good work and it will pay off in the end
____________ The Velvetine gang. Sookie, Solo & Darcie.
Richard has quite heavily coated dogs with excellent tails so this may be a particular favourite breed point of his. Others have other 'favs' ... you have to sometimes go and look at what a judge breeds and think 'hmmmm... ok...fair enough....'
Di
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The boys!
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when you take G1 one day and get booted the next, against the same line up, THEN you can start scratching your head lol.....
