CRUFTS 2001

NEC, Birmingham
Friday 25th May 2001

Judge: Harold Gay (UK) ~ Malsville ~ ***

It is always an honour to judge; to do so at Crufts, even more so. The opportunity to consider the best that a breed can offer is never to be taken lightly. Glens, in the 25 years or so I have been involved in the breed, have always been varied. On the day was no different. The variance in structure, movement, presentation and conditioning was wide. The change of date and restrictions on walking due the foot and mouth obviously affected some dogs, so I was more lenient than usual on blown / too short coats, and ignored some loss of muscle tone.

A coat of not quite the correct length may affect texture; it doesn't affect trimming, so why was it so poor in some cases? The whole idea of trimming a dog is to enhance its features and the whole idea of the presentation of a Glen is to make it look as natural as possible. Some prefer the longer, slightly more shaggy look; others may decide natural is a tighter coat. I had no quibble as long as it was balanced, but was totally at a loss as to what some were trying to achieve with heads. There were obvious signs of scissors, thinning scissors and too sharp stripping knives, and some of the angles of trim did not follow the planes of the head at all!

It is very easy in a coated breed to be a ringside judge and I realise some of my placings were greeted with surprise; I surprised myself with a couple. The eye can lie but the hands don't.

The ratio of rib to loin is not mentioned in the breed standard, but the overall shape and structure of Glens indicates to me that a longer rib and short loin is required: this gives the very necessary strength of back, in all the right places, to give the distinctive topline. Some had an equal rib/loin ratio and others were longer in loin than rib. Also spring of rib is tending to be slight in some; this is leading to a vee shaped ribcage that isn't desired.

Quite a lot of terrier breeds are considered "short striders"; a Glen should never be bracketed with them and should cover the ground effortlessly with drive from behind plus reach in front. Animals that moved like that were in a minority. Some, on first view, moved well but a second look found far too many that were actually moving their legs basically up and down, rather than front to back; and some of the front to backers were using the lazy way of walking, more reach under the body than drive from behind. Road walking is boring but so is all "work".

Bone, on the whole, was good. Mouths are still mixed but by no means as extreme as they once were; odd teeth out of line but jaws are sound. On the whole the breed has moved forward but it still has a lot to do.

The comments below indicate what I specifically liked or disliked about each dog, so exhibitors will hopefully understand the reasoning behind my placings; possibly not what they would have been if Crufts had taken place in March and not what they will be in 12 or 24 months time. Any Glen under four years of age should have changed a lot by then.