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How to Judge Dogs
The HVC organised a seminar on
‘How to Judge Dogs’ and ‘How a Puppy Grows’ by expert Donna McDougall MRCVS
on 12 November at Wootton Village Hall in Bedfordshire.
"The importance of the seminar could be measured in the number of people
from several breeds who travelled many miles to attend. This was not a KC
accredited seminar and not breed specific, but very important in helping the
understanding of those who judge gundog breeds. The seminar challenged
misconceptions and tradition. It was reassuring to see many very experienced
judges learning alongside novice judges, exhibitors and breeders. The wide
variety of breeds represented, provoked healthy discussion.
Examination of the secretary’s lovely veteran cross-breed started the
debate. The audience had to judge the dog. Skilfully, Donna challenged us to
look at fashion and fads and the breed standards. Using the Irish Setter as
the example Donna presented slides and, using the breed standard, asked us
to judge an Irish Setter from the 1930s and a champion in the breed from
1990s. We were helped to see how fashion had changed the dog’s conformation
but the breed standard remained the same. The anomalies in the standards,
which leave interpretation extremely difficult, were clearly pointed out,
again a challenge for the judge.
Using three champions, Donna extended our knowledge of front and rear
angulation by examining the skeleton beneath each dog. The importance of
looking at other breeds became clear as we looked closely at the Wire-Haired
Fox Terrier, the Whippet and the English Pointer - each lovely specimens of
their breed. This helped to reduce the effects of being ‘breed blind’.
Comparisons with the HPRs and how dogs are constructed to do the job they
are bred for led Donna into the history of the working dogs and how the HPR,
the all-round Continental Gundog, became more popular in this country.
A moment of silence for Remembrance was followed by coffee. The silence
broken, much debate ensued and a time to catch up with old Vizsla friends
and make new friends from different breeds. Further examination of the
length and lay of shoulder, the length of rib and rear conformation
followed. The audience was silent as they concentrated hard on the strengths
and weaknesses of the dogs in the slides. Gill Barwick and I were brave
enough to exhibit our Vizslas for scrutiny. Two different types, the bitch
and the dog stood dutifully for Donna to put stickers on their points of
angulation. The audience examined the Vizslas carefully before we finally
returned to the veteran we had examined at the beginning, to find that it
too was well balanced in terms of bone structure.
A high quality Ch Flatcoated Retriever helped us with our judgements of a
coated breed. We judged this well-balanced coated dog with correct
conformation and a permanently wagging tail. Donna then moved on to point
out the impact of a straight shoulder and the length of rib when judging
movement in relation to conformation. We examined dogs in ‘flight’ to look
at correct and incorrect movement.
A welcome break for lunch let us discuss issues and let knowledge settle
into understanding. Bette Eyles and her commis chef Nancy Connybeare
prepared an excellent three-course lunch. This gave us the sustenance to
tackle to the topic of the afternoon: ‘How a Puppy Grows’.
Helping us to judge and assess a puppy Donna demonstrated how the different
bones in the body grow. It was fascinating to hear about the growth plates
of the long bones and the structure of short bones. It was not surprising to
learn that the skeleton of the puppy grows at different rates. We have all
worried about the leggy youngster who appears out of proportion overnight.
Donna demonstrated how a beautifully constructed pointer puppy grew into a
gangly youngster until the bones caught up with each other. It surprised
many to find that the bones finally stop growing when the youngster was 20
1/2 months with the muscle finally completing the picture in another 6
months. This is a great challenge to the judge particularly when the puppy
is awarded a CC between 6-12 months when the picture could change in a
further 14 months.
A lively question and answer session brought a fascinating and
thought-provoking day to a close. The HVC and the audience offered a big
thank you to Donna McDougall for an excellent and challenging seminar. Thank
you to the HVC for extending our learning by hosting this seminar and to the
exhibitors who gave up their time to show us their beautiful dogs."
Jennie Willcock-Bates has kindly sent this report.
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