JUDGING THE SHETLAND SHEEPDOG by LINDA C. MORE
M any people say they find the Sheltie confus- ing and hard to judge, and indeed there is a wide range of size and style and color and markings. The Sheltie standard is well written, thorough and fairly clear, and a full discussion of it is not in the scope of this article. Instead, I will attempt to highlight some things to look for and make a few suggestions on judging technique. The Sheltie is a relatively recent breed, created from crosses with Bor- der Collies and several small and toy breeds—including some small spaniel type dogs—and later with Rough Col- lies. We are still seeing the influence of all these. The breed’s original purpose in brief is said to have been to keep sheep and birds out of unfenced garden areas and guard the small farms, and the dog desired was small, hardy, fast, agile and athletic, with a reserved and watch- ful temperament. It is helpful to keep the breed’s origin and purpose in mind when judging it. The first thing you will look at is overall proportion, balance and outline. This is an off-square dog of modera-
tion and graceful curves. If you want to think of Sheltie proportion on a contin- uum of Herding breeds, place the Shel- tie between the “approximately square” Belgians and the decidedly more rect- angular appearing German Shepherd. Like the Shepherd, though, the Shel- tie’s apparent moderate length should be a result of well angulated quarters, front and rear, rather than a long back and/or long loin. The Sheltie should in no way give you the impression of a longish dog with sawed off legs, nor should it be a box on stilts. At present, the desired elegant outline is harder to find than we wish, and you will see dogs with little neck and dogs with long ewe necks springing from forward set, straight fronts. Next, look at heads and expression; this is so important to the Sheltie’s essence. No matter how well a Shel- tie is made and moves, if the head is poor, the dog is not a good Sheltie. You do not need the perfect head and eye, but you need a reasonably good head and expression. (Conversely, the most perfect head ever seen cannot make an otherwise disastrous animal a good Sheltie.) If you do not pay attention
to and properly examine the Sheltie’s head, the exhibitors will quickly con- clude that you don’t understand or don’t care about heads and may not bother to bring you their best the next time you judge. The standard provides a good blue- print for the head: “refined... viewed from top or side, a long blunt wedge tapering slightly (emphasis added) from ears to nose.” Breeders prize a flat, smooth topskull with no lumps over the eyes, and clean smooth cheeks without prominent zygomatic arches, blending smoothly into the softly rounded muz- zle. You cannot determine the finish of the top and sides of the skull without using your hands. Remember that cor- rect parallel head planes affect many other desired details: the placement of the stop, set of eye, fit of foreface to backskull. The head overall must be in balance and must fit the dog wearing it—it must not be too long and over- done (that “needing a fifth leg” look), nor too short and cutesy. Eyes are almond, not round or beady. The shape and set of the eye are more important than absolute size. If brown, the eyes are very dark; think of a ripe olive. Blue and merle eyes are perfectly acceptable on blue merles, and can be quite beautiful. Blue and merle eyes are not permissible in any color other than blue merle. The set and carriage of the ears affect expression and the appearance of the head, but keep in mind that ears are easily manipulated—in other words, what you see in the ring may be at least partly a result of human interven- tion, not genetics. Don’t let relatively minor ear problems be any more than a deciding factor between otherwise equally good dogs. Please remember also that when Shelties look up, the ears may or may not flip upright— ears that remain tipped are not nec- essarily a sign of cosmetic alteration; some just grow that way. If it is a windy
“THE FIRST THING YOU WILL LOOK AT IS OVERALL PROPORTION, BALANCE AND OUTLINE. THIS IS AN OFF-SQUARE DOG OF MODERATION AND GRACEFUL CURVES.”
284 • S HOW S IGHT M AGAZINE , J UNE 2017
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