From Lydia Coleman Hutchinson I t has been well over forty years that I have been judging Scot- ties, and remembering those early days brings back lots of memories. Th e Scottie folks I remember best are Johnny Murphy, Blanche Reeg, and Mrs. Augus- tus Riggs. Johnny, of course, was a Master of the Craft at presenting the breed as he was the exclusive handler for the Salters; he sort of took me under his wing and taught me a lot about terriers in general, but especially Scotties. Blanche Reeg was someone my parents and I admired because she successfully bred and showed her own dogs. And Mrs. Riggs was a model of decorum and ethical behavior; I will never forget how she always felt the tip of the tails when she judged Scotties. I asked her about that and she said it was to check to see if any of them had been slightly docked! I suppose she had experi- enced that problem when she was breed- ing Scotties herself. I also had the pleasure of judging the great Shannon. Many judges will tell you that there are one or two dogs in each breed that stand out in their memories as the ones to use as a tool by which to mea- sure all others, and Shannon holds that place for me. Not only was she a lovely example of proper type but her presenta- tion by the masterful George Ward was superb. George took no short cuts in Shannon’s grooming; it was all done by hand with no clippers ever used! Wouldn’t it be refreshing to fi nd Scotties groomed that way today? Judging each breed of dogs requires knowledge on the part of judges to appre- ciate what sets that breed apart from all others, i.e. what its breed speci fi c traits are. In Scotties the di ff erences between them and their close cousins (Cairns and Westies) involve primarily the body structure, movement, and head type. It is essential that Scotties have deep chests and fairly low-slung bodies. Th ey are more rectangular than Westies. Due to their deep chests, they have “wrap around” front construction which is not evident in Cairns and Westies. It seems that one of the most prevalent faults in
From Darle Heck T
he Scottish Terrier is somewhat of a conun- drum. He is one of the breeds described as a big dog in a small package but with a
long head for the size of the body. Th is is di ffi cult to quantify, but if you come to this breed understanding that he is a dwarf, it makes the standard easier to understand. Th e breed was genetically mapped as a dwarf in 2009 in a study that linked the Scotty to other known dwarf breeds such as the Dachshund and the Corgi. 1 Upon the entrance of the class into your ring, you should assess the general appear- ance of each exhibit taking note of size and proportion. As a dwarf breed, Th e Scot- tie is low to the ground with the brisket extending below the elbow. In pro fi le, you should see a dog compact when measured from the withers to set on of tail but decid- edly rectangular when the pronounced forechest and hindquarters are taken into account. Th e dog should appear well bal- anced with a level topline and a high set tail carried erect. Evaluating the Head Begin your search for a well balanced quality head, by placing your hands under- neath the muzzle and skull. Th e eyes should be set well under the brow, correctly almond shaped, dark and give a piercing varminty expression. Th e bones on the sides of the head should be fl at and clean with no bumps or curves. When you run your hands up the side of the cheekbones, you should be able to go straight up to the ear. Ears should be small, erect and when viewed from the front are not too widely set, with a moder- ate bell. Examination of the top of the skull should reveal that it is fl at or slightly domed and does not drop o ff in the back skull. Measurements from occiput to stop and stop to muzzle should be equal, the planes are parallel separated by a slight stop. It is important to place your hand beneath the eye and around the muzzle to determine that there is good fi ll under the eye and that *1 Science. 2009 August 21; 325(5943): 995–998. doi:10.1126/science.1173275.
Scotties is dogs that are out at elbow (it is possible to put one’s fi ngers easily between the elbows and chest wall). Breeders face a real challenge in attempting to overcome this structural problem. Because Scotties are heavy-bodied and low-slung they move di ff erently from other short-legged terriers. I like to think of their movement as jaunty with a swagger that sets them apart. It should be structurally impossible for them to single-track. Obviously, heads in Scotties di ff er greatly from their cousins’. Due to their heads being longer and more narrow, Scotties also have ears that should be set closer than those of Cairns and Wes- ties. One danger in breeding for narrow heads is that they can become too long and slim, an example of exaggeration that I see in numerous breeds. Th e mentality of “more is better” can a ff ect all breeds negatively if allowed to.
BIO Lydia Coleman Hutchinson became involved “in dogs” as a young child and has been on the scene for over 60 years. She and her parents
(deceased) are the owners of WOLFPIT CAIRN TERRIERS which has account- ed for more than 240 Champions and numerous Top Producers. She has been an AKC judge since 1964 and is approved for Terriers, Toys, Herding, Poodles, and Giant and Standard Schnauzers. It has been her great honor to judge national and regional specialties for many of these breeds. She will be a judge at the World Dog Show in Helsinki, Finland in 2014—her 50th year as a judge.
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