JUDGING THE CHINESE CRESTED
by SUE KLINCKHARDT- GARDNER J udging the Chinese Crested is really pretty straightforward. Once you get past the obvious fact that you have to judge dogs with hair against hairless dogs, the rest is fairly simple to grasp. Judging hairless dogs is more visual than judging dogs with coat. It’s not necessary to spend a lot of time touching when you can see angula- tion and topline. Powderpu ff s, of course, require that the judge “see” more with his fingers. Just a little di ff erence in technique when approaching our two non-varieties. As with any breed, a judge should be able to identify the dog as a Chinese Crested when it comes into the ring— type. Th en, the dog should be put together well—soundness. Th is is a toy dog, but he is an athlete, too. Th is little dog excels in performance events and he has no trouble jumping up on the couch or dancing for extended periods of time on his hind legs. He is strong for his size and he should be built to move like a “big dog”. Everything you know about shoulder angulation and rear angulation, well let down hocks, topline and coming and going in a straight line will all apply here. Knowing these things will give you a head start judging this breed. SIZE Th ere are, as with any breed, some things that are special to our breed. When you judge Chinese Cresteds, you have a
tremendous responsibility to breeders and to the future of the breed. Th e dogs you choose are going to be the breeding stock that will provide the Cresteds of the future. Please be intimately familiar with the fine points of the breed that make a di ff erence. For instance, our standard allows for a height at the withers of 11-13 inches with dogs that are slightly smaller or larger to be given full consideration. Th is is a big size range for a toy dog. Learn to be able to spot a 14-inch dog. He’s okay size wise. Learn to spot a 15-inch dog—he’s too big. Same thing applies at the other end of the size range—10 inches is okay, 9 isn’t. Th e stan- dard says “slightly larger or smaller”. Th ere is a judgment call here. Maybe you think an inch is too big a deviation. You can make that call, but be consistent. In any event, a sound, typey 10- (or 14-) inch dog is always better than a 12-inch dog with a roachy topline who crosses over coming toward you. COAT Th ere is a movement right now, pro- moted by a small number of exhibitors, to convince judges that only a “truly hairless dog” is a correct dog. As a judge, your job is to judge the dog as it is presented to you on the day you see it. You may assume that the dog with an abundant crest also has a lot of body hair. Don’t assume anything. I can show you dogs with bountiful crests, plumes and socks that don’t have more than 4 or 5 hairs on their entire bodies. Hairless dogs should be presented to you with skin that is soft and smooth. Some
of this is grooming. I shave all my hairless dogs before I show them, whether they have a lot of body hair or only a couple of hairs. Judge what you see. Occasionally, a judge will make a big show of running his hand against the grain of the skin, trying to find body hair. No matter how much body hair the dog has, if the handler is a good groomer, you still won’t find it. It’s not up to you to decide if the dog has body hair—any more than you should excuse a terrier that you think might be dyed. If the color doesn’t come o ff on your hand, judge the dog. When breeding, the amount of body hair that the parents have doesn’t breed true. You can breed two true hair- less dogs and get hairy hairless puppies or vice versa. We’ve come a long way from the unsound, really homely little dogs that we used to show (some of which had quite a bit of body hair). Our dogs today are sounder, prettier and healthier—let’s not try to go back. Some new judges are concerned that they are going to be fooled by a shaved down Pu ff . Don’t spend too much time worrying about that. First of all, it’s just a whole lot of work to do and most people don’t. Th e other thing is, we judge the pu ff s and hairless together, so the worst mistake you could make would be a grooming related mistake! PROPORTION Proportion in the Chinese Crested is important. While square may be cute, it isn’t correct. Th is breed is rectangular which allows for freedom of movement. A correctly
“THE OTHER THING IS, WE JUDGE THE PUFFS AND HAIRLESS TOGETHER, SO THE WORST MISTAKE YOU COULD MAKE WOULD BE A GROOMING RELATED MISTAKE!”
S HOW S IGHT M AGAZINE , M ARCH 2015 • 111
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