from the shoulder so a straight leg out from the shoulder in front, no digging or knee action. I used to show horses so would compare the movement to a nice horse in the Hunter show ring. Easy movement holding their topline and at an even pace. It should never look labored or exaggerated. It should also never look bouncy. In more recent years there has been a huge debate with some of the language in the standard having to do with over grooming. Unfortunately, I think no matter what language goes in the standard this will always be an issue. I personally do not like the overly stripped down PBGV that now resem- bles another breed (Sealy and Schnau- zer) but as long as they win that is what will continue to happen. The dog show world is definitely subjective and you win some and lose some. I don’t have the kind of money that some people spend showing their dogs so just have to try and enjoy showing and possibly winning whenever I can. A PBGV that has a perfect shaped outline of hair and never has a hair out of place is never correct. They can be brushed and look neat but stripping them like a Terrier is totally incorrect in my opinion. I would definitely encourage judges to just make people feel like they are being given consideration in the ring and try to be understanding of the peo- ple who don’t do this for a living and make mistakes. We do get nervous in the ring and make mistakes, but we are truly are not trying to ruin your day. SANDI BUSTIN ON LIVING WITH PBGVS I think serendipity and maybe just a little sprinkling of fairy dust was at play when I discovered the Petit Basset Griffon Vendéen. It was in 1997 that I first stumbled, quite literally, onto the breed. In a gro- cery store some children were running the aisles and knocked a magazine off the shelf and onto the floor. Since they did not stop to pick it up, I did. It was a Dog World magazine, and there on the cover was the cutest little dog that I had ever seen with a name that was equally intriguing. Fascinated by this “new” breed, the magazine followed me home. I had to read about this captivating dog with the quirky name, PBGV. A few weeks later my husband was flipping through
“BOTH ENDS SHOULD BE EQUAL WHEN MOVING AND FLUID.”
S HOW S IGHT M AGAZINE , D ECEMBER 2017 • 289
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