“I think everyone should know basic movement and recognize that Westies should not move to close, to wide, paddle or crab. GOOD REACH AND DRIVE IS THE OBJECTIVE.”
match the front. I must confess that when I watch other judges examine my breed, I’m often amazed that they are seemingly go through the motions and, in many cases, don’t give adequate attention to the front assembly, thus missing this very important aspect of the Westie structure. Th e Westie is a compact dog. Th e body between the withers and the root of the tail is slightly shorter than the height at the withers. Short-coupled. Th e Westie is not a square breed. When I first started showing Westies they did have a tendency to be rather long backed, but the notion that “the shorter the better” is not cor- rect either. Here again grooming meth- ods can create a dog that looks shorter backed then it actually is while some dogs are in fact shorter than desired. Referring back to the second paragraph, we must remember the job the Westie was to do. If we get a dog that is too short coupled then he isn’t going to be able to turn around in a hole or easily navigate the Scottish landscape. As I briefly touched on earlier, the coat of a Westie is specifically designed for the weather of Scotland. Th is is a double coated breed with a harsh outer coat that serves to allow the rain to roll right o ff , keeping the dog dry and then a softer downy undercoat designed for warmth. Th is thick coat also provides an element of protection from the possible bite of its prey. Ideally you want a straight hard white coat and a soft, silky coat or one with a tendency to curl is a serious fault. After my preliminary impression of movement, topline, tailset, attitude and having used my hands to confirm or deny those first impressions, I further evaluate the movement in the “down and back”. I think everyone should know basic movement and recognize that
Westies should not move to close, to wide, paddle or crab. Good reach and drive is the objective. One last thing I must touch upon and that is Westie Temperament. Th e Stan- dard says alert, gay, courageous and self- reliant but friendly. Th ere has been a lot of discussion and articles written about sparring so I have to add my two cents. I do spar Westies but never more than 2 or 3 at a time. Once again, referring back to the fact that Westies in Scot- land worked in packs and therefore, they had to get along. Aggressiveness is not a desirable trait and should be penalized. I like to send the dogs I’m sparring out to opposite corners and have them just walk toward each other to the center of the ring but never actually getting that close. Th e purpose is to have them pull themselves together, up on their toes, ears alert, neck arched, tail up and quivering, assessing the situation. In closing, I would reiterate a couple of points that I emphasize in my seminars, “A good West Highland White Terrier of true type and sound structure should be able to show himself, unassisted and evi- dence the qualities and spirit specific to the breed”. Lastly and most importantly, I end with the statement ‘ Th at a good dog can be made to look better is the art of grooming and handling Th at an unsound dog can be made to look good is the art of deception. Th e future quality of the breed depends on our judges and your ability to know the di ff erence.” BIO I am retired after 40 years in nurs- ing, with the last 32 years as a Certi- fied Registered Nurse Anesthetist. This enabled me to support my dogs and my dog showing habit in the style that we
all were accustomed to. It also led me to my currant vocation as a Dog Show Judge. I applied for my Judges license in 1992 and I am now approved for the Terrier Group and hopefully within the next month or so I will complete the last breeds to give me the Toy Group as well. My plans after that will be to work on Non-Sporting breeds. My family always had dogs for pets and they were an integral part of our family, however, my introduction to the sport of dog shows did not occur until I got my first Westie in 1973. I quickly learned the ins and outs of the dog show world and have been an active partici- pant ever since. I have finished around 40 Westies, from my limited breeding program and I’m proud to say many have been from the Bred By Exhibitor class. Although my primary experience was in the conformation ring, I did put a CD on one of my dogs plus the moth- er/daughter team that now share my home have both acquired Versatile Dog awards from the WHWTCA, having completed their conformation champi- onships, Rally Novice titles and Novice Agility Jumpers titles. I have also had the extreme honor of twice being voted to judge Sweeps for the WHWTCA National Specialties (1984 and 1993) and then again 3 times to judge the regular classes at Montgomery Co. in 1997, 2005 and the upcoming 2014 show. I have served in many various capacities for the WHWTCA, as well as the Louisville Kennel Club. I have been the WHWTCA Judges Education Chair for the last 10 years. I am passionate about educating pro- spective judges with the objective being to preserve and protect the integrity of the West Highland White Terrier.
240 • S HOW S IGHT M AGAZINE , M AY 2014
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