An Educated Look At The Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier WHAT’S UNDER THAT COAT?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Gay Dunlap is approved by the AKC to judge the Terrier and Toy Groups, Poodles, eight Hound breeds, Miscellaneous, Juniors and Best in Show. She is a provisional judge for 15 Hound breeds. Mrs Dunlap has judged across the US and has adjudicated in Australia, Canada, China, Finland, Ireland, and Sweden. She bred Soft Coated Wheaten Terriers from 1970 until 2016 under the Gleanngay prefix with over 140 champions, including BIS, Specialty, and Group winners. She bred and owned the top-producing Terrier sire of all time, Ch Gleanngay Holliday, ROM. Prior to her involvement with Wheatens, she bred and exhibited Yorkshire Terriers. She has served on the SCWTCA Board of Directors numerous times, including a 14-year period during which she also served as its President. She was a member of the SCWT Standard Committee charged with drafting the first breed standard adopted by AKC, and Chairman of the Standard Revision Committee that produced the SCWT standard currently in use by AKC. A regular contributor to numerous periodicals, she wrote the SCWT Standard Amplification and produced the SCWT Illustrated Breed Standard and Amplification, along with the SCWTCA Judges Education PowerPoint Presentation. She has served as Editor of the SCWTCA quarterly publication, Benchmarks, and as an AKC Delegate, representing SCWTCA. She continues to chair the Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier Club of America’s Judges Education Committee and served for a year as President of the Miniature Bull Terrier Club of Southern California. She also served on the board of the Kennel Club of Palm Springs and as its specialties’ coordinator. She is a member of American Dog Judges Association of America and is the organization’s webmaster. Mrs Dunlap lives in Palm Desert, California, and makes herself available to all in need of her creative skills, which include design, writing, editing, and proofreading. Her non-canine activities include creative writing, design, including web design, and cooking. She is an avid tennis fan!
BY GAY DUNLAP
T here’s a sound and well-structured dog under that coat… or at least there should be. Can you tell, visually, or do you feel you must put your hands on the dog to deter- mine its true make and shape? Certainly, artful groom- ers can set lie to what is really under a jacket, and this is true with most, if not all, coated breeds. Those of us who come from coated breeds, and also know our way around with a pair of scissors, are usually quite adept at spying the telltale signs of a dog that is little more than a hair cut. Others, not so much. Hair can hide a lot. So, with this in mind, here are a few visual aids that, hope- fully, will help with speeding up the judging process among those less familiar with “the tricks of the trade” used by handlers and other scissor-gifted exhibitors.
264 | SHOWSIGHT MAGAZINE, SPRING EDITION
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