THOUGHTS ON THE COTON DE TULEAR
INGER RONANDER 1. Where do you live? What do you do outside of dogs? I live in Oslo, Norway and I am a PR person, mainly for the music business. 2. Number of years owning, show-
that time. Size may vary, but the correct type is often there. But we see many with wrong tail set and tail carriage. Together with an upright and wrongly placed shoulder which gives unbalanced movements, and a too short neck and an unstable and too long back. 9. Are there aspects of the breed not in the standard that you nonetheless take into consideration because breeders consider them important? In the old compendium of the breed it was stated that this was a clownish dog, allowed to jump for joy in the ring and be happy. I would like the breeders to have that in mind when choosing partner for their breeding. Tem- perament is everything. 10. Can Judges Education on this breed be improved? Meet more breeders, visit breeders, not only look at the few at shows, but look at what the breeders have. Their experience in a breed is of utmost importance. Learn the difference in coats according age, how the color fade in colored dogs and when to expect the dog to be white and how much color you may accept. Pay attention to the breed’s anatomy and what kind of movement the correct angulation for the breed permits. In my lectures for Judges I always say, “You might miss an excellent dog if you go for the best handled dog with the longest and most impressive coat.” Anybody can learn a standard by heart. Seeing the standard when judging is what is impor- tant for any judge in any breed, and the detail that makes a Coton more than “just” a Coton is often what we learn from a good breeder. 11. Do you have anything else to share? Coton de Tulear is the breed closest to my heart, it is a quite healthy and we would like to keep it that way. There are illnesses in every breed, my advice after being with this breed for so many years, do no ruin the breed with pointless tests. Work with the material we do have and use common sense when breeding. JACKIE STACY 1. What are your thoughts on judging this breed? In the short time I have been judging the Coton I have raised concerns that we judges must be mindful to reward those exhibits that present with specific charac- teristics unique to the Coton. Of course one looks for a dry, white cotton-like coat, but I see many, many dam- aged coats to the degree that it is difficult to determine if
ing and/or judging dogs? I have been showing dogs since 1975 and been judging for nearly 20 years. 3. Describe your breed in three words: Beautiful, smart and funny.
4. What traits, if any, are becoming exaggerated? The coats; we might be loosing an excellent dog due to less coats. The quality of the coat is more important the length. 5. What are your “must have” traits in this breed? What shortcomings are you willing to forgive? “Must have” for a true Coton is the cotton quality of the coat, the body proportion and topline. I might forgive not fully pigmented eye rims. 6. While judging, do you see any trends you’d like to see continued or stopped? There are more smaller sized dog than before. I would like to see that continuing. I have seen beautifully groomed dogs less muscular than I would like to see. Regular exercise makes for longer life and happier dogs. 7. What, if any, are the traits breeders should focus on preserving? For our breed it is the colour. Coton de Tulear is a white breed like a Bichon Frisé and it should stay that way. Not all colours fade, and if you do your homework, it is not difficult to breed white dogs with excellent pigmen- tion. One never sees a Bichon Frisé with black or brown patches. As for a lot of other breeds, my greatest concern is the movement. It is a trend that any breed should have free floating, fast movement around the ring. For many breeds this is totally wrong. It makes me sad to see an Old English Sheepdog run around the ring like a hound and not rolling as they should. And get awarded for it. 8. Has the breed improved from when you started judging? The answer is yes and no. They are most certainly better groomed with better and more corrects coats than at
238 • S HOW S IGHT M AGAZINE , A UGUST 2015
Powered by FlippingBook