Page 31 - ShowSight Presents - The French Bulldog
P. 31
“I ALWAYS LOOK FOR BALANCE
when i Judge and ThaT includes angulaTion.”
that are allowed there should be no preference given to
one over the other.
L&PS: As long as the dog is not of a disqualifying color, all
colors/patterns should be judged equally and as though the breed were colorless. That being said, I feel some judges favor creams; while others favor brindles. As an example, we have over 400 Group Firsts on our creams, and only one Group First on our Brindles. So although it could be said that we are known for our creams, most of the dogs in our kennel right now are brindles or brindle pieds. Many judges will ignore a very dark dog for fear of rewarding a dog without a trace of brindle, which disqualifies. When in doubt ask the handler to “show me the brindle.”
RS: Any color permitted in the Standard is fine with me.
6. The standard does not specifically mention angula- tion. Do you take front and rear angulation into account when judging, and if so how?
DB: The lack of rear angulation is most certainly one of
the breed’s Achilles heels! It is not always easy to find specimens with the desired moderate rear angulation finished with well let-down hocks, and sadly in reality, more commonly seen are the disturbingly straight rears and long hocks that on most occasions, swing from the hips than drive in the rear. Please remember that proper angulation, fore and aft, makes up for part of the correct outline that is so important in the French Bulldog. Look for thick, strong muscular thighs finished with a lovely unexaggerated bend in stifles and well let-down perpen- dicular hocks. Front assembly doesn’t seem to be as big a problem, though I have encountered some steep shoul- ders with shorter upper arm. So, to answer your ques- tion, I strongly urge all to take front and rear angulation into account when judging as doing otherwise would be doing the breed injustice.
JD: Although the standard does not mention angulation spe- cifically it does talk about proportion and symmetry. Use common sense. I always look for balance when I judge and that includes angulation. If the dog is not balanced front and rear or in proportion then everything else including gait and silhouette will be affected.
AK: Yes, when judging any breed, I take angulation into account. In my mind, this comes under type, style and balance. No Frenchie should have a feature so prominent (be it lack or excess) that the dog appears poorly bal- anced, which includes front and rear angulation—does the front pull the rear quarters forward? Maybe the rear
is so angulated it pushes the front forward or are the two in sync. Watch the footfall, even in heavily coated breeds. Moderate front and rear angulation in the Frenchie seems to allow for the gait referred to in the breed standard: double tracking with reach and drive, the action being unrestrained, free and vigorous.
MMartin: I take angulation into consideration as far as the movement of the dog goes. I see a lot of straight stifles, and these dogs can’t help but move stiff in the rear. The standard does say, “Correct gait is double tracking with reach and drive.” You can’t have reach and drive without some angulation, so the standard does indirectly address this point.
MMiller: I feel that proper angulation is very important in all dog as it allows the dog to move with ease and grace. If the forequarters and hindquarters match the dog will
be balance.
DM: Front and rear angulation plays a major role in the overall outline of the dog. Without the proper angles, the dog cannot hold the proper outline moving around the ring. The angles determine that a Frenchie with proper temperament can move around the ring with grace
and style.
VR: In silhouette, rear and front angulation should be mod- erate. The standard does specify that the hocks should be well let down. That is the ideal I look for and I penalize dogs that look straight in the rear or over angulated.
L&PS: I’ve always felt that the Frenchie Standard was written “by dog people for dog people,” so it is not very descriptive of aspects that would be taken for granted by those in the sport. This allows for a good deal of inter- pretation by judges, as well as speculation by neophytes. Since everything about our standard describes a moder- ate breed, I want moderate front and rear angulation. Without this angulation, the “free and vigorous” gait called for by our standard cannot be realized. Far too many Frenchies are too straight in the front and behind with short upper arms, resulting in the paddling, or the “rotary” front gait that is called for in the Norwegian Lundehund standard.
RS: To function correctly the rear angulation needs to match the front.
7. What do you see as the biggest challenge in judging the breed?
DB: The biggest challenge in judging Frenchies is the lack of consistency among the exhibits. A typical entry is usually made up of a myriad of shapes, colors, proportion and
french bulldog q&a
