Page 249 - Showsight April 2013

JUDGING THE BORDER TERRIER
By Robert & Ruth Ann Naun
From Ruth Ann A judge of the Bor-
der Terrier will stay
on breed standard
if they hold to the
rule that form fol-
lows function. Bred
by working farmers in the Cheviot Hills
of Northumberland in England, and the
southern Scottish border country, this
breed went out with hounds in this wild
hilly countryside. Therefore, the Border
Terrier should be built to cover long dis-
tances over an extended period on the
day of hunting, in all sorts of weather.
Once the fox they chase goes to ground,
the Border Terrier goes in and finishes its
work of the day, or flushes the fox for oth-
ers to dispatch. Every breed trait judged
in confirmation, still should reference
this function.
Exhibitors will respect the judge who
attempts to evaluate entries base on
this approach. Bob Naun explores the
standard point by point, in what fol-
lows here. He gives a prospective that
has been previously published in this
magazine. He has clearly outlined the
evaluating that takes in the whole dog
using this approach. Border Terriers can
still do the work they were bred to do.
The Border Terrier community and the
breed’s parent club hold a desire to see
a functioning working Border Terrier
in the show ring. When those traits put
a Border Terrier in the ribbons in your
ring, you can safely feel a good job was
done of judging this breed.
From Robert
Many judges have difficulty in judging
the Border Terrier because of the empha-
sis on function as a working terrier. Most
terrier standards put more emphasis upon
appearances, with the exception of the
Parson Russell Terrier.
In Britain in the earliest written stan-
dard of the breed we have (1920), and
in the American standard in the early
1940s, this emphasis was in the Bor-
der Terrier standard. Dr. Merritt Pope,
the prime mover in working towards
recognition of the breed in the US and
his friend Mr. William McBain, were
disturbed by changes made to the Scot-
tish Terrier standard for the purpose of
improving its chances for winning in the
show ring. For Dr. Pope, a well-designed
and functional machine was a beauti-
ful thing to observe, and they wanted
to apply this concept to the functional
purposefulness of a terrier. He and his
committee were attempting to design the
perfect working terrier in a breed stan-
dard. They abhorred the fancy terriers
they were seeing in the show ring.
The descriptive terms they used to
describe the Border Terrier are few in num-
ber. They wanted a head that resembled
that of an otter, in particular a river otter
head. They wanted a dog who would be
spannable by a man’s hands, a method used
by old time hunters to evaluate the ability
of a dog to go to ground. They consistently
talked about the Borders’ ability to run
with horses and to get along with hounds.
Given this, the Border should not spar.
For working terriers, the ribs should
not be over sprung. They should have ribs
well back with a flexible loin which would
allow the terrier to turn around more easily
when down the hole after the fox, this also
helps to give more stamina to a dog doing
a days’ work.
Finally, they wanted a double-coated
dog who could work under the hard condi-
tions of the English/Scottish border coun-
try, and not a fancy smooth coated terrier.
When beginning to judge the Border
Terrier in the show ring, the judge should
observer the Border outline. It is on the
table that the judge can begin to evalu-
ate the functioning ability of the Border
to work. Approaching from the front the
The general appearance of the Border Terrier.
ShowSight Magazine, April 2013 • 249