Page 292 - ShowSight - October 2019

Judging The Samoyed From A Breeder’s Perspective BY CAROL HJORT continued “THE SAMOYED CONTINUES, AS IT HAS FOR THOUSANDS
OF YEARS, TO BE A NATURAL BREED THAT COMBINES THE
beauty of the past with the best hopes of the future!”
to hover back over the shoulder blades. This may be a good neck for a swan, but is not the most functional for a working dog.
The chest should be deep, with the ribs well sprung from the spine and tapering at the sides to allow movement of the shoul- ders and freedom for the front legs. The chest should be heart shaped and not bar- rel shaped. Perfect depth of the chest should be at the point of the elbow and the deep- est part of the chest should be behind the forelegs, which provides more heart and lung room. As breeders, we also like to feel “elbow pockets,” which are indentions in the rib cage under the elbows that allow more freedom of movement for the front legs without causing the Samoyed to move out at the elbows.
Shoulders should be long and sloping with a layback of 45 degrees. Also check the upper arm, which should be approximately the same length as the shoulder blade. The withers separation, which indicates the lay- in of shoulder, should be 1–1 1⁄2 inches wide, or two to three fingertips apart. This will need to be adjusted depending on the width of your fingers, so use a ruler to see how many of your fingers make 1–1 1⁄2 inches and use this as a guide when judging. The lay-in of shoulder tends to influence how the dog will put its front feet on the ground when in motion, and generally a Samoyed whose shoulders are not laid-in towards the spinal column will not converge into a single track when moving.
Next, run your hand down the front chest, where you should be able to feel the prosternum. The legs should be parallel and straight to the pastern, and approximately 55 percent of the dog’s height at the with- ers. You will need to push the hair back on the chest at the elbow to determine the true length of leg, since this is a double-coated breed. Pasterns should be strong, sturdy and flexible with some spring for proper let- down of feet.
The feet are the dogs running gear and should be long and slightly flat...a hare foot with two elongated central toes. The foot should be slightly spread, but not splayed, with arched toes, thick and tough pads, and a protective growth of hair between the toes. Faults are feet that turn in or out, round or
cat feet and splayed feet. You can check the foot pad when you get to the rear assembly by picking up a rear foot, and while you are there, check the bone by feeling the circum- ference of the rear hock.
Loin And Back: The withers form the highest part of the back. Run your hand down the back from the withers to the loin to make sure it is level and not roached or dipped. The loin is the distance between the last rib and the pelvis, and should be strong, slightly arched, and neither long nor short coupled. The croup must be full and slightly sloping to the tail root.
The tail should be loose and mobile and not tight over the back. This is a survival characteristic, as the Samoyed had to be able to curl up and bury its face and muzzle in its tail when asleep on the tundra to warm its breath and prevent freezing. The Samoyed should carry its tail up and over its back or side when alert and dropped when at rest. The tail should be profusely covered with long hair and the tailbone should terminate at approximately the point of the hock. If there is any question about the length of the tail, you can measure it by pulling it down to the hock...but as a courtesy to the exhibitor, make sure you put it back over the back when you are done. The judge should see the tail over the back once during the judging.
Rear Assembly: Upper thighs should be well developed. Palpate the upper portion of the thigh behind the stifles to check the muscle mass. Stifles should be well bent... approximately 45 degrees to the ground. Hocks should be well developed and set at approximately 30 percent of the hip height. Straight stifles are objectionable; double jointed hocks or cow hocks are a fault. Cow hocks should only be determined after a dog has had the opportunity to move.
Once you have examined the dog, it is time to move it to confirm what you have felt with your hands!
Movement: The Samoyed should trot, not pace, and should move with a quick, well timed side gait! The gait should be free, balanced and vigorous with good reach in the front and equally good driving power in the rear. The back, or topline, should remain strong, firm and level, without a lot
of up and down motion. If there is more reach than drive, or more drive than reach when viewed from the side, then it is not a balanced animal.
The Samoyed should single track on the down and back. Moving at a slow walk or trot, it will not single-track, but as speed increases, the legs gradually angle inward until the pads are finally falling on a line directly under the longitudinal center of the body. This results in an efficient, ground covering gait that can be maintained for hours. If you move a single tracking dog through water, it will leave one line of paw- prints on the concrete, instead of two. This is not to be confused with crossing over, which is a fault. If you do not come from a Breed that single tracks, then you will need to familiarize yourself with this movement so that you can identify it when you see it in your ring.
Disposition: Intelligent, gentle, loy- al, adaptable, alert, full of action, eager to serve, friendly but conservative, not distrustful or shy, not overly aggressive. Unprovoked aggressiveness is to be severely penalized. Good temperament is impera- tive in this Breed. Herding reindeer on the tundra required that the Samoyed be compatible working alongside other ani- mals as well as humans, and we strive as Breeders to maintain this disposition in our breeding stock.
It takes a long time to learn to evaluate dogs and to train one’s hands on what to feel and where to feel it. Practice going over the dogs in a methodical fashion until you can do this quickly, and develop a routine where you can examine each dog in the same man- ner every time. Develop an eye for balanced and efficient movement so that you can spot correct movement when you see it. Learn to evaluate breeding stock!
Today, the Samoyed excels in many ven- ues as an all-purpose breed, including the Conformation ring, Obedience, Agility, Weight Pull, Herding, Sledding, and other Performance Events. The Samoyed contin- ues, as it has for thousands of years, to be a natural breed that combines the beauty of the past with the best hopes of the future! Help to maintain the integrity of this beautiful Breed!
290 • ShowSight Magazine, october 2019