Page 21 - The Labrador Retriever

labrador retriever Q&A
WITH SUE WILLUMSEN, GREGORY A. ANDERSON,
JANIS GRANNEMANN & DR. MICHAEL J. WOODS
The Sporting Group has a lot of hair, a lot of flash, and
a lot of showmanship. With a Labrador, what you see is what you get. There is no hair to camouflage faults. Why is it that Standard Poodles win vastly more Non-Sporting Groups than any other breed in the Group? Could it have something to do with hair, hiding faults, and flash? Or
are Poodle breeders, as one told me, just so much better breeders than anyone else? Judges have to learn more about the qualities the breed should possess and judge
it against the standard, not against the coat and flash of other breeds.
The correct movement for the breed is powerful, smooth, effortless. It is not the flashy TRAD movement of Setters and Spaniels or even Goldens. Judges, incorrectly, want the Lab to be what it isn’t and what is incorrect for the breed. Judges have to look at the Labrador as a hard working, water-retriever that is made to do a job, and do it very well.
12. Many people feel show Labs are overweight. Can you address this?
GA: I really don’t think show Labs are fat, they lack condi- tioning, muscle tone etc. I’ve seen more thin Labs than fat ones.
JG: Many are overweight. People, especially novice owners, think that fat equals body. But judges need to get their hands on the dog, as all Labs are not fat. The body type with lack of tuck up and the heavy double coat can give the impression of being overweight. I have often taken weight off a dog and have then been horrified by how thin they actually are when they shed. This is not a breed that can be correctly judged from ringside or over a TV.
13. What, if anything, do you feel non-breeder judges get wrong about the breed?
GA: The make and shape as stated before and many look at too tall or too short, not balanced dogs, not enough bone or too much bone and they seem to look at larger heads.
JG: Labs have been so popular for so long that it is hard for a non-breeder judge to find the correct Lab in a ring with so many different styles. Some people are breeding more for hunting, agility, another search and rescue, and so
on and so on. The true Lab was bred as a water dog and should be built like one. The non-breeder judge needs to remember to judge to the standard and hopefully find a “strongly-built, short-coupled, athletic dog.” Just because a ring is full of one style of dog, that does not make it the correct style.
MW: Breeders, on the other hand, might be breeding for type, but are not breeding for powerful, smooth, effort- less movement. Group judges, for the most part, are not going to forgive poor movement, even if the dog has good type. They are also not going to forgive overweight, poorly conditioned dogs that can hardly make it around the ring. If Lab breeders want to do well at the Group level, they have to show dogs that have both breed type, sound movement, and the ‘quality’ that makes for a really competitive dog. Quite frankly, as a breeder judge, I want to ‘do for’ the Labrador in the Group, but often find
308 • SHOWSIGHT MAGAZINE, OCTOBER 2018
it impossible to reward a dog that not only lacks breed type, but has poor structure and movement. Simply because the breed has a great number of registrations and large entries does not automatically entitle it to a place in the group. Quantity does not equate with qual- ity. McDonald’s produces a lot of meals, but not much in the line of quality.
Many judges tell me that Labradors are a hard breed to judge. I don’t disagree with this. But, that doesn’t mean judges shouldn’t make every effort to understand the breed. There are some non-breeder judges who do a won- derful job with our breed and draw large entries. Usually, they do pretty good jobs with other breeds as well! The big trap for non-breeder judges is a tendency towards
the ‘generic’ dog, the dog that has nothing wrong with it, but lacks real breed type. This is compounded if the generic dog happens to be a particularly good mover. I’ve always thought that movement is the refuge of those who don’t know type. That isn’t to say that movement isn’t very important, but, in my opinion, type takes pre- cedence. Identify the dogs with the best type and then focus on movement. This process, however, implies that one needs to know type. And, to know type, one has to study the breed. I’ve watched an excellent Labrador, that I had previously judged so knew his faults and virtures, who won the National, won numerous Specialties and was BOS at the Potomac out of an entry of over 1,000 Labradors not even make Group cuts on two consecutive days at a medium sized show where the Group was not super competitive. I’ve very doubtful all the dogs who placed in the Group were as representative of their breed standards as was this dog. While this is just an anecdotal incident, it does reflect why breeders get frustrated at all- breed shows and choose to focus on specialties.
14. What do handlers do in presentation that you wish they would not?
GA: I feel handlers don’t let the Lab show on it’s own, a natu- ral stand and move them too fast!
JG: Not only handlers, but many owners stretch out the hind legs. A Lab should have his legs under him. He stands over his legs. He does not have a slopping top line that comes with hind legs behind the body. Let them stand on their own or stack them with their hocks perpendicular.
MW: The main problem with exhibitors of Labradors is we like to show our dogs on loose leads. That’s a good thing, since Labs look really good on loose leads. Judges get to see the dog as he is, naturally. The problem is, it takes a great deal of practice and good teamwork between the handler and dog to present the dog at his best. Showing a dog at his best on a loose lead is a lot more challenging than simply stacking the dog. Most exhibitors don’t put in the effort to have the dog show his best. And, when the judge comes to examine the dog, the dog is all over the place. The dog doesn’t look his best, the judge is annoyed and the handler is frustrated.
Which brings us to the problem of bait! Baiting is not feeding. Learn how to effectively bait your dog; don’t give the dog bait just as the judge goes to examine the mouth;