Page 25 - ShowSight Presents The West Highland White Terrier
P. 25
est Q&a
wheaten tipping down the back. That is usually an indica- tion of a very hard coat plus, quoting John Marvin who was one of the authorities in our breed, it is better to have a hard coat with wheaten tipping that a soft, pure white coat.
DM: Solid compact body with good angles front and rear, balanced movement in a fully working package. Clean white coat, good bone, with proper width to the muzzle and skull.
MU: 1) First and foremost when I judge any breed the first trait that I look for is type for that particular breed, keeping in mind the history of the breed and its form and function. The Westie is a strong, sturdy and hardy little Scotsman that has an attitude of “no small amount of self-esteem” and its own distinctive gait. Among other necessary qualities included in type, balance and propor- tion are a must in my opinion.
2 & 3) Second and third traits are balance, proportion and movement. Structurally all three of these qualities are inter-related. The forequarters and the hindquarters need to be in balance so they can work together. Oth- erwise you see a two-piece dog. To create this balance, proportion is vitally important. The standard states, “The shoulder blade should attach to an upper arm of moder- ate length and sufficient angle to allow for definite body overhang.” The hindquarter angles should match the fore- quarter angles. Merging these two factors together—the structural balance and the proper proportions—we now have a Westie with a distinctive gait. This is a gait that is powerful, straight, free and moving without effort.
4) The fourth traits are bone and substance. What you ini- tially see as the class enters the ring may not be exactly what the eye observes. You know we have exceptional masterful and artful groomers. Now it is time to put the Westie on the table for examination. Educate and train your hands and your eyes to work together. When you examine the headpiece with your hands and fingers, dig down through all of the back combing and product. Do you feel broad and strong bone and skull? Is there a slight dome between the ears? Are the eyes wide apart? Is
there a defined stop? Is the muzzle slightly shorter from the nose to the stop than from the stop to the occiput? Or has that very clever groomer been busy? Is the head in proportion to the neck and body? Check for a deep chest to the elbow, good substantial leg bone, level topline good substance to the body and a nice handful of tail to complete the picture. While the entry is on the table check for the quality of the coat. At last, check the overhang in front of the dog and hopefully find the same amount of dog behind the tail.
5) The fifth trait is the coat. Keep in mind the Westie background. The Westie had to cope with the brutal weather and terrain conditions in Scotland, thus a double coat was necessary. In today’s world, our Scottish pals have better living situations, but that white harsh outer coat and a white soft undercoat are necessary and required. A soft coat is a very serious fault.
LW: The five traits in order that I look for when judging are: 1) Balance, 2) Movement, 3) Head, 4) Coat and 5) Show- manship. The hallmark of the breed is a hard, straight, white coat—as the breed name implies.
2. How has the breed changed since you became involved with it?
Do you see any trends you think are moving the breed in the wrong direction?
Any traits becoming exaggerated?
MB: My biggest challenge is looking past all the over groom- ing—big, unbalanced heads made from back-combing and product. Because of this, it’s hard to be competitive against all the fabulous professionals that are in the ring.
WK: Angulation (especially front) seems to be diminish- ing, resulting in stiff straight shoulders and stifles and increased height above the standard. Too much focus on presentation (appearance) with excessive grooming, especially the head.
ML: Something that has changed over my 40 years in the breed is the grooming. The grooming is much more severe now with the fronts and necks skinned down, plus I see more scissoring instead of actual stripping of the coats. I believe heads are teased perhaps a bit excessively. I’ve teased heads too, but I picked it out to a more natural look, which achieved the desired effect of making the hair stand up. I think the one thing that I find most offen- sive is the fact that many Westie heads are groomed to look like Bichons these days.
DM: Loss of correct overhang in the front and buns in the rear. The Westie, in profile, is a compact, rectangular breed. Long necks on short backs are traits that are becoming exaggerated.
MU: Unfortunately, there are trends that are going in the wrong direction. Now let’s go back to balance and proportion. The standard is very clear, “The shoulder blade should attach to an upper arm of moderate length and sufficient angle to allow for definite body overhang.” When you have the moderate length in the upper arm and sufficient angle, this will place the front legs under the dog and below the withers producing the required overhang which is needed for digging.
The standard further states, “The body between the with- ers and the root of tail is slightly shorter than the height at the withers.”
Today the trend seems to be that tile front assembly
is moving more and more forward. Thus, the neck is becoming shorter and shorter and the backline is becom- ing longer and weaker which in turn is adversely affect- ing the movement. It appears that the upper arm is no longer moderate but appears to becoming too short and off angles. So when the Westie is gaiting the front move- ment is mincing, taking tiny little steps and the hindquar- ters are trying to cope. This off balance structure defi- nitely affects the needed overhang in front. In fact there is very little, if any. Usually in this case the hindquarters lack the needed dog behind the tail.
Also, the hocks are becoming too high, thus the power- ful push from the rear is missing. The dog will labor in its effort to move.
LW: The breed has changed somewhat mainly in size. The breed should be a balanced, square dog approximately 11" at the withers. I have noticed Westies becoming too up on leg and oversized. Since Westies are known for their beautiful round heads, I have also noticed dogs lack- ing in proper stops and a heavy brow ridge.
