First of all I want to thank the organisation and exhibitors to give me the opportunity to judge such a nice entry and the sporting way the exhibitors took my decisions. Although some will have been disappointed. It is always difficult for all concerned to have a trainee judge in the ring but this time it worked out very well so by the end the delay wasnít too much.

I came with a lot of expectations, seeing Danish Cairns in The Netherlands. And to be honest: I was a little disappointed. Perhaps my expectations were a bit too high. Nevertheless the overall quality was very good, especially in type. All exhibits were nicely prepared for the show and behaved very well. A compliment for the handlers/owners for training their Cairns so well. The Cairn is still a terrier that should be able to do the work they originally were bred for. And that is my first warning: watch out that they wonít get too big or too strong. 

The two dogs in puppy class were very big and several times I had to dictate ìup to sizeî, meaning that they shouldnít have been bigger. Another concern is the front. A Cairn should stand well upon his forefeet meaning that the terrier should have enough forechest. This feature was and should be his life insurance. And a lot of the exhibits had just enough or less forechest almost getting to a so-called terrierfront which is not specific for this breed. It effects the movement also in a bad way but more important is that it effects their ability to do their original work (and survive) in a bad way.

Having said this most exhibits had good to enough angulations, moved according to their built, had nice double well-prepared coats and nice ringpersonalities. Apart from a few exhibits I saw nice heads. And what I liked very much were the strong forefaces. I like to see a Cairn with enough length of legs. It is definitely not a shortlegged dog (most of the time that goes with crooked legs). Fortunately I didnít see that but for me some of the exhibits shouldnít have been lower on the legs than presented that day.

My BOB, Senseiís Sweet Dublin, came out of Veteran Class but he came, saw and conquered. He just took my eye as soon as he came in the ring and didnít disappointed when I got over him. He was on that day one of the best movers and in a very nice condition. A real showman.

My best bitch was a harder decision because I liked both Champion bitches. They were very different in type but very nice Cairns, both of them. So I had to force a decision and did that on movement. Nordcairnís Zoffie just used her hindquarters a bit stronger than her opponent, Nordcairnís Brown Eyed Girl, so for me she was the Best Bitch on the day.

Both baby and puppy did well in the ring of honour, both placed 1st.

Elly Weijenborg-Weggemans