It was a great pleasure to judge at the Danish Kennel Club International Show at Herning on the 5th November and may I thank everyone for their wonderful hospitality.

I was very pleased with my main winners; the BOB CH Norcairn Back For Good is an impressive male with an outstanding head and typy expression, well balanced and with true movement both ways he is hard to beat, he oozes quality and I was very happy to see him gain 4th in the Group. Res dog was Cairness´s Touch Of Magic, a lovely young dog with a touch of class, still to fully mature but his typyness, soundness and overall balance won him high honours on the day.

My two main bitch winner´s were, BOS Cale-Hills Greta and res bitch McAlister´s Scarlet O Hara, both these young bitches were well constructed, balanced cairns with the type and character I was looking for. Great showgirls, these were excellent examples of the breed.

The standard of the cairns shown under me was overall good; many of the classes had quality in depth. 
I was looking for a medium typy cairn with no exaggerations and there was plenty there which conformed to my eye. A few were oversize but in general I did not find size a problem. However what I think needs watching is excessive bone; the cairn is a lithe dog and as such should not have heavy bone. It is a joy to run one´s hands down the neck, shoulders and front legs when the bone is clean and correct, but on several occasions, when running one´s hands over the cairns, I felt lumpy dense bone.

I think heads also need watching, in general I do not think they were as good as the last time I judged in Denmark. Several of the cairns had heads I considered too big and too heavy in bone. Others were plain in head, lacking the balance that gives the true expression which is so vital to the breed.

I hope we never lose that unique head and wicked expression which makes the Cairn so special.

Yvonne Catto