First I would like to thank the Committee for honouring me with an invitation to judge at their show. I have been asked to write a report on my general impression of the dogs present and in doing so I compare them with those I judged England a few months ago. I have tried to be as objective as possible and criticise in a constructive way.

Prior to the show I was concerned that I would not be able to give excellent to many dogs but the overall quality was impressive. The dogs were well up to size without being coarse. They had good, strong, heavy straight bone and overall type and balance was excellent. They were "stallion" hounds in the truest sense of the word, there was no doubting their gender. I have never gone over males in such good condition, previously I had only seen that amount of muscling over the loin and in the hindquarters in working hounds. I give full credit to the owners putting in a great deal of work to present them in such good muscle tone. However I was surprised to see some 13 month old dogs really muscled up. In England we would not start to exercise them to produce this sort of muscle until they had completely finished growing. There were some tight, muscle bound youngsters where I prefer to see them, if anything a little loose at this stage. There is plenty of time to tighten them up later, a good one that is slow to mature and is brought on gradually is worth the wait. I did not see this in the young bitches. The bitches were feminine but again had excellent bone for their size and were strong enough to do their job.

Overall they were much more uniform in type than ours, head type was very good with none excessively broad and cheeky. Quite a few could have a little better definition of stop and stronger forefaces and underjaws. Eyes on the whole could be darker this was not seen much in England but is creeping in with imports; they were however of correct size and set. Ears were of good shape and correctly set, none of the exhibits flew them. Necks had good reach and were cleaner on average than ours, toplines exceptional with no dippy or roach backs. Overall they were beautifully balanced but some could drop a little more in the chest to bring it in line with their elbows. The colours and coats were exceptional with good clear colour and few too long in coat, unfortunately light wheatens where not much in evidence. Ridges were exceptional with good sized, tidy crowns and of correct length. Offset, small crowns with narrow ridges that do not taper or short ridges were not much in evidence. Lack of forechest, return of upper arm and hollow chests are as much a problem in Holland as in England. Forelegs were however exceptionally well boned and straight, and pasterns were well sprung, there was not one with flat feet. On the whole they were a little short of rib and some cut up a touch too steeply, they were however better sprung and have the correct width in comparison to the narrowness that is creeping into the breed in England. Many could have little higher tailsets but there were none which excessively dropped off over the croup. Quarters could have a little more width of second thigh, there were some that had excess muscling in the first thigh with a lack equal muscling in the second. They could be better let down in the hocks but most had a good turn of stifle.

Movement as in England could be improved, going away they were often close and coming towards rather wide with elbows a little loose. In profile their movement was more uniform than in England, most moved with adequate extension, some with more than others. The very short striding, stilted and upright movement we often have in England was not in evidence but neither was the very free, low and long striding profile movement we have in our very best.

I must mention handling, the classes were huge and some of the dogs were obviously unsure what was expected of them and were not always handled to give of their best, this is a shame when so much work has been put into other aspects of presentation. The handling in England has improved immensely over the past few years with handlers never missing an opportunity to ensure that the judge always sees their dog at its best.

In conclusion if I were to be asked to recommend which area should be concentrated on when contemplating future breeding programmes it would undoubtedly be accuracy of movement; without good movement you have no hound and in particular in the forehand – this applies to both countries.

Overall in Holland you have a greater depth of quality than in England especially in the males but we have a few that could give you a run for your money.

My husband were very pleased to be able to see visit your beautiful country and have assured everyone who is interested in coming to the World Congress that the location and hospitality are first rate, we look forward to seeing you again then.

Lindsey Barnes©

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