Next weekend our Mistress has to train judges about our breed. It’s not just telling them we’re lovely, that’s the easy bit. It’s being able to tell them exactly how big we should be and how each part of our body should look and move. Our Master says I’m about the most handsome chap he’s ever seen, if it weren’t for my wonky elbows and the way I walk as a result, but I’m not going to be a model, the girls are.
They won’t be the only ones, there will be lots of Entlebuchers of different sizes and ages, both girls and boys. None of us is really perfect, but that’s the whole point. Our Mistress needs to show the judges the things that are wrong as well as the things that are right. She may have to ask the dogs to cover their ears as she shows things that could be better on each of them. Shadow and Wilma aren’t her demonstration dogs in the morning, they are both going to be part of the assessment in the afternoon, when the judges have to score five dogs and write up a critique of what they could see, putting the dogs in order of merit.
Our Mistress has explained to Wilma that she mustn’t worry if she doesn’t come out top. She’s still young and has some growing to do. There will be some very handsome mature dogs there who she knows will do well. Shadow just laughed and said she knew she wouldn’t come out top. After 22 puppies her tummy is a little saggy and her waistline not what it used to be. That’s before you even get to the fact that she runs with the wrong gait, but she gets cross when I mention that.
Wilma will have to get used to the critiques as she plans to have a go in the showring, it’s a good job she’s not the sort of dog to take things personally.
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