Judgereport / Dommer rapport

  Impression from the show in Pontoise 13. October 2003

First I would like to thank for the confidence in allowing judging your dogs in Pontoise 13.October 2003. The show area was nice and so was the weather.

I have myself participated as an exhibitor the last two preceding years with my own dogs and I have reflected on the showground where the ring was placed. Some dogs were hampered (ie made them limp) due to the sand/stone they had to run on.

There were lots of nice dogs that were shown for me. I was very pleased with the overall good quality of the dogs. Some problems like a little short and light muzzle , straight front and unbalance between front and rear angulation still exist but overall nice quality. Some dogs had a bit short and steep croup which made them move with short steps lacking the long powerful drive a ridgeback is supposed to have. Also I saw several dogs with flat feets which really hamper a ridgebacks long endurable run.

I was pleased to see that many of the dogs presented to me had a very nice shoulderlayback which in turn make better front movements. 

Especially the open class male was of very good quality. Unfortunately I could only place 4 dogs since I had a very strong class.. Ye Japha Banjoko got the CAC after a long and challenging run in the ring. The dog kept moving with a powerful stride and a strong correct topline. The reserve CAC went to Imbali Kipenzi - a handsome powerful dog but on the run was beaten by nr 1.

The champion class was won by ch Flametrees Obeche at Khananga, which is a very nice dog of excellent quality. He moved great and it was no problem to make this handsome dog best male and later BOB.

In Honour class I was presented Chilolo Super Cool - a dog of excellent quality. He would have given Flametrees Obeche at Khananga a hard competition if he was allowed so but since he was entered in honour class he couldn’t.

In the bitch Open class there was more variable quality among the entries. The four placed bitches was of excellent quality, nr 1 Ouanga Out of Africa – a very feminine bitch with a superb drive, covering the ground with a long gait which in turn made her deserve the CAC and later made her best bitch and BOS. Imbali Azizi gave her a hard fight all the way but on the long run she was beaten. Nr 3 was Ye Japha Asabi – an excellent bitch, beautiful constructed but lacking a little action on the move compared to the first two placed bitches. Would really like to see her again with more spirit.

It was interesting to see that Terry Thorn from UK that judged Ridgebacks the following day placed almost the same dogs as I did.

I would like to thank the club for a well organized and handled show. There was a nice atmosphere on the showground and that makes everything so much more enjoyable. I was really sorry that I was not able to participate at the food & drinking table after the show but unfortunately I had to go inside the hall to judge the Dalmatians that had a rather high number of entries.

I wish the club, breeders and exhibitors good look further on and I hope I will be able to attend your show as exhibitor some time in the future again.

Best regards

John-Sigve Berg