Judgereport / Dommer rapport

  Judgereport from 21.st Championship show Victoria, Melbourne, Australia 4. March 2007.

First I would like to say that I was honoured to be asked to judge your RR-Specialty. It’s always a challenge to judge a Specialty and I have for a long time admired the Australian ridgebacks.

I would like to thank those people that was so lovely to invite me into their homes and showing me around Melbourne – Merlene, Peter, Kate, Mark, Victory and Gerry. A special thanks to Sue who used a lot of her time organizing and helped me around.

4.March 2007 entered and it was a beautiful day. For a Scandinavian like me the weather was just perfect and so was the entries.

I was pleased with many of the dogs that was shown for me this day. You have established a very good type. The heads of the dogs was over all excellent with good length and square muzzle. Strong toplines and good croups. Overall well angulated behind but you lack some angulation in front.

Shoulder was mainly well laid but the upper arm was a bit short which in turn gives a straight front. A ridgeback should be well balanced and with a straight front and well angulated rear the dog is not in balance and the result will be an unstable front when moving.

There was a lot of dogs that was oversized and you should be aware of this.

A ridgeback is a moderate dog and we must try to keep it there and not go towards extreme in any way.

My best of breed and runner up and my number 1 junior dog moved beautiful and these dogs also had an excellent hock action which is essential to cover the ground correct (with long effortless steps). I see very few of these dogs around the world, so I was pleased to see some here.

There was some ridgebacks with a bit short ridge and a few with offset ridges, Throughout Europe I see a tendency towards shorter ridges and more offset ridges. Breeders must be aware of this problem. A short ridge is as bad as an unsymmetrical ridge.

I’m thankful that you all showed your dogs for me.

Best regards
John S Berg