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Chapter IX - What I look for in my own kennel So much for what I look for and against when judging. Now for what I my require in my own Labradors. Having mentioned the three criteria for judgement, that required by the Standard, that wanted in the showring, and what you yourself want in your kennel, I must again point out that the Standard give only the bare bones of what makes a good Labrador, that the judges go carefully into the points that make one dog better than the next, giving a lot of consideration to the general idea, make and shape, penalising structural faults, and then weighing the failings and the virtues. Now I came to the severest test of all, what I myself as a breeder, an exhibitor and a shooting enthusiast want in my own kennel. Now not only must one fault-judge very ruthlessly, but must pay the greatest attention to every single detail one knows about a Labrador. My very first criterion is temperament and here I forgive nothing. I must be able to take bones away from even my Stud-dogs. The whole pack must be able to run together in the big pen without quarrelling. They must not guard, nor protect, nor sulk, nor show any signs of anything except happy good temper. And they must not answer back even when set upon by another dog. No quarrelling over bitches, even when there are visiting bitches, no bullying and they must be willing to get an unknown vehicle crammed with strange dogs, beaters, 'guns' etc. without demur. Good temper is my number one requisite and no dog that does not conform stays. Next I have sort of jigsaw-shape hole in my brain and eye into which fits a Mansergh Labrador. Please note I say Mansergh, because although I like and recognise other strains as being good or better than my own I have a fixed idea of exactly the shape and balance I myself want. So my selected dog has to fit into a rigid pattern. The general shape is a strongly built yet active Labrador, strong-boned and short-loined and not showing too much daylight, yet never cobby, a word I dread in Labradors. My ideal is more that of a good heavyweight Hunter with balance and a lot more quality than that of a Cob. I've had very big ones and very small ones, although all were of this pattern, but for myself I like the smaller end of the Labrador Standard size, i.e. about 22 inches for dogs and 21 1/2 inches and anything slightly less. Here I must point out that this is just my own personal preference and when judging other people's dogs I go for any reasonable size near the Standard, the bigger ones or the smaller. But for myself the smaller end of the scale. Both kinds of balance are very important to me; first, that the various points such as head, length of back or leg or of tail should be of pleasing proportions one to the other and secondly, even more so, in the Jockey's sense of the word, that the dog should stand and move balanced round his centre of gravity with the weight slightly on the hocks so that the dog can jump from a standstill in any direction, forwards, backwards, to either side, or turn on its hocks just like a cat. Nothing must sprawl, nothing must splay, but the dog must be symmetrical and collected with the weight going down perpendicular leg-bones right into the centre of the feet. I myself like a very long neck, a long very clean shoulder, a good well sprung ribcage, well-ribbed back and shortish thick based tail. In addition I must have a good head and expression, a proper coat with the dog clothed all over and a good otter tail. This is the general, but now we come from the forest to the trees. One may forgive failings when judging, although penalising the actual faults and must realise and try to breed out failings, i.e. one must fault-judge. So starting at the nose-tip I look for a wide, generous, wet nose-end with very big wide nostrils facing straight forward and not turned slightly under in Roman fashion and never pinched or nipped. The nose bone must be wide all the way from under the eyes to the nose-end, not tapering at all in width, but appearing even wider at the nose-end because the lips are full, padded, generous,and bulbous. I like a fairly long muzzle without very deep flews or lips which get in the way of the retrieve and I like a slightly curved muzzle seen from the side, neither too square like a foxhound nor shaped too much like the prow of a canoe. I prefer my muzzle to be wide rather than deep, although in no way will I entertain a weak, shallow, or snipey muzzle, not yet an over-short one. There must be no trace either of an English or Continental 'dish'. I like a pronounced 'stop' with beautifully fluted skull rising from it, the planes of muzzle-top and skull being parallel. The skull wide and nicely curved without too pronounced an occiput-bone, which can cause trouble and is not typical. The ears must be smallish and not thick or coarse, set rather far back and close to the head, which in itself implies clean cheeks. I do like the ears to come nicely to alert with right folds, so that they do not remind me of a leveret. And I measure them, preferring them just to be able to wipe the drop from the inner corner of the same eye, not shorter and certainly not much longer, remembering that a Labrador may grow into its ears to a certain extent. I like big white, clean teeth, scissor-bite, although I myself do not bother about the number of pre-molars. That is for Continental judges, to fuss about missing pre-molars. My necks must be long and strong and fairly clean especially under the chin and I do not like dewlaps. For me the back of the neckline must be much longer than the throatline, as in a horse. Otherwise I consider the neck to be set upside-down. And I hate long washleather ears hanging down and nearly touching the shoulder-bone. The nice long neck must slope gradually and well back into laid-back clean shoulders which must be without boss or lumps. The scapula must be long and clean, the angle at the point of shoulder as near a right-angle as possible, so as to give an angle at the elbow and to place the withers above or slightly behind the point of the elbow. I will not keep a dog that has an upright shoulder, a short neck or a straight elbow. These points are of the utmost importance to me. I like a big rib, going well back and I do not mind a longish ribcage so long as the back is strong and the loin very short and strong. A slight dip in the backline does not worry me too much in my own kennel so long as it is not a weakness and so long as it is just behind the shoulder and no further back. I would not keep a dog with a dip just in front of the loin. I am very particular that the line from the haunches to the buttock should be long as otherwise a short rump means a steeply-placed pelvis, to me a bad fault. The tail should be set level with the back and may occasionally be carried higher than the back level if excited, although I myself do not like too gay a tail in my kennel, although I know it is permissible in the ring, being allowed for in the Standard. I don't like a badly sloping rump and low tail-set. For me the hindquarters must be wider than the shoulders and very strong with both thighs, first and second, well muscled. And the tail root should take up a third of the width of the well-rounded rump. This can be seen in the nest. Hocks should be well let-down, sharp and clean with no bossiness or spongey excrescences. There should be plenty of bone just below the hock, also in the pasterns where the bone must run right down into the feet. The cannonbones from the hock to the foot should be perpendicular when the dog stands naturally and I like the dog to stand fairly well over the hocks, so that the hind feet are almost under the buttocks bones, i.e. only slightly behind the root of the tail. All this happens naturally if the angulation of the pelvic-bone, stifle and hocks are correct and the backline level as it should be. Any wrong angulation at either end causes a raked back-line and the weight to come wrong on every joint so that the dog will stand wrong. Joints are delicate things with tender membranes, tendons and ligaments and should get every help they can, because in a retriever they are going to carry extra weight and get a lot of strain put on them, by reason of the work. Feet are very important. The weight must come correctly on to them so that it is evenly distributed foreleg to foreleg, hindleg to hindleg, with slightly more weight being taken on the hind feet. I hate a dog standing down on the forehand, having been a horsewoman. So for me the balance must be slightly on the hindquarters. And in feet I think of the work and like the Standard foot, neither Cat nor Hare, but a true, round, well-padded Labrador foot able to open or shut as required, yet not loose or coarse. And with all this I like quality and beauty of the line, two elusive things difficult to describe and even more difficult to obtain. |
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