This article was originally published in Showsight Magazine, February 2015 issue.
In my years with this wonderful breed, I have noticed many judges; new and old, can lack confidence judging Golden Retrievers due to the many styles within the breed. My advice to anyone potentially applying for their license for Goldens is; research thoroughly, choose your mentor(s) carefully and lastly, go with your gut. I encourage judges to take the information given, but develop their own style of judging that one can follow. I can always appreciate consistency in judging, even if I wasn’t the one leaving the ring with the ribbons. Often times, you see provisionals judging and they look lost or anxious. There are a few things I would like to address that are current issues facing our breed today. Understanding the current standard and potential revisions that need to be made to the current standard.
The first thing I would like to address is the common misconception of amount of leg a Golden Retriever should have. The breed itself at one time tended to be long and low. I think we have strayed from that recently and almost to an extreme. The standard calls for ratios of 12:11. A dog with ample furnishings can trick the eye and the dog can appear low in leg. My suggestion to judges who are unsure, is to measure with your hands and eyes the length of the dog disregarding the coat. The standard calls for the length from the breastbone to the point of the buttocks slightly greater than the height at the withers. Many dogs that have the correct ratios, can look low due to coat. My suggestion to exhibitors showing a dog heavy in furnishings is to lightly clean up the underline of a dog, perhaps with a thinning shear, to show off the natural outline.
Just as much as we can criticize lack of leg, we should be criticizing too much leg. The standard specifically states “not clumsy nor long in leg.” I envision a sound, sturdy dog, that is light on their feet and athletic, without being slight in any fashion.
Fault judging may be something we encounter in all breeds, but it is another huge issue in Goldens as well. Judges can tend to hyper-focus on one aspect of a dog and miss the “big picture”. Goldens are supposed to be a balanced breed, with the entire package being more important than any of it’s component parts. When we fault judge or choose a dog because of one component, we lose sight of the breed’s purpose. Overall balance should be the focus, versus picking a dog’s imperfections apart. Unless those imperfections are disqualifications, of course.
Speaking of disqualifications, I was recently talking with a mentor of mine who had taken a stud fee puppy from a frozen breeding I did with her male. This puppy won a major from the six to nine class but was measured to see if she was in Standard before she was given the win. Many long time breeders feel it is unreasonable to require a six month old to be within the minimum height standard of an adult. For males, our standard requires them to be 23-24 inches, bitches 21½ to 22½ inches. There is an inch leeway below or above height standard, anything less or greater than, can be disqualified. But Labradors, for example, do not require puppies to be in standard until one year of age.
I will join many other breeders who believe this is something our national club should adopt into our standard. Requiring puppies to be within minimum adult height at six months old could put them at a health risk for hip and/or elbow dysplasia if the owners overfeed to push growth.
Sloping top lines seem to be a trend as well as of late. I find when you have a Golden with a sloping top line you can usually discover a structural fault that will prevent the overall balance that the standard asks for. Generally speaking, a dog with a sloping top line will be straighter in the front assembly, either having a very short upper arm, or an undesirable shoulder layback, paired with an over angulated rear. Be careful to not confuse a sloping top line on a dog in a stack with an exuberant temperament. Many Goldens can crouch in the rear when excited, the best way to evaluate a true sloping back is to study the top line on the move.
Lastly, I want to discuss color. Golden Retrievers should be Golden; not red, nor white. To quote the standard, “Predominant body color which is either extremely pale or extremely dark is undesirable.” Yet, I see judges rewarding very light colored exhibits, one step away from being white, or extremely dark exhibits, whose color is possibly suited best for the Irish Setter ring. While color may not be a priority to some, I believe it is the hallmark of the breed. They are GOLDEN Retrievers after all, right? As a breeder, health and temperament are always a first consideration, followed closely by breed type and structure. We have come a long way in Goldens; there is a lot of depth of quality within this breed, which makes it even harder to choose a winner on each given day. Remember, when judging this breed, everything about them should be “GOLDEN”.
