KARTANO WEEKEND HELSINKI 15TH JULY 2017

 
 
I was delighted to be invited to judge the whippet entry at the Kartano Weekend Sighthound Show. There was a warm and friendly welcome for myself and my guest, fellow CC judge Judy Manley and the weekend weather looked very promising. In fact the weather could not have been better. Wonderful sunshine with a pleasant breeze, which was excellent for the whippets. There was a good entry of 53, even though there were 2 other shows in the same area.
 
We had a lovely spacious ring with short grass, which was very good for assessing the whippets as they moved. I would like to thank the ring stewards who were both very efficient and helped to ensure that everything ran smoothly, even if, occasionally, we had a little setback over the translations here and there! In general, both dogs and bitches were presented in good condition and were very nice in shape and profile movement. Sadly, some were very disappointing ‘coming and going’ , either toe-ing in or moving very close behind. This is a functional sighthound and I believe soundness to be a very important aspect of the whippet when moving.
Ears were also an issue – quite a few were large and coarse in the ear, although I did not see them prick them.
My CC winners both came from their Intermediate classes. BOB and CC Male was  ‘Besties Zorro The Hero’. A sound, well angulated dog who was masculine whilst still elegant and of a lovely size. He moved very sound coming and going, and had good reach in profile with strong drive from the rear. Curvy underline and a good topline completed the picture.
CC Bitch and Best Opposite was ‘Softouch Girl Next Door’. Very feminine with plenty of length. Good front and rear angulation. Well let down hocks. Also moved soundly and had good profile action.
 
BOB Veteran was C’Mere Jöröjukka and BOB breeder was Kennel Softouch
 
I thank you again for a very pleasant weekend and I very much look forward to returning to Finland in the future.
 
 
Judge Ann Beckett-Bradshaw (U.K.)