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YORKY CLUB MAGAZINE #12 - April 2009

"The Yorkshire Terrier through the eyes of the judge" by Markku Kipina & Sergio Pierluigi

The Yorkshire Terrier through the eyes of the judge

When you are standing in the middle of the ring and you are starting to look at all those beautiful Yorkies around you, so you'll see like small statues, standing proudly with full of attitude and with beautiful, long coats and every single hair in order.
When you look closer, you'll see that only few are standing on they own feet without the help of handler's hands. Then you are already thinking, what will happen, when they start to move.

And a bit closer look at their coats. You'll see, that every single dog has a bit different colors from each others. You can say, that there is not two Yorkie in a ring with the exactly similar colors. And if the body color is similar, at least the tan color is different. So then you just start to look at, who has the colors witch are acceptable - enough deep dark steel blue and well shaded and rich tan. You'll see some with too light blue or even black. You'll see some with almost no tan at all or dirty tan with black or grey hair or all uniform red tan without shades and even some who have running tan. Also when you look at the quality of the coat, you'll find out that there is not so many Yorkies, who have shiny, clean coat, where every hair is thick and heavy enough to fall down well and straight - naturally.

Maybe we take a closer look by walking from dog to dog to take a look at the faces and also to check temperaments. Of course the meaning of all those long hairs on the head is also to give the handler possibility to build up a beautiful expression by building up balance between the ears, skull, eyes and the muzzle. We can see longer and shorter heads also wider and narrow once. Different size of ears and eyes. Better and worse pigments. Stronger and weaker jaws and bites. Just had to find the one who has the best expression and all the details as good as possible. Also when you are looking at them, they'll show you their temperaments, some very happy and outgoing and some a bit shy.

It's time to move. I would like to see straight top-lines and well carried heads and tails. Movement supposed to look easy and active with full of drive. So many dogs, who don't have enough good anatomy to hold the movement in balance and nice looking. Of course Yorkies have strong temperament and they need good training for the shows also.
On the judging table they must look like kings and queens. There we take a closer look for details and under the coat. Now we get an idea, why some were looking longer or lower, heavier or lighter... From faraway we saw already the type and the quality overall, but on the table, we can see, who really is closest to standard. One of the most general mistake that breaks the movement is that angulations are not in balance. Most common, that forequarters are almost straight and almost too much in hindquarters. Yorkie can move quite well even with not so strong angulations, if there is balance between the front and the rear.
Of course you must check the color lines between the blue and the tan with brush on the table. Also you get an idea about the quality of the coat. Sometimes the quality is good, but the coat is not in show condition.

Then you just start to place the excellent ones, thinking about those qualities we have mentioned here and also thinking all the time about the size, the type and the movement up to the end.

Markku Kipinä, FCI judge

The idea of Beauty

The idea of “beauty” was always a very important point in zootechnics and a lot was written about it, at the point to say that “beauty” is everything that attracts positively our eyes. The methodic research and the systematic study in the animal domain give to “beauty” a more universal meaning: we can say that “beauty” is the sum of virtues of a dog. Over the idea of “absolute beauty”, which is valid for all breeds (i.e. the state of good health), and of “relative beauty”, which is breed-specific (i.e. overbite), there is a very important type of beauty which is not so easy to evaluate in a dog show: the psychical beauty. I consider fundamental for every dog, small sized like big sized, this type of beauty, because is based on the character of a dog and on his balance. A “fault” in this field brings negative results like fear or uncontrolled aggressiveness, regardless from the size of the dog. So psychical beauty must be considered as absolute, universal for all breeds. When I judge our breed, the Yorkshire Terrier, over the deep examination of the conformation to the general breed characteristics, I give a lot of importance to the behavioural profile, like temperament and docility, the interest for the outside world and curiosity. A judge must always keep in mind that he is not judging a statue, but a live animal which has to live inside the human community. A dog, even if small, should not be nervous or hysteric, should allow to be touched and should open the mouth without biting. When at the leash, should move in harmony with the handler, like being happyto show himself.

I personally had the occasion to know two yorkies who denoted an exceptional phenotypical either psychical beauty. The first was Ch. Erika della Rugiada, owned by Mrs. Marta Properzi. She was a very beautiful bitch for that time (during the ‘80s), and in the ring she was amazing. Erika knew exactly which was her job: while waiting her class, she was used to bark because she wanted to show herself; at the right time she was jumping on the red box by herself and standing there immobile for all time necessary and then she was promptly jumping down at a gesture of the owner and walking at the leash before her, keeping the head up, proud to be admired by judge and spectators. And she was even more encouraged by the clapping, that’s why she won several Best in Show inher career.

The second dog of rare physical and psychical beauty is Parkside’s Best Choice “Kevin”, owned by Mrs. Antonella Meucci. He was more times in my house for matings. Over the beauty of his proportions and lines, the parallelism of limbs, the strength of the topline and all the rest, what touched me in the deep was his psychic balance. Kevin came in with absolutely no fear and knowing exactly what he was going to do there. He immediately started to put himself well in relation with everybody of us, like being one of our dogs. He really remained in my heart, and I hope to have from him a puppy with his qualities (physical & psychical).

In conclusion: a dog must be considered beautiful not only for his morphology but also for the balance of his psychical characters.

Sergio Pierluigi, FCI Judge

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