Cruft's '98

On March 5th, I had the honour of judging the Great Danes at Cruft’s. I use the word, honour, because in the 107 years of that great dog show, no other North American has ever been invited to judge the Danes.

It was a remarkable day for me! With a marvelous entry of 281 dogs and bitches. A long day! I had to be finished for the group by 5:00 p.m.

But first, a bit about Cruft’s!

Cruft's 98 ~ 110,000 people jam the 250,000 square foot
show facility that held 330 huge trade exhibits.

Cruft’s was named by it’s founder Charles Cruft who held canine exhibitions shortly after leaving college in 1876. Three years after, the Kennel Club (in England) was founded. His first job was with Spratt’s selling "dog cakes" all over Britain and Europe. In 1878 French dog breeders, impressed with his knowledge of dogs, invited him to organize the promotion of the canine section of the Paris Exhibition. He was still just two years out of college.

Back in England, he took over management of the Allied Terrier Club Show at the Royal Aquarium, Westminster. The first Cruft’s Show in his name, was booked into the Royal Agricultural Hall, Islington, England, in 1891.

Charles Cruft died in 1938 and his widow continued to run the shows. She then asked the Kennel Club to take over the show after the war, the first Cruft’s under Kennel Club control, was held in 1948 at Olympia in London.

In 1979, Cruft’s moved to Earl’s Court because the show grew and grew. In 1982, the show ran for three days and in 1987, four days were needed.

In 1991, the Cruft’s Centenary Show was held at the Birmingham National Exhibition Centre, it’s first time out of London.

This year was the eighth show at that Centre. It covered 250,000 square feet of indoor space, all on one floor in five connecting halls. There was 110,000 paid attendance with thousands from overseas. Over 20,000 pedigree show dogs were judged in four days for that one show and with the obedience events, fly ball competition, demonstrations of police and guide dogs, the public was able to see over 25,000 dogs do their thing. It’s a benched show. There were over 330 hugh trade stalls.

On Thursday, March 5th, the Working Group was judged; Friday, the Terrier and Hound Groups; Saturday, Toy and Utility Groups and on Sunday, the Gundog Group and Best In Show were judged.

It took 175 judges to cover the four day show using 32 rings each day. Only three judges, including me, were from overseas . . . one from Norway and one from Australia.

Thursday, when I judged the Danes, 5,994 Working Group dogs and bitches from 43 breeds, were judged. That evening, Group Judge Lionel Hamilton-Renwick, gave the Working Group to the Bouvier, Ch. Kani Zena, an 18 month old bitch. Second was the Doberman, third the Giant Schnauzer and fourth the Puli. On Sunday night, March 8th, Best In Show was the Welsh Terrier, Ch. Saredon Forever Young. A new young bitch Champion, the Chow, Towsushet’s The Misstress was Reserve Best In Show.

Critiquing the Open Dog Class.
Note the large ring and wall to wall carpet.

His Royal Highness, Prince Michael of Kent,
President of The Kennel Club. After speaking
with me, he asked my permission to talk to
some of the exhibitors. I stopped judging while
he inspected the Bitch Puppy Class at Cruft's 98.

For those of you who are not really familiar with the system of judging at British Championship shows, I should explain how a dog gets to Cruft’s.

It is a qualifying show and your dog or bitch must have placed, at least in the first three in a class, at a Championship show in the U. K. during the previous year. The classes are large in Britain so that’s not as easy as you may think. For Danes, there are 7 classes to enter for both dogs and bitches. They are:

~Special Puppy (age 9-14 months)
~Special Junior (age 9-18 months)
~Special Yearling (age 12-24 months)
~Post Graduate
~Limit
~Open
~Veteran

Note: The Post Graduate, Limit and Open classes differ according to the number of awards you’ve already won.

All colours are together! Champions appear in the Open Class with dogs that are not yet champions so if there’s a great Champion dog showing at the time, you may have a long, tough road getting by him or her to get your championship on your dog. Each unbeaten class winner will then compete for Best Dog and then Best Bitch.

There is a Challenge Certificate for the Best Dog and one for the Best Bitch. You need three Challenge Certificates to become a Champion and, as I said before, the Champions do not jump to a "Specials" class as in North America. They stay in the classes and many great Champions will win scores of Challenge Certificates before being beat by a new, upcoming dog for the Challenge Certificate that day.

Best of Breed is then chosen between the Best Dog and Best Bitch and the other becomes Best of Opposite Sex. As with us, the Best of Breed winner goes on to compete for Best In Group and these Group Winners compete for Best In Show.

The English Kennel Club Standard for Great Danes is similar but not the same as the U. S. or Canadian standards. The English do not yet recognize a "Boston" or "Mantle" dog colour in Danes such as you find when judging the breed in Europe or Canada.

I have judged over 20 shows in Britain over the years, Specialties and All Breed, so I am quite familiar with their standard and large classes. Now let’s talk about my assignment to judge the Great Danes.

~ Best of Breed ~
Bitch Challenge Certificate Winner
Mohos Scarlet Serenade

~ Best of Opposite Sex ~
Dog Challenge Certificate Winner
Yacanto Dancing Wolf

I have already told you that the entry was remarkable - 281 dogs and bitches from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Normal Kennel Club regulations will limit a judge to 250 entries a day but I have had large entries there before so my entry fortunately was not split. I made the Group with plenty of time to spare.

I have also learned over the years to avoid complaints that some judges will get doing large class entries. Competitors are known to object that you don’t spend as much time going over their dog as you did on "Mrs. Jones". I pull out of the line every exhibit for individual inspection to avoid these complaints.

With good stewards and advance ring discussion with them, you can keep the flow of dogs moving well with a thorough inspection and still finish on time.

There are also many tricks of the trade to save time. For example, run them only down and back to avoid the last leg of the "triangle". That will save 10-12 seconds a dog and with 281 entries, add it up!

For aspiring young judges . . . have the Club give you a box lunch at your table. Walking back and forth to lunch takes time if the aisles are crowded and it breaks your concentration anyway. I always tell young judges to be decisive. Probably your first thought was best! Hesitation may only confuse you. That also saves you a lot of time.

Because entries need to qualify by winning classes in previous Championship Shows, the quality at Cruft’s is very good throughout all of the classes. In Britain, Danes have lovely substance. Large bone on big dogs and bitches. Yet movement was very good, indeed.

I was required to do a written report (critique) on the first three winners of each class at the end of each class and an overall report of my breed. This must be sent to the two National Dog Papers, "Our Dogs" and "Dog World" to arrive by the Tuesday following the show and those reports are in those papers on the newsstands and mailed to subscribers homes by the Friday of that same week in every part of the country. In my report, I warned exhibitors that, with substance, you have to keep in mind elegance and refinement. We are losing that in our breed. I found some tendency to heavier heads, too broad in skull and short necks. This same criticism applies to North America and not just Britain, however.	Reserve Dog Challenge Certificate Winner Baadswood Proud Son
Reserve Bitch Challenge Certificate Winner Tyak Time Flies By Taranmur	My Best of Breed and Best of Opposite Sex were lovely examples of the Great Dane breed. Young dogs that were not yet Champions and they soundly defeated the Champions that day in the classes. My Best of Breed was a young fawn bitch "Mohos Scarlet Serenade". She, of course, was Best Bitch and Challenge Certificate Winner, her first! Best of Opposite Sex and Dog Challenge Certificate Winner was the fawn, "Yacanto Dancing Wolf".
Reserve Bitch was "Tyak Time Flies By Taranmur" and Reserve Dog, "Baadswood Proud Son". Best Puppy was a lovely brindle bitch "Cremwell Conversation" who never stopped showing all day. All of these winning dogs would win anywhere in the world and I’d be proud to take home any one of them! Editors Note: I would like to thank Bob Heal for this wonderful article about Cruft’s 98. He judged the South African Great Dane Association Specialty in June and the 35th Swedish Great Dane Specialty in July. He will report on these shows in later issues that you will see here on-line and also in the paper version of Dane World.	Best Puppy In Breed Cremwell Conversation