# Deciphering Critiques



## Emmastace (Feb 11, 2011)

Condition is often mentioned in critiques and Mylo is normally described as 'good condition' but on several occasions they have said 'shown in hard condition'. Is this the same thing, or is hard better than good, or does hard mean you have gone too far with the muscle?


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## smokeybear (Oct 19, 2011)

Emmastace said:


> Condition is often mentioned in critiques and Mylo is normally described as 'good condition' but on several occasions they have said 'shown in hard condition'. Is this the same thing, or is hard better than good, or does hard mean you have gone too far with the muscle?


If you are showing a working dog in particular eg one that is supposed to be able to work all day in the field such as a gundog, then you want to see hard condition.

In Germany they often call it "dry".

I have always felt very pleased when that adjective has been applied to my dogs in the show ring.


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## Rafa (Jun 18, 2012)

Emmastace said:


> Condition is often mentioned in critiques and Mylo is normally described as 'good condition' but on several occasions they have said 'shown in hard condition'. Is this the same thing, or is hard better than good, or does hard mean you have gone too far with the muscle?


Shown in hard condition usually means lean and muscular. As SB says, as a working dog should be and is a compliment.

I've seen a few critiques where, maybe, a dog has taken third or fourth place in a very small class where the Judge has commented that the dog was in soft condition.

I think that's a polite way of saying too fat.


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## Emmastace (Feb 11, 2011)

He has always been very very muscular and until recently he has been too lean and needed to gain weight in spite of my constant endeavors to get his weight up a bit. As he has just turned two and he is just starting to get a whisper of covering as he matures a bit. I hate any excess weight on dogs and think the show judges often want too much on the GSP's but he is up against dogs 2 to 4 years older than him in Limit so the weight difference is really obvious. He looks a bit like a pumped up stallion against some of them because every muscle is so defined.


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## Rafa (Jun 18, 2012)

Emmastace said:


> He has always been very very muscular and until recently he has been too lean and needed to gain weight in spite of my constant endeavors to get his weight up a bit. As he has just turned two and he is just starting to get a whisper of covering as he matures a bit. I hate any excess weight on dogs and think the show judges often want too much on the GSP's but he is up against dogs 2 to 4 years older than him in Limit so the weight difference is really obvious. He looks a bit like a pumped up stallion against some of them because every muscle is so defined.


Do you show him in Post Graduate as well as Limit?


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## Emmastace (Feb 11, 2011)

Sweety said:


> Do you show him in Post Graduate as well as Limit?


No, he won out of PG about 5 months ago. He was unbeaten in PG from the first time he entered so it didn't take long He got his first RCC in PG. He has been in Limit since he was 19 months old and got his second RCC the only time he has come first. He really is a baby next to the others though. Limit is a nightmare, sometimes half the dogs entered are in that one class. At Driffield there were 11 entered in Limit and 2 in Open.


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## Rafa (Jun 18, 2012)

Don't know whether things have changed, but when I was showing, a win in Limit would get a dog his number in the Stud Book and qualify him for Crufts for life.

Everyone wants a win in Limit and it does tend to be a very, very tough class.


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## Emmastace (Feb 11, 2011)

Sweety said:


> Don't know whether things have changed, but when I was showing, a win in Limit would get a dog his number in the Stud Book and qualify him for Crufts for life.
> 
> Everyone wants a win in Limit and it does tend to be a very, very tough class.


He got his Stud Book Number when he was in PG and got his first RCC. He has qualified for Crufts at every Champ show he has done bar two and they were all Limit and after he qualified for life. Stupid thing is he can't ever go cos he's docked.


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## Rafa (Jun 18, 2012)

That's a shame.

He's won a lot though, you must be really proud of him.


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## smokeybear (Oct 19, 2011)

Sometimes it is better to take a break from the showring if you are now in Limit and Open against the more mature dogs, otherwise he will always look "less".


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## BessieDog (May 16, 2012)

smokeybear said:


> Sometimes it is better to take a break from the showring if you are now in Limit and Open against the more mature dogs, otherwise he will always look "less".


This is easy to say and good advice, but for those of us who only have one dog harder to do. It would be hard to take a year out without losing the bug or impetus to show.


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## Emmastace (Feb 11, 2011)

Sweety said:


> That's a shame.
> 
> He's won a lot though, you must be really proud of him.


I am. And I know I have been incredibly lucky because I didn't get him with any intention to show and have never done it before. I do have someone else that handles him at Champ shows for me that knows what they are doing but I do all the Opens and Champ Stakes classes. Saying that, I have handled him myself in about half of the Limit Classes at Champs cos David hasn't been able to make it and my results are about equal to his. He is the dog of a lifetime and I truly appreciate him and I am so grateful to his breeder for letting me have him.


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## Emmastace (Feb 11, 2011)

smokeybear said:


> Sometimes it is better to take a break from the showring if you are now in Limit and Open against the more mature dogs, otherwise he will always look "less".


I have toyed with that notion and I have noticed that a lot of people do that in this breed, maybe cos there really is no hiding place with GSP's. BecauseI didn't start until he was 10 months, did a few over the summer then had a big break between Midland Counties in Oct last year and WELKS in April this year I have done more to get him used to it and to relax in the ring. I will probably do the same break this winter as the shows tend to be ones he can't go to because of his dock or up north or in Scotland. I don't really go above the Midlands. Driffield was another planet to me .....lol


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