Judge's Critique - Mickey Koss

The Carolina Afghan Hound Club
Saturday Oct 19, 2013

Overall I thought the quality was descent, bitches showing a lot more quality than the males. My concern was that several did not have stable enough temperaments to allow me to go over them without collapsing to the ground.  While the Afghan Hound is an Aloof breed, I feel they should not like having a stranger go over them, they should stand for it.  This is something that needs to be addressed in both breeding programs and in socializing puppies.  Shoulder angulation continues to be a serious problem with shoulders now not only straight but are being moved forward which creates lift of the front movement without reach.  This is evident when the front has to drop back down to hit the ground. 

In my Dog Classes I had nice quality with the younger males showing promise.  I ended up putting up a black & tan dog number 37.  This dog had some very nice things about him, nice side gait, nice to go over but his head was not his strong point.  I would have liked less back skull and longer muzzle.   My Reserve Winners Dog #17 was a dog that showed better in for the Winners Class and had a very Falstaff look about him.  He wasn't sure of himself enough which was the factor for me to go with the Black and Tan over the him.  I felt that with more experience he will be a dog that could do some very nice winning. My WD and RWD could have easily been reverse if the Cream would have had more confidence. 

The Bitch Classes again showed a lot more quality.  I ended up with a beautiful Black Masked Red puppy for Winners Bitch #10.  She moved around the ring on a loose lead with little effort and at exactly the right speed.  She presented a Classic look.  My Reserve Bitch#36 a brindle who was a quality entry also had a beautiful way of going around the ring.  Before the Winners Class I thought she is who I was going to end up with but on the day it would have been hard to deny the Puppy Bitch.

The Specials Class showed the most quality.  This was a very difficult group to judge because on a different day Any One Of Them could have won the Breed.  This is the challenge for Judges to try to remain true to themselves, look at what is being presented on the day, and come up with all the same qualities that were rewarded earlier.  I had them all come in the ring free stack and then move around by themselves.   To me it is important that a Specialty winner should be able to hold themselves together on their own without anyone twisting them into position.  I can learn a lot about the animal doing this.  This group showed they all could do this extremely well.  I ended up with a  brindle dog #43 that showed beautiful side gait, great presence, and held himself together thru to the end.  The Winners Bitch puppy was my Best of Winners, and Best of Opposite #46 was so nice to go over along with being another nice moving Afghans.  My Selects both are just good overall Afghan Hounds that on another day I would have been proud to give the top honors to.  Award of Merits also fell into the same as the Selects numbers #44, 48, and 49.

I want to Thank everyone for a Wonderful day and for allowing me to judge your beautiful Afghan Hounds!

- Mr. Mickey Koss