In 1999 I received a phone call from Australia to ask me if I wanted to judge
the Afghans at the Specialty of the Victoria Inc Afghan Hound Club in Australia.
It is obvious that I didn’t have to think twice about this. The answer of course
was yes. At the moment of the phone call I only judged Afghans five times and
only once abroad. After some exchange writing I finally find out why they wanted
me “after all”. The reason was the Afghan Hound Congress organised in Denmark in
1997, where I was one of the speakers. My topic was “What is the right type?”
After this meeting I received a lot of e-mails from all over the world with
positive reactions. You can already understand, in Denmark there were also
Australian Afghan enthusiasts who heard or read my speech on the internet. And
that how I got the invitation. I left the 5th of march, and I had to fly about 24 hours to be able to judge Afghan Hounds in Australia. Sit up straight, sit still and not be able to sleep are the things I remember the best of the flight, but I had no objections. I can tell you a lot about the Australian hospitality and Melbourne and surroundings, my hart is still full of it, but for this purpose I have to stick to my judging. But I can tell you now: don’t hesitate to ask me if you want to know more about my experiences and adventures in Australia.
The 10th of March I was picked up at my hotel and brought to the “showground”. The showground was wonderful, and there were also buildings like halls to our disposition. The Australian Kennelclub has more of those places. They are only meeted to dog clubs, who can organise there the shows, trainings, meetings and educations, for example to become a judge. As a manager of different Dutch cynologic clubs I was very impressed. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have something like this in the Netherlands?
JUDGINGIMPRESSIONS:
I was very surprised with what I saw, very nice Afghans of different types were present. In all the types I saw dogs of very good quality, but also dogs of a poorer quality were presented. The fronts attracted very positively my attention, very nice angulated with a nice lay of shoulder. The fore chest was very well pre-
sent, the spring of ribs was wonderfully deep, and the nice large feet from a lot of dogs gave me also a lot of pleasure. I thought the males were of better quality, of the dogs shown under me that day. But I would like to discuss some points, the breeders and judges in Australia (but also elsewhere) should pay attention to. These points are: temperament, dentition, expression, exaggeration in angulations of the hindquarters and the movement.
For the first point, I would like to see more Afghans with more temperament. It was as if some dogs were sleeping in the ring, although they have to react very alert to every kind of movement. It is the King of dogs and they have to show it with their attitude.
Dentition: I had a scare from this. A lot of dogs missed teeth (from P1 to P4). Also the dentition from a lot of dogs, the youngsters included, were very badly looked after. Also beware weak under jaws.
Expression:
I saw Afghans with a wonderful oriental expression. But there were also dogs with a too light/or round eye, eyes too close to one another and too narrow heads. These points make the typical oriental expression disappear.
Exaggeration in the rear angulations: For this I mean angulations that is not in proportion with the forehand. Mostly the length of leg is too long and the knee bending exaggerated. This does not help the typical movement. This is possibly the reason why some of the dogs are presented like a speed train, something I do not prefer.
The movement:
I saw far extended (floating) but flat movement with the feet dragged over the ground. I only saw few dogs with the so called springy movement, where the feet also came well off the ground. Of course there were also dogs with few extended movement. The motto has to be: not too much but also not too little of it. We have to be careful that the so typical springy movement of the Afghan doesn’t disappear.
To end I would like to ask to the Afghan judges, breeders, owners and handlers: look further than only the big champions for breeding. During my first days in Melbourne City I saw beautiful modern buildings, but de most beautiful ones (sometimes also the strongest) I saw where to me the old Victorian ones? With other words, learn to know the past of the Afghan and try to maintain the breed in its original state. I would not say with these above mentioned points that the Afghans in Australia are worse or better than elsewhere. Also in other countries, as well as The Netherlands, should there be more attention and should the above mentioned points be discussed. Therefore I would like to go into the following subjects.
Type:
A lot of breeders of the old days (as well as breeders from today) looked for the most beautiful Afghan type, to their knowledge. Some chose the more Saluki looking ones or the desert-Afghan, also called the “Bell Muray” type, the others chose a compact and stronger build dog with a considerable amount of coat, the so called mountain-Afghan or the “Ghazni” - type. The first national and international reknowned kennels of the Netherlands who bred the so called mountain-Afghan, were the “Barukzhy’s of the Jüngeling family and the kennel “Van de Oranje Manege” of Mrs Eta Pauptit. It was the last kennel who gained world fame and could preserve the type of today through a strong selection, that resembles the most the early Afghans. Dogs who carried that particular type were: Sirdar, Khan, Zarifa and Roshni of Gazni. Fortunately still breeders in the Netherlands and elsewhere try to preserve this type of Afghan. I sincerely hope we won’t loose this authentic Afghan. Nowadays we know a lot of types, that all fit in the present standard. Personally I can live with it (although it is hard), as long as there is quality in the general image of the Afghan, and it shows in the anatomy, the movement and the so typical Afghan temperament. If we want to preserve the type that resembles the first imported Afghans, than the breeders of today have to take their duty and responsibilities.
Quality:Not only the type is important, it is at least as important to look at the quality of the Afghan Hound. Of course the quality differs between all the existing types everywhere in the world. In each type the breed qualities can’t be denied. Two important points to take into consideration are the head and the movement.
The head:
The heads are too narrow. This causes problems with the position and the number of teeth and molars. Also the eyes can’t be positioned nicely the one next to the other.
The under jaw is too weak: This is reprehensible, not only because it is ugly, but because dogs with such a few under jaw can’t do the work anymore what they used to do.
No stop: More often I see Afghans without a stop. The expression is completely changed because of this, more like a Borzoï.
The eyes are too round: That’s where you loose the typical expression.
Falling skull: The head is completely out of balance and is certainly not typical for any type.
These before mentioned problems are a threat to the so desired oriental expression of the Afghan Hound.
The movement:
The standard says about the movement: “fluid and springy and very stylish”. A few words and so meaningful. How can you explain now, what these words say. Here my interpretation:
The movement has to be powerful, with a good propulsion from the hindquarters and the whole has to be harmonic in movement. A fluid, springy and well extending movement is only possible if the dog possesses a lot of flexibility. Unfortunately we see the desired movement less and less, there are Afghans that move flat over the ground with a (too) far extention, you see dogs move with their feet dragging the ground and also there are Afghans that have no flexibility at all in their movement. Here I would like to remark that for me a flowing movement is not the same as a springy movement. Lets keep in mind that if we loose the so typical Afghan movement, it will be very difficult to breed it back.
BACK TO THE AUSTRALIAN SHOWGROUNDI wrote about my BIS winner: the male Wishuz Vintage Crop, owned by the Wishuz kennels:
Dark brindle representatif of the breed with a nice overall image. Fine square build Afghan with a perfect neck and topline. The head is excellently balanced, with a good prominent occiput and fine jaws. He has a dark eye with a nice oriental expression, the ears are lowset, the dentition could be better cared for. He carried his head proudly on a long strong neck. His forechest was excellent and he had a very nice ribcage with a very good underline. Excellent proportions in the frontangulations and rear angulations with a very good layed back shoulder, wonderful kneebending and a nice low hock. The wrists are long and flexible. The tail is well set and carried with a ring. The coat has a nice fine structure and is well cared for.
My Runner Up to BIS, the bitch CH. Ibidan Dressed for Success, owned by Janonis and O’Callaghan, had the following report: five year old black bitch of excellent quality. Fine proportions of the height and the length with a very nice topline. Good balanced nice feminine head with strong jaws and a good dentition. Nice dark eyes well positioned and with a good expression. The ears are well set and covered with silky hear. The head is carried high on a strong neck. Good present fore chest with an excellent ribcage. The forehand is well angulated with a good lay back of shoulder. Long hindquarters with reasonable knee bending and a very nice low hock. Strong feet of sufficient size, wrists well placed and flexible. Shows a good extended and flowing movement, I liked more flexibility. The tail is well set and proudly carried. The coat is excellently cared for and has a good structure.
AFTER THE SHOW:
In the week after the show, I saw a lot of different shows and visited kennels to compare and to learn. The shows had not such a high entries, and it happened that exhibitors went to two shows on the same day. It even happened that one person had to judge in the morning and that the same person showed her dog somewhere else. Afterwards I learned that it was theoretically possible to go to four shows in one week-end. The shows were very well organised, everything was timed to the minute. The attitude of the exhibitors is the same as in The Netherlands or elsewhere, they are nice if they win and they are sad (well sad) if they loose.
You always have to be careful if you visit kennels in a foreign country.
