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On June 15, 2012, NTCA will host its first Independent National Specialty at the Purina Event Center in Gray Summit MO. Details will be provided as they become available.
NTCA Show Chair John Francisco • jfrancjo@neo.rr.com • 419-668-2069
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Grooming the Hindquarters by Victor Sattler
The hindquarters should be groomed to show a neat and tidy appearance. From the two following side view photos you should see the grooming should show off the correct angulation of the rear. Thighs are groomed to blend into the rear and legs. There is a moderate shelf behind the tail.
Note that there is little hair left on the back of the hocks. The tuck up in front of the leg should be moderate. The hair on the paws is also short to show off a “cat foot”.
Looking from the rear, you should see reasonable width between the two legs. In the following left photo there has been no grooming done to the rear. The long unruly hairs under the tail (they look more wheaten in colour) need to be stripped for a cleaner presentation. The right photo show considerable tidying including cleaning-up the legs. Note you can now see the rear pad which is desirable when the dog gaits away from you. Of course, while the correct shape is now groomed in, this dogs needs ideally a fuller look which will come when the just stripped lengths grow back in, particularly with regard to the whispy hairs between the legs.
It is a little easier to see on the following red coated dogs. Notice also that the columns of hair created on the leg are a much tidier presentation from the rear. Lastly, you should be able to see a little bit of pad from the paw from the rear.
Note that there is little hair left on the back of the hocks. The tuck up in front of the leg should be moderate. The hair on the paws is also short to show off a “cat foot”.
Looking from the rear, you should see reasonable width between the two legs. In the following left photo there has been no grooming done to the rear. The long unruly hairs under the tail (they look more wheaten in colour) need to be stripped for a cleaner presentation. The right photo show considerable tidying including cleaning-up the legs. Note you can now see the rear pad which is desirable when the dog gaits away from you. Of course, while the correct shape is now groomed in, this dogs needs ideally a fuller look which will come when the just stripped lengths grow back in, particularly with regard to the whispy hairs between the legs.
It is a little easier to see on the following red coated dogs. Notice also that the columns of hair created on the leg are a much tidier presentation from the rear. Lastly, you should be able to see a little bit of pad from the paw from the rear.
Grooming the Norwich Body, by Victor Sattler
Body moderately short. Compact and deep. Good width of chest. Well-sprung ribs and short loins.
The top line is key to the breed silhouette and should be level across the back into the tail set. A topline sloped any other way unbalances the silhouette. If the dog is high in the rear you will see the topline rise to the tail. The cosmetic solution is to have the hair on the back near the tail very short and encourage more hair growth over the back to make the topline appear level.
Of course there is also a “bottom line”, which is the silhouette of the belly. This too needs tidying. A body that conforms to the description of the breed standard does not need any type of skirt. Sometimes longer legged dogs may have a skirt to trick the eye to suggest it is balanced, albeit with hair, not body. Notice also the moderate tuck up just forward of the hind legs.
Front Legs by Victor Sattler Page 9
The legs should be hand stripped. What you should groom is a straight column that runs from the foot, up the leg and blends into the shoulder. Using the elbow on the back of the leg as a starting point, you should strip the long hairs down to the foot. There should be no flair of hair at the elbow, rather just a straight column. The back of the leg is kept very short.
“Short, powerful legs, as straight as is consistent with the digging terrier. Pasterns firm. Feet round with thick pads. Nails black. The feet point forward when standing or moving.”
Here is an ungroomed leg. Notice the distinctive paw. What is more desirable as a “look” is a columned leg that ends in a cat like paw.
Now the leg has been combed. You should see that there are a lot of longer hairs on the back and front of the leg that need to be tidied up to make a column.
The column is actually achieved from leaving a little more length on the front of the leg, rather than the rear.
The best trick here is to use your comb as guide. The back of the comb rests against the elbow. Any hairs that lies out side of the guide are stripped.
Do this about once every two weeks and your columns will come in nicely after a few sessions.
You should also notice that by tidying up the leg even the paw starts to look much more cat like. This is done by keeping the hairs on the paw very short and having short toe nails.
Finally the leg looks something like this one you are done. Even this leg could use some more work but you can now see what the end product should resemble.
Grooming the Norwich Front by Victor Sattler
This portion speaks to the correct Norwich Terrier front. It is important to understand what is correct so that you do not groom the incorrect conformation and unnecessarily fault your dog. However, you can not look at any one part without considering the whole dog which balances what is right in the parts. We have already looked at the head in detail. The logical flow is next to the front. For that reason this section’s first photo show you a whole dog, and lets you focus on the parts as part of the whole, to keep perspective.
Ruff
Where the head transitions to the neck, ruff and shoulders, all this should flow clean transitioning between body parts. Notice the chest in front of the legs and the very neat and tidy appearance of the overall silhouette.
“The coat on neck and shoulders forms a protective mane. Neck of medium length, strong and blending into well laid back shoulders. Elbows close to ribs”
Front – From the Front View
Focusing now on the front, the following illustrations have three Norwich, head on. The left Norwich is generally balanced. The second is definitely too wide as well as “toes in” (incorrect). The one on the right toes out and has a fiddle front (incorrect). You should be aware that “form follows function” for animals. Norwich were bred to dig into lair of their prey. The way the Norwich digs is by lying on its belly and paddling our the dirt underneath. So, to some extend, the natural form would be a bit of digging front which is similar to the fiddle front on the right. However by grooming we present the front legs as straight and the leg in motion should show clean, straight, front to back movement.
Correct Incorrect Incorrect
In the following photo you should see that the left side shows a clean, head on presentation. On the right side, simply due to grooming, the straight column is not there. Obviously it needs a little more stripping at the bulky areas to get that nice straight column from the front view.
Front – From the Side View
Of course, the side view is breed silhouette. You should have that imprinted in your mind at this point, whether it is the lead photo of this section or the black and white cut-out on the left here. This is the template to groom to. Focusing on the front, a correct dog has a chest in front of its legs, not just hair. If it had no chest that would likely an indicator of incorrect construction.
Next we will look at the front legs in detail.
Premium list available at this link:
NTCA St. Louis Specialty
Note the $25.00 reserve grooming fee covers all three days
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