Dazzle comes to stay

Dazzle has been living at Bucolick for a bit over 2 months. Lauren at Orical was kind enough to send him up to me in Queensland for him to mature a bit. He's been an easy dog to accomodate. Friendly, unreactive to other dogs, affectionate, confident. I have plenty of warm words to describe him. Last weekend I took him to the Bundaberg show cluster. I'm not a frequent shower, but if international judges, particularly Finnish ones are judging, I'm always keen to see how our Australian Lapphunds measure up. And Dazzle is on the small side for a Finnish Lapphund male, and not particularly 'masculine' in breed type.

Australian Shows do not routinely give critiques. This means that you might not have any idea of the reasons why YOUR dog won or lost under a particular judge. But it's the norm in Finland. I was going to ask for some informal critiques after the show, but our judge was very forthcoming for Dazzle without my asking. She asked me twice how old he was. "Come back maybe in 3 years. For now he would be very nice... if he were a bitch". This is a much harsher critique than it sounds on paper! Dazzle won no prizes and nor did he 'deserve' them. Sexual dimorphism is an important part of the breed standard for the Finnish Lapphund and pretty much everything about Dazzle is feminine. He's also the easiest imaginable pet. Having watched him over the 2 months he's been with us, he's definitely matured a little, but I suspect it will be a few years before he looks like a bloke.