Question:
I know this probably seems like an off-the-wall question but after I have been to a seminar, a ranch, and the Nationals, I have a different perspective on what quality my chinchillas are. Of course I don't have the special lights they use when grading chinchillas and my eye is not as trained as an official judge but I do have a general idea of what qualities to look for.
The only chinchilla I can say is pet quality is Tweety(standard gray/vc). Her fur is not dense and she lacks conformation. Sebastian (hetero ebony/vc) has wonderful, dense, fur but is pointy and small. Danny (my homo ebony) won 2nd place in an Empress show and has awesome fur but is on the small side and is has some gray on his undercoat. Baxter (silver mosiac) has awesome colour, conformation and size. I was proud to have Randy Jagielo pick him out for me when I went to the Ouderkirks. Even though Griffin (white ebony) is only 6 months old, he has excellent fur and is going to be a very blocky, Brevi type chinchilla. Noel (mosiac/vc) has outstanding fur and from what I can see, there is no yellow cast to her fur. She is also a good size female. Delilah (violet), has good fur and a nice deep colour to her fur.



Answer:
I've never taken Felix to a show (I plan to) but I don't think hw would do very good. His fur is short, maybe just 1 cm, his body is slightly triangular (it's getting better though) and his head isn't blunt.
The last 2 shows that Snurr was at he got 82 and 78 points out of 100. His worst areas seem to be fur texture and density. And the last judge thought he was a bit small . I'll make sure to brush him properly before next show but can't do much about the size.


Answer:
The only chin of my own that I would judge as better than pet quality is Zoya. She is well over 700 grams (she even has rolls!), has dense fur, very blocky, small ears, and a nice white belly. The rest are either small or pointy or both.


Answer:
Candice, I would love to see pics of Zoya. She sounds just beautiful.


Answer:
I would rate all mine as pet quality as I have NO CLUE how to judge them, HMM me thinks a road trip to the Ryersons if I can talk Jan and Rich into looking at them might be good idea that is AFTER I have one of there carriers (its on my xmas wish list).


Answer:
I am slowly learning how to judge quality. I had a wonderful opportunity to visit Whitewoods and help them pick for Nationals for two weekends (well in reality I learned). I learned alot. It takes time to get that eye for quality and so I am slowly learning. I would say I have a pretty good quality herd though. I have one or two that I wouldn't show but do have them paired with a chin who is of better quality to improve. I think that none of my chins are perfect, but each one had their own special quality weather it be dense fur, size, conformation etc.. It's a continued effort to improve the quality of the offspring.


Answer:
I think both my chins are absolutely PERFECT!
But then again I might be a bit biased


Answer:
Denise, I have to put new batteries in my camera and then I'll take pictures.


Answer:
Great to hear that lots of people are learning about quality!
I wish there were shows around here. The National Chinchilla Breeders of Canada isn't very active around here so there haven't been shows for a long time. The only show I have done is the on-line show from the Chinchilla Club and my chins did pretty good, imo. All what I have learned is from the breeders I know and I don't get to see them as often as I like.
I can't list them all, I'd be here all night, lol but I have a some gorgeous standard, beiges, and bv chins from top Canadian breeders and also some very much pet quality ones. I got some beautiful mutations that are maturing very nicely too.
Too bad airfare is so expensive, or I think I would be at every show trying to learn as much as possible.. *must save Air Miles, must save Air Miles*


Answer:
On a scale of 1 to 10? I'd rate all my sweethearts as 10s, of course!