Judge’s Profile

Jackie Hodge (Naiken)

In 1977 I had my first dog, a German Shepherd and in 1981 our first chocolate Labrador ‘Tekka’ joined her and my husband’s yellow rescue Lab.

The affix NAIKEN is taken from NAIROBI, KENYA, where my husband and I were both born. This was granted in 1985. ‘Tekka’ produced Naiken Adisi, a dog I did everything with, a real multipurpose Labrador. I showed her at Open level with some success and when she produced Naiken Dusty Drover (1989) and Naiken Eduardo Esquire (1991) I began showing at Championship level with a lot of success for a newcomer and chocolates. Through my bitches I like to produce Labradors, which can do other things apart from show, so we work them on shoots in the winter, they also do agility, obedience and more recently Scentwork and Man-trailling and we put them through the Kennel Club Good Citizen Dog Schemes. All our dogs are health checked. The kennels first English show champion was Naiken Kris in 2001 and first full champion, having gained her Show Gundog Certificate N. Russian Rhythm. Followed by Quincy, Way Out West, Xclusive Dream, Zephyr, Dance Rhythm, Carinsia and the 3 siblings East Meets West, Elite Envoy & Etoile. Having also won CCs and RCCs with our other show dogs over the years and Naiken champions have been made up in other countries. N. Classic Cliché has also been successful in Ireland winning 6 Green Stars and a CACIB to date. The highlight of our show career so far was winning BOB at Crufts 2010 with N. Way Out West; having been awarded the CC by David Craig and BOB in agreement with Barry Rooth. I started judging in the U.K. in 1992 and awarded my first CCs in 2004. I have judged several breed clubs and have had numerous appointments around the world, giving me the opportunity to see some fabulous Labradors. I am very much looking forward to judging the dogs at this prestigious club.