"It was a great privilege to act as stand in judge for Miss June Yeoward and take over her lovely entry. Thank you June. I would like to wish her a speedy recovery. I also wish to thank the exhibitors who so sportingly supported me on the day which I thoroughly enjoyed.

The quality of many of the dogs present was outstanding - the young males were especially pleasing which bodes well for the future of the breed. There is no question that size is now much improved - there were very few undersized dogs or bitches and all my winners were of excellent quality. I was delighted with the massive bone of so many exhibits. Weak fine bone is incorrect, and I felt that this was less of a problem in this entry than when I last judged 18 months ago.

There is still a problem with fronts, and a number of otherwise quality dogs and bitches were narrow in chest, with lack of hand room between the fore legs. This gives the appearance of an A-frame with the fore legs not parallel, which is a serious construction fault. Since the forequarters take most of the dog’s bodyweight it is essential that when viewed from the front that a parallel line runs through the dog’s shoulders, elbows, legs and feet. Good width and depth of chest ensures the adequate heart room and lung capacity necessary for stamina and endurance which is essential for a large working dog. There were some dogs out at elbow, and although some degree of toeing in at the front is acceptable, elbows should be tucked in to the ribs not flapping about while the dog plaits with his feet in front. There were also some cow hocks, mainly in dogs which were narrow right through their bodies resulting in weak hind action. The balance of correct front and hind assemblies is vital for good movement . I was looking for dogs which had good reach in front combined with strong accurate drive from powerful correctly angulated hindquarters.

My winners were all effortless movers, covering the maximum ground with minimum effort. Mouths were generally very good, but I feel breeders need to look carefully at the balance of heads. Some dogs and bitches were either overdone in head with too much heaviness and lippiness and incorrect balance of stop to the muzzle and skull , or were very narrow in skull with long snipey muzzles. The eye of the Newfy is one of the most defining features of the breed and the dark almond shaped eye correctly placed in relation to the eye ridges and stop is what gives the breed its sweet and gentle expression. This should be true of dogs and bitches, and I was concerned that a number of otherwise well constructed dogs were spoilt by a hard expression which is alien to the breed. Bitches in particular should be feminine with a sweetness of expression.

Overall I looked for a combination of size, soundness, balance, breed type, (including head quality) and accurate movement and my placings reflect all these characteristics. Temperament was impeccable and I was proud that the gentle dignity and benevolence so important to the breed was so obvious in every single dog I judged. We should be very proud of British Newfies and work hard to ensure that this sweetness of disposition is retained at all costs."