"It is a great honour to be asked to judge a Club Championship Show and I would like to thank the committee for inviting me on this occasion.

A huge “Thank You” to all the exhibitors for their kind entry and giving me the opportunity to assess their Newfoundlands. Temperaments as always were exemplary as one would expect and all were clean and well groomed.

I found many round eyes, in fact this looks more the norm than otherwise. For me, it does spoil the benevolent expression we have come to know and love. On many very good dogs I had to overlook this as it is only one feature.

I have not overly commented on tails as I found most to be of correct length, although some only just (watch this breeders) and mouths were on the whole very good.

The thing I found most disturbing was movement on the out and back. Most Newfoundlands in profile have a good gait, reach and drive varies of course depending on angulation but I found a huge majority very untidy, neither straight and true when moving towards. The same applies to the rear when moving away, with again a huge majority very close behind. Puzzling, when so many have very good angulation. Personally, and I may of course be wrong, I found the few Newfoundlands which were well muscled had the advantage.

Most exhibitors accepted my decisions with good grace. We must remember judging is subjective to the individual and what they prioritise for them as more desirable and how they rate each individual fault (and yes even the very best dogs have them)."