"Thank you to my extremely efficient stewards for ensuring that the classes moved on smoothly without delay. I enjoyed my day and Boston is to be congratulated on the professionalism of their show committee. Overall the standard of the Newfoundlands shown was very high and I was delighted with the great quality of my winning dogs and bitches in most classes.

I was pleased to see that temperament was 100% impeccable and that all the dogs entered displayed the exceptionally gentle, docile nature called for in the Breed Standard. I was aware of the changes in the Interim Breed Standard for Newfoundlands initiated by the Kennel Club and judged accordingly. It made very little difference in my overall decisions except in a couple of cases where ectropion was present in otherwise quality dogs. One good dog in particular had markedly ingrowing eyelashes which I had to penalise in the light of the new Standard which states “free from obvious eye problems”. I have a few general comments to make. Mouths were very good, and there were hardly any dogs with dropped teeth in the lower jaw, which at one time were extremely common. If the great majority of dogs present were representative of the breed in general, we have reason to be proud since they were fit for function and extremely sound. There has been a great deal of scaremongering and claptrap talk about the unsoundness of pedigree dogs in recent months. My line ups were full of handsome, well balanced, unexaggerated, healthy dogs who looked like they could work. It is no secret that I thoroughly dislike sculpting of a Newfoundland’s coat since this is a working water breed not a dog fit for a glamour contest. A Newfie should be an honest, extremely strong, noble and majestic dog, with a correctly textured coat essential for working in cold conditions. Tidying of the ears, feet and excessive hair on the hocks and lower body line is fine, but NOT a cardboard cut out sculpted shape which can hide a multitude of faults! However, a dog should be clean, and a couple of otherwise good dogs were spoilt by tats between the legs and dirty coats. Although presentation is cosmetic, and poor presentation is the fault of the owner and not the dog, it seems odd to spend money on a dog's entry and petrol costs yet not groom it thoroughly. A few well made dogs were very overweight, which also cost them a higher place since it affected the back line and movement adversely. Size was generally good, with plenty of upstanding males. I looked for huge bone, and good chest width and depth. I penalised slab sidedness, weak bone, sagging back lines, narrowness of chest in front and weak pasterns. When a dog comes into a natural standing position after moving, it should present perfectly straight parallel fore legs which are well muscled with tight fitting elbows and strong large rounded feet. I was also looking for very well built strong hindquarters, muscular loins, well turned stifles and straight parallel hocks.

My overall winners were exceptional, and my Best Of Breed is one of the best Newfoundlands I have ever judged. I was upset that he was not shortlisted in the Group but I was delighted to see that he won the Working Group at Manchester a week later! He is simply stunning!"