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First of all I must thank the American Boxer Club (and particularly its members) for giving me the honour of judging the dogs at this year’s National Specialty. As an overseas judge I was especially touched by this wonderful invitation and you have no idea how much I enjoyed myself. Quite simply, I had a ball!

I thought that the new venue worked really well and certainly from a judge’s point of view, it was as good a facility as I have worked in. The ring was just the right size, the surface was good, the light was bright and everything ran smoothly thanks to the excellent stewarding team under the watchful eye of my dear friend, the Chief Steward Salli Moore. There were a lot of dogs to get through but I am a very firm believer that in spite of the numbers, your job as a judge is to give each and every exhibit equal and adequate time for a thorough examination. In the UK we tend to try and work on the principle of two minutes per dog, so with nearly 140 to judge on the Wednesday morning in less than five hours this was always going to be tight, but I am glad to say that we had everything done and dusted by the scheduled time of 12.45pm and I hope that everyone felt they had received due consideration (and even a second chance when they needed it). At such a prestigious show, everyone has the right to their moment of glory in the ring, showcasing their exhibit to its best advantage.

Since the show I have been absolutely intrigued by the volume of internet chatter concerning the quality of the exhibits on display at this year’s show. To me (and I have been going to the ABC for over a decade) the split was roughly the same as it has always been. There were a few really excellent exhibits; there were lots of very good and typey exhibits; there were some who were not so special; and there were very, very few (if any?) at the bottom of the entry who were actually untypical. This is true throughout the world. At the top of any decent entry you will have a few really outstanding Boxers and it is at this level where breed type tends to converge. Top winners at ABC, top winners in the UK and top winners in Continental Europe should all look pretty similar since the Breed Standards all demand a similar type of Boxer and at the top of a good Boxer entry, you should have a few really exceptional exhibits who come very close to the reality of the Standard. But you will not have that many. As all of us who breed them will know, Boxers are a very difficult breed to get right, they do not always breed particularly true and we cannot always quite get what we want. We may know where we are going, but we can’t always work out how to get there as quickly as me might want. Individual kennels, just like countries, have their ups and their downs as they strive for perfection and some years are a better ‘vintage’ for the breed than others. All I can say is that I was very happy with the overall quality of the exhibits in my ring. Were they all world-beaters? Of course they weren’t, but as I hope I have explained, that can never happen. I wish it could, but if it was that easy we would all have given up years ago. Boxer breeders like and need a challenge!

I think that the greatest strength of your Boxers at the moment is the immediate impact they make from across the ring. Their general appearance, outline and overall quality are usually very impressive. They have lovely necks, close fitting jackets and tremendous style. Movement out and back is generally excellent and I was pleased to see lots of the dogs really digging in and driving off when they moved away. I like to see this and I was pleased that many of them could also really use the ring in profile.

Temperaments were much better than I had expected, having seen too many spooky ones at ABC in the past, but I found lots of intelligent, well mannered, lively show dogs. That was a pleasure and just as it should be. The bone structure of the heads was often very good, but I did find some of the finer technicalities and definition of the heads a little disappointing. I do think that correctly shaped (and coloured) eyes add so much to the ‘finish’ of a correct Boxer head and expression and this was one area which was not always as good as I had hoped for. I am also convinced that the US enthusiast interprets the Standard slightly differently to the rest of the world in terms of rise of skull. There is no doubt that the vast majority of your dogs do have a clearly defined and correct stop, but some of the dogs had less rise than I was ideally looking for.

In addition, I had some concerns over toplines. There were very few exhibits that were actually roached, but there was sometimes a slight hinge in the middle which was well beyond the tweaking abilities of some of the best handlers in the world. I did penalise poor toplines quite heavily since they have such a detrimental effect on the look and functionality of the exhibit. Shoulders were another problem area (and this is certainly not confined to your country!). There were too many who obtained their high station by having shoulders that were far too steep. Whenever I think of shoulders now, I am always reminded of Anne Rogers Clark’s Westminster critique of a big winning Poodle when she praised his outstanding forehand conformation which "put his front legs back under him, where they belonged". I do like to see a properly made shoulder on a Boxer who is therefore able to stand comfortably over himself with evident forechest. However, although the entry as a whole might not have been great in shoulder, I was delighted to see that there were quite a few exhibits who really did have this virtue. In particular, I thought that my two Open Class winners excelled in forehand conformation. So, you have it in your gene pool: it just needs to be a little more widespread.

Onto much more cosmetic things, I certainly couldn’t give two hoots whether a good Boxer is brindle or red, flashy or plain, but I was interested that overall the reds were slightly better than the brindles (though the best two in the entry happened to be brindle) and I was also struck by how much better your plains are than ours. I am sure we suffer from the fact that over the last 30 years, UK breeders (ourselves included) have been selecting the flashy ones for show, so they now tend to be much better. I was glad to see that you have some really excellent plains, full of quality and highly competitive.

In closing, I will just comment on your sportsmanship which is quite outstanding and a real credit to you. This is something that you should guard jealously. Having just come back from Continental Europe where they are not averse to booing judges you should all appreciate how magnanimous and professional you are at accepting the judge’s opinion on the day. That, after all, is what dog shows are all about.

When the Winners Class came back to compete for the points I was very pleased with what I saw and I hope that, as a group, they really showed what I was looking for. I particularly liked Schepis, Baum and Linderholm-Wood’s MOON VALLEY NO DOUBT who had exceptional body lines. He flowed from the tip of his nose to his toes. His neck melds neatly into his excellent shoulders. Super topline and tailset. Lovely clean front. Strongly made, well angulated quarters. Such good angulation made him an exciting prospect on the move and he really used the ring in profile. Showed his socks off and presented a superb outline every time I looked at him across the ring. His head was very typical with exceptional balance and excellent bone structure. On top of this, he has a lovely expression coming from correctly shaped dark eyes. I thought him very exciting and was delighted to make him my Reserve Winners Dog from a quality line up. I shall watch his progress with great interest.

However, for me, Roberts & Esacove’s TURO’S OVERTURE was the star of the show who typified the correct balance between substance and elegance in a male. From the minute he entered the ring I was mesmerized by his outstanding proportion and construction. Set up, he presents a copybook outline. He has perfectly matching angulation front and rear, a correct slope to his excellent topline, proper tailset and a beautiful underline that sweeps up just the right amount for his sex. His front and shoulder assembly is absolutely remarkable. He is clean and smooth over the shoulder which is well laid and sloped beautifully. Added to this, he has an excellent length of upper arm which is something of a rarity these days. All this gives him excellent forechest and he stands comfortably over himself. However, what I really liked was the fact that this super angulation did not cause him to lose height at the withers and he did not look at all dumpy (which sometimes seems to be the compromise for exhibits with very well laid shoulders). In fact he is a very upstanding lad who is wonderfully square and balanced. With his fabulous construction, he moved beautifully and his handler had him on absolute top form and in absolute peak condition. He was rippling with fitness. Whilst his body is his absolute selling point, his head did not disappoint either, being wholly typical in structure and very appealing in expression. In my line up for Winners I had no hesitation in giving him the points and I actually thought that his greater maturity would have seen him through to BOW, but that added bonus was not to be. Many congratulations to everyone associated with him. He will live in my memory for a very long time, though my one disappointment was the show photograph which does not do him any sort of justice. If anyone has a better one of him, taken on the day, I would be delighted to get a copy!

Thank you, once again, to all the exhibitors and to the members for selecting me. You made this Englishman very happy indeed.