Report

I had the great honour, privilege, delight of being invited to judge the 2010 Dobermann classic under the express instruction that I should tell no one. You can only imagine the strain on an Irishman of not being allowed to talk about something. I must also say that I stepped off the plane at Heathrow with some butterflies in my stomach, knowing how much you all love the Dobermann and the years of knowledge all the exhibitors have behind them, I knew I would be under scrutiny.

All my nerves were allayed by the wonderful warm welcome I received from everyone involved, both past and present committee members. I felt anticipation in the air as I was escorted into dinner, a lovely meal and when I saw profiteroles on the menu I was in heaven and it is a pity my wife was unable to come with me to enjoy the atmosphere. You have an excellent venue for such an event and the experience of preparation from previous years was clearly evident in the smooth running of the whole evening.

Now onto the dogs themselves. I was faced with some difficult and close decisions during the first round, which became even more difficult as the numbers were whittled down to my final 6 and I was thoroughly impressed with the line up, 6 quality Dobermanns, any one of which would have been a worthy winner, which was ultimately Trystorme Brigadoon at Malibray! He caught my eye as soon as he entered the ring, a beautifully put together specimen of the breed with a lovely head, clean muzzle and correct eyes and very alert, terrific neck on well set shoulders with a lovely deep chest. He looked a picture in profile and totally in proportion with excellent hindquarters which provided great drive as he covered the ground, I would love to see him in a bigger ring and able to fully exhibit his power and drive, he just gave me a great big smile as I watched him.

I had a wonderful evening and the sportsmanship around the ring and enthusiasm shown by everyone was great to see, I wish it was more common on the show scene. So a big thank you to everyone and I wish you all every success with the Land Fund.

Jonny Anderson

Gallery

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