Class Judge Comments -- Mrs. Ann Gilbert
I was pleased that my second assignment resulted in major wins; these days they are precious to all of us. My "education" continues and I will share my overall observations with you as well.

Winners Dog: DLG's Martini – I first saw this handsome fellow in Dallas in March in the 9-12 puppy class. I gave him a Reserve at that meeting and had no doubt he would continue his winning ways. He came to me this time in the 12-18 Month Class a more mature fellow with everything a breeder judge wants to find in a dog. His short back, head, expression and movement made him the clear stand out in the field of dogs presented. I was especially pleased to learn that his second major of the day under Lin Jensen finished his AKC championship.

Reserve Winners Dog: Aljo's Rocky Top of LaRich – He was presented to me in the Open Brindle class and again I found the short back, substance, expression and headpiece I long to find in my lineups.

Winners Bitch: Avalon's Vogue – She came to me from the 12-18 Month Class. She is a lovely girl with great expression, wonderful movement and a classic boxer body.

Reserve Winners Bitch: Ladi Luck's Eternal Magic – She came from the American Bred Fawn Class. A lovely fawn girl, smooth, elegant and lovely expression with a beautiful soft face. It seems I also found her littermates from the Bred By Class and the Open Fawn class and gave them each the class wins. Nice to see consistency like this in a litter.

Best of Breed: Ch. Regal's Best Kept Secret – Believe me she is no "secret" any more and each time I see her I enjoy her performance even more. Herb used to tell me every so often, "you're not getting older, you're getting better." That's a pretty good way to compliment this girl too. I will add, that the other special girl, Ch. Lattalane's Kiss Me I'm Irish did give me pause but in the end the fawn girl had both my heart and head.

Overall Observations – Fortunately I was able to find what I consider the "standard" sized boxer in my ring, which made my choice a lot easier. I did, find, however, a number of dogs were too tall and long in back. It's been my observation over the years that when we go for height we lose the short back, the shoulders tends to go straighter and so does the rear. We lose that "square" look that I so love. We are breeding a working dog, not one that is going to run a steeplechase. I will give the devil his due and admit that there are some tall dogs that cast an overall picture of balance and make a stunning impression and I would certainly not penalize a dog of this caliber. Still, most of the tall dogs I've observed thus far fail to meet that caliber. Big does not make things better. On the other side of the coin, it is sometimes difficult to find a short back dog with the correct movement

In the end it's the total package we should be looking for in our breeding stock so we need to concentrate on what our standard calls for. I still think we need to remember that the boxer is a "medium" sized dog and concentrate on that. It can and has been done.