All dogs present were extremely friendly and loved being touched and caressed by strangers. Neither did I see a shy dog nor an aggressive one. There were no macho demonstrations among the male dog. Therefore, the goal to create a "socially amicable" dog has no doubt been achieved with the Continental Bulldog.

It was a very hot summer day. At 15h00 the temperature outside had reached 29,5^oC and inside it was certainly hotter by at least two to three degrees but with the exception of three animals, none of the dogs showed breathing problems. On the contrary they happily did their rounds in the ring without heckling. The three exceptions were pronouncedly of the English Bulldog type which if I remember correctly were qualified by the judge as not in accordance with the Standard.

Again, the goal to breed dogs without serious breathing problems has been greatly achieved with the Continental Bulldog. Especially notable was the fact that how effortlessly the dogs moved at a trot. Apart from a few exceptions they showed excellent movement of the hind quarters, the noisy shuffling, one of the customary trademarks of the English Bulldog, was not to be heard. Also in this regard, a lot has been achieved towards the creation of a "sound, mobile dog". It is of course understandable that a breed at the outset of its creation cannot provide a uniform type. From breeds whose creation is well documented (like the Eurasian, Kromfohrländer, Saarloos, the Slovakian Wolfhound, Kaanan Dog, asf) it is well known that approx. ten generations of strictest selection is needed until a uniform phenotype can be obtained.

It is to be said that with the Eurasian it was relatively simple to breed a uniform type as he was created from the Chow Chow and Wolfspitz and also with the wolf hounds which came into existence from crossing the German shepherd with wolfs; whereas with the Kromfohrländer, one still cannot speak of a real phenotype as in order not to lay too much hardship on such an achievement, a number of varieties are accepted.

The creation of the Continental Bulldog can be compared with the problems in breeding the Kanaan Dog. There too, the first breeders, Dres. Menzel, had to chose those animals that fulfilled their vision of the new breed to the utmost out of a number of dogs mostly of unknown descent. Based on this knowledge it was to be expected and is absolutely understandable that various types were presented at the Club Show. The dogs that were in accordance with the standard to a very high degree were in the minority. However this will change from generation to generation and could be observed already now. The dogs in the junior classes were much more uniform than those in the open classes.

The following remarks shall not be construed as pre-judgement or as in contradiction to the judge’s critics because from outside the ring quite a number of features that influence the judgement cannot be properly evaluated.

With a larger part of the dogs I still miss the aspired proportions of the body (height at shoulder vs. length of body = 1:1,2). Many dogs are still too long and therefore, a number of them show too much fall in the back. The same holds true for the ratio height at shoulder : depth of brisket = 2:1, meaning that in many cases they are still too low to ground. These proportions are very important with regards to the phenotype of the dog and must be achieved in the future.

Many dogs, and among them the best, are at the ultimate level of size. We do not want to have a "little boxer" but at the utmost a middle sized bulldog; the ideal height is 42 to 44 cm. Most of the dogs carried a straight tail, screw tails or even twisted ones were rare. To believe that the form of the tail is an irrelevant detail is to forget that the tail is the continuation of the spine. A crippled tail usually does not stand by itself but correlates to a lesser or higher degree to a grave deformation of the discs in the area of the lumbar vertebra. Deformed tails, therefore, must become extinct.

A number of dogs have straight hind quarters thus the croup is higher than the height at shoulder which spoils considerably the overall impression.

Luckily with the Continental Bulldog the pear-shaped body meaning the narrow pelvis which by the way is one of the causes for the whelping problems has practically disappeared. However with some of them I still miss strong shoulders and elbows that lie closely to the thorax. On the other hand I did not see many weak pasterns and turned-out feet.

I was also pleased with the fact that many dogs had a sufficiently long and strong neck and a nicely arched neck line and little dewlap. Also in this regard a very positive progress has been made.

What concerns the heads I must desist from giving any opinion as circumference, teeth, wrinkles and eyes cannot be judged from outside the ring and I have to leave it to the judge to make his evaluations. All I could say is that for my taste still too many dogs have an extreme stop which can be one of the reasons for breathing problems and in addition is the reason for being highly undershot.

In this respect breeders will not find an easy answer to the problem. On the one hand we would like to be our dogs not or only slightly undershot but on the other hand the typically large muzzle should remain. Fact is however, that the length of the upper jaw und the length of the under jaw are influenced by different and independently acting genetical factors which means that the shortening of the upper jaw does not necessarily produce an equally shorter under jaw. Occlusion means that a dog must be able to bite with his incisors. However, with a distance of more than 2 mm between the upper and the lower incisors, biting is no longer possible. A distance of 3 mm or more must be regarded as a deformation of the skull. The aim is to obtain a well marked stop without the deep dent and a straight nasal bone which must not be too short.