The show inaguaral National Specialty Show drew an entry of 172 Bullmastiffs Australia-wide, the biggest ever single gathering of Bullmastiffs in Australia at the one show to date. As well as the magnificent trophies, The Club awarded all 1st, 2nd & 3rd placegetters in each class with National Medallions and Ribbons to all 1st - 6th placegetters. Award of excellent certificates were also awarded at the judge's discretion to exhibits entered in Junior class and above.

The Bullmastiff Club of Victoria took this opportunity to launch a book titled "The Bullmastiff in Australia - A History". Written by Jessamy Morrisey, the book which is over 240 pages in length, features every litter, import and prefix and as well as the achievements of the breed from the beginning of the first imported dog to the country up until 1990. The Club very generously gave a copy of this book to each exhibitor as well as some other beautiful memorabilia to commemorate Australia's first Bullmastiff National.

The Trophy Table

Extract from the Critique by Virginia Rowland (Blackslates USA)

It was a tremendous thrill first of all to have such a large entry. It made my day truly challenging and exciting. The quality of the dogs on the whole was excellent. In some classes there were so many nice dogs that even with six placements to assign I could not reward all the deserving dogs. I found the dogs in Australia had a slightly different look than what I am used to seeing in the States. This is probably because there are much closer ties genetically to Britain than North America. I am definitely not used to seeing such a preponderance of two toned fawn dogs. This is a cosmetic issue which breeders should be aware of since the standard calls for a clear coat There were also a LOT of dogs with orange eyes. I think this is a more serious issue that breeders should try to address. Thinking of the Bullmastiff working origins, a dog with orange eyes would be much easier to see at night than a dog with dark eyes. I also saw some dogs with wry bites - this is a problem I also see judging in the US. Wry bites are not correct, they are genetic in origin and though such a bite wouldn't interfere with the dog's working function or ability to eat, in my opinion, breeders should not use dogs with wry bites in any breeding program. On the whole, I should stress that the bites were much better than I am used to seeing in the US. There were some undershot bites, but the majority of dogs had really nice bites. I was also really impressed on how good the handling was, I assume all the dogs were either breeder or owner handler. Most of the dogs were well presented and in good condition. There were a few dogs with exceptionally dry coats which I am not used to seeing, but on the whole the dogs were clean, correct weight, and I was aware of no dogs with a questionable temperaments and appreciated the fact that if some of the males may not get along with other dogs of the same sex, this never was an issue in or outside the ring. With one possible exception I feel it inappropriate to go into, the level of sportsmanship was very good.