Judge Profile

In 1983 I joined DogsNSW when we bought our first Golden Retriever. I quickly became involved in the activities of the two local all breeds dog clubs and have been a life member of the Mid North Coast Canine Club Inc. since 2003. Apart from committee positions on the local clubs I also held the position of President of the Northern NSW Region for 5 years during the late1990s.

I am currently a member of the GRC clubs in NSW, England and Scotland. I am also a member of the United Retriever Club in NSW and the Northern Gundog Society in NSW.

I have been qualified as a steward since 1992, and I have been qualified as a Junior Handler Judge since 1999 – I am still active in both roles. I became a group 3 judge in July 2012.

We didn't commence our breeding program until 1996, and prior to that owned and successfully campaigned 3 Goldens to their championship titles. Since 1996 from our limited breeding we have bred and campaigned 27 conformation champions including our Grand Champion Alnclair Maggie May in our 3rd litter who is a BISS, RU BISS, BIS and RU BIS winner. Maggie's last special outing was when she won the reserve CC at the Queensland GRC show aged nearly 10.5 years old. We also bred BISS winner Alnclair Anzac Heroine at Goldwood who won the NZ GRC (Auckland) show in September 2007 under Henric Fryckstrand from the Dewmist kennel in Sweden.

We bred the BISS winner at the NSW GRC Anniversary Show – Ch Alnclair Pink Diamond at Dobro - and also the “Winner of Winners” OC Alnclair Mr Tanner UD at the Obedience Trial at the Anniversary shows – no kennel has bred the winners of both show and obedience at the same trial and show at the NSW GRC.

Most of our dogs have won their class and/or been highly placed at state and national specialty show level. For example at the National show in Melbourne in October 2014 we took 5 dogs and won 4 places, including winning the Veteran Bitch Class with our 10 year old Ch Alnclair Aiming High. As ours is only a small breeding and show kennel we are extremely proud of our results at the specialty championship shows.

We have also bred some very successful Seeing Eye Dogs Australia dogs, and a top-winning Obedience dog in NSW, OC Alnclair Mr Tanner UD. “Marty” has won “Dog of the Year” (against all breeds) at the NSW State titles for 3 consecutive years. This is a record achievement.

We have been lucky to see the Goldens being judged at Crufts in 1997, as well as attending UK championship shows including the (UK) GRC show, Leeds, URC (UK), Bournemouth and Belgian GRC shows in 2003 and 2006. The highlight of our “Golden experience” to date has been multiple visits to the birthplace of the Goldens in Guisachan in Scotland. The first visit was on our own in 2003, the second was for the Guisachan Gathering in 2006, and the third and fourth and fifth visits were in 2013, 2018 and 2023 for the Guisachan Gathering championship shows. We also attended the UK GRC Centenary shows in Cirencester in July 2013.

Overseas my judging appointments have included Central NZ GRC in February 2013, the Golden Retriever Championship Show in Johannesburg in South Africa in September 2015, as well as the Weimaraner Club specialty show in Johannesburg the same weekend, the GRC championship show in Germany in 2018, Golden Retriever Bitches at GBAS in Scotland in 2019 where my BoB went BIS3, and the Southern GRC championship show in NZ in 2023. I have also judged all Golden Retriever classes at Windsor Gundog Society Open show in the UK in October 2015, as well as the Curly Coated Retriever classes, and was the Referee judge at the 2023 Guisachan Gathering in Scotland. I have more specialist GRC championship shows "in the pipeline" at the moment.

As a Golden Retriever breeder and specialist judge my noteworthy judging appointments to date in Australia have been the the Tasmanian GRC Championship show in August 2013 and the WA GRC championship show in September 2016.. I was also selected as the reserve judge for both Championship shows for the GRC of Queensland in July 2014, and have been put forward for the SA GRC show. An upcoming show in 2024 is my very own club - NSW GRC - which is a huge and special honour indeed.

About Us:

Our dogs are house dogs and our holidays are all planned around them based on the availability of our house and dog-sitter. We currently have 5 Goldens aged from nearly 7 years to nearly 15 years of age. All of our Goldens go back to one or both of our original bitches and they form a very happy family indeed. We actually stopped breeding in 2017 but still travel for all national and many state club shows. We maintain a keen interest in the breed and will always have Goldens. Our dogs really are our beloved pets first and foremost, and the show successes were always a "bonus".

Wayne McGrath

Gundog Group Judge – ANKC & F.C.I. Accredited

Alnclair Golden Retrievers

32 Kolinda Drive, Old Bar NSW 2430
Australia

Tel: ++61 2 65537192
Mob: ++61 418 406 483
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.alnclair.com

July 2023

Judging Appointments (Australia and NZ Only)

Appointments are based on shows entered in our system since 2012. Please inform us of any errors.