The Bernese Mountain Dog Today Tapa dura - 1999

Dr Malcolm B. Willis was born in Yorkshire in 1935, and educated at Durham University (BSc, 1956) and the Institute of Animal Genetics, Edinburgh University (PhD in Animal Genetics-1960). He was made an Honourary Associate of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in 1996. He has owned German Shepherd Dogs since 1953, judging them since 1959 and at Championship level (since 1978) in nine different countries. He has been Chairman of the GSD Breed Council from its inception in 1986 and a breed surveyor for that Council. He judged the British national specialty in 1988 and was given the gold medal of the GSD Breed Council of Australia for services to the breed. Dr Willis became involved with Bernese in 1985 when he met his wife Helen, who breeds and shows under the Nellsbern prefix. Both now judge BMD at Championship level. Dr Willis is President of the Northern Bernese Mountain Dog Club. He undertakes character assessment for the club and also judging seminars. He is the author of several books on animal breeding, beef cattle and dogs, including Genetics of the Dog (1989) and The GSD: a Genetic History (1992), which won the Maxwell medal of the Dog Writers of America in 1992. He lectures on canine genetic worldwide.