Weak vs. strong pasterns? - Page 3

Perfect (Those poor dogs). This tells me exactly what I look for. ------- I am actually looking at my puppies and dogs. Every week I learn more and more on this form; I very much appreicate everyones help.

Yes they are Euroshepherd 

When I look at the pasterns, the dog needs to be in a correct stack to get an accurate evaluation, right? That is still the biggest challenge for me. As it is just me with the dogs; getting a good stack and a picture just does not go hand and hand.

fawndallas,
   I applaud you for wanting to learn as much as you can, breeding is a responsibility not to be taken lightly. You do not need a correct stack when looking at pasterns. Puppies can be a challenge to evaluate even to a trained eye, so much can change quickly. Keep an eye on them as they progress and give them the best environment you can and proper nutrition. Euroshepherd gave us all remarkable examples, if you notice any of the puppies having any problems post a picture and we will be glad to give you some advice.  

Thanks. I am going to look at my 3 picks closer when I get back home on Tuesday. None of the puppies are as extream as the previous pictures showed. -------- I really have to get down to just keeping 2 of the puppies. It is very hard emotionally, so I am resorting to very black and white to pick the best 2 of the 3. Then comes the hard part of letting the third one go....

Euro, this is a great demostration of poor pasterns.  Thanks for the "education".  ecs

I want to state again that major pastern problems are usually a direct result of nutritional imbalance.  Although genetics may make a dog susceptible to poor pasterns, excess synthetic nutrients actually cause it. 

Some of those pups in my previous post with the terrible downed pasterns or the terrible knuckled over pasterns actually made full recoveries when their diets were corrected and as adults they had perfectly normal pasterns. 

Here are some links to pages of various dogs from various breeds.  They show age progression and correction of extreme pastern problems. 

A doberman, from before pastern problem started, during and after the problem was corrected.
http://www.dobermantalk.com/puppy-corner/65231-carpal-flexural-deformity-aka-knuckling-over-bowed-legs.html

Great danes, with some nice before and after pics
http://www.greatdanelady.com/articles/knuckling_over.htm

And a GSD pup whose weak pasterns are corrected
http://www.grunfeldshepherds.com/articles/lanting/carpal-subluxation-and-weak-pasterns-two%20different-conditions.html

I find it strange how it's the pasterns that seem to be primarily affected by this kind of nutritional imbalance. 
It's another example of how the dog's body cannot correctly assimilate nutrition that is not in a natural form.  These afflicted pups' bodies could not recognize that they were absorbing too much of certain nutrients, so their diets had to be radically changed and controlled.   

Fawndallas, like Markobytes said, dogs do not need to be stacked to see if the pasterns are correct or not, just standing natural will do. 
Since you are keeping your pups to train as service dogs and they will not be used for breeding I think you can worry less about what their structure is like and just concentrate on their temperament. 
Here are some of the temperament factors that I look for when deciding on puppies. 
Things that I DO like:
calm, confidence, good eye contact, enthusiasm for toys, comes when called, likes to stay within a 10 foot radius of me when relaxing, littermates don't harrass it, recovers very quickly when startled, curiousity about everything, better focus than littermates.
Things that I DON'T like:
Bullies littermates, food aggression, doesn't share toys well, ignores me too much, doesn't explore surroundings, runs off and has to be chased down and caught, excessive noisemaker, needy, whiny, excessively cautious, does not make eye contact, low pain tolerance, panics when picked up/held on back/tail or legs handled, frightens at noise, etc.

I know some of the things I mentioned above others will disagree with me on, but these are my personal preferences.

EuroShepherd, you're great, thanks for the very good info

EuroShepherd, all my thoughts exactly. Problem is that I have 2 that fit the service bill and one that I just adore. The one I have come to adore, is more assertive. And goes for the harder play time. 6 dogs is too many. So I have to narrow the 3 puppies to 2. Temperament, each one is perfect.....I see no faults in any of them. Each puppy fits my 2 goals; 2 will do well for service and one will do well for going into a more active area. ---------------- I want them all; logically and best for the dogs, I can't kep them all. ------------ The funny thing is I have a waiting list for all three.