five month old, working line female - thoughts? - Page 1

I don't have any with "proper" stacks, mainly because I'm not 100% sure it's completely right yet but I was curious to see how she measured up, conformation wise. It's not a deal breaker for me, but I would really like to know her strengths and weakness before I walk into a conformation show.

 

Pretty horrendous stance to judge...just being honest ;)

But if I pretend it's taken at the right angle and she is standing properly, I think she is pretty nice. Croup appears "meh" but not terrible and they improve with age. Seems to have nice chest for her age, bone is nice, pasterns and hocks look good...all in all a nice girl at this stage. How is her bite? Her upper jaw looks a little snipey in the side view, not the front so much; the lower jaw is the last to stop growing so this could remedy itself in time.

Try taking pics of her stopped, standing naturally, when she's good and tired and relaxed. Also, shoot at her level, not down on her.

LOL! Thanks for trying - like I said, I have no real idea what I'm doing on the stack so any feedback is nice. I'll try to get a picture later today on concrete at her level.

When you say bite, do you mean on a sleeve / wedge or in general? Again, forgive me - first working dog ever lol.

When I say bite, I mean if you pull her lips back from her teeth, is there a gap between the upper and lower jaw? Does her upper jaw extend further than the lower? It should, just barely, but there should be no gap and her canines should fit very closely into a "scissors bite." She looked a touch snipey at this age but that's common; the lower jaw does not stop growing until about 8 months.

If you don't want to get on the ground, put her up on something. Or do what I do- keep the camera handy and snap away when she's standing pretty ;)

Does she have a sissor bite?? Very important for conformation ring?

I really think she is a pretty puppy; she will change quite a bit in the next several months, but overall her conformation is very nice; seems balanced for her age also which is good which means balanced angles, length of neck, head/ear set are very pretty for her age also. She looks a bit overweight in the pic, very hard to tell from a pic though. You want to be able to feel her ribs when you pet her sides. You want to keep her very fit and lean just like you would keep an athlete that runs for marathons; these guys are definitely athletes. However do not over extend her exercise at her young age, just nice walks on leash, let her run at her own pace; keep her coat shiney as you can for the show ring. Are you talking AKC or UKC or German shows? Whatever you do with her, best of luck to the both of you and by all means, have fun with her. Nan

The 'bite' in the context of the conformation ring is the 'occlusion' of the INCISORS, not the canines. So, sassinator, pull the front lips ( nose and chin)  apart and see how the INCISORS fit. They are correct if they form a LEVEL bite ( as in occlusion) or if they form a SCISSOR bite ( which is when the top incisors overlap the bottom incisors).
A bad OCCLUSION or bite is when the overlap of the INCISORS creates either Overshot or Undershot occlusion. Look it up on Google...you should be able to find some pictures.

I think your pup is very correct for a gsd, however, she is not extreeme enough to place well in akc or sv  conformation ring...but she is very nice so i would not concern myself with measuring her good structure in the showring. Btw, most gsd look to be a tad overshot in profile with mouth closed...that's why majority of pictures are taken with the dog panting so mouth is open. The reason the gsd looks 'snippy' with closed mouth is because the nose flesh extendes well beyond the bone and dentition. 

Sassinator, what's her ped? Looks remarkably like my six month olds.

Strengths
1. Front angulation is very good, very good forechest development, very good shoulder angle, very good length of front upper arm and very good shoulder blade lay back.
2. Head, very good size and planes, very good earset, medium dark eyes and very good length of neck.
3, Withers, very good high and long withers
4. Pasterns and hocks are very good
5. Very good rear angulation

Weakenesses
1. Croup is short and steep
2. Tailset is high
3. Back, picture is not good enough for correct evaluation but it looks flat with a sag

Joan, I understand bites perfectly well. I was trying to explain it in plain English, not necessarily correct terminology, to someone who didn't even know what I was talking about when I said "bite." No need for angry caps and technical corrections.

The pup's mouth is not closed. Even if it were, in these shots she appears a bit overshot, or else it's a weaker lower jaw which is also getting more and more common. Could very well improve with age. She is only 5 months old. I wasn't talking about "noseflesh."

This explains about teeth and bites fairly well, as well as some forms of malocclusion. http://www.mudicompass.org/teethandbite.html

'Joan, I understand bites perfectly well. I was trying to explain it in plain English, not necessarily correct terminology, to someone who didn't even know what I was talking about when I said "bite." No need for angry caps and technical corrections. '

My explanation was for sassinator and looking at the CANINES is not going to disclose a poor occlusion ( unless the dog's mouth is very deformed). So for clearity for sassinator, I explained using 'technical correction' to educate sassinator in answer to what the occlusion ( bite) is.
I don't do 'angry caps' . the caps are to help make clear to the op what the pertinent points are. ( what in the heck is there for anyone to be 'angry' about, anyway:-)

Ps. The pups mouth is more closed than open, in other words, she doesnt have her tongue out panting. My bet is she does NOT have an overbite.:-)