photogaphs of a VA or V dog from puppyhood to adulthood? - Page 2

VK!

It´s no big deal to pick the best puppy out of a litter, be it conformation or temperament ( for Bea it´s 6 weeks, for me it´s between the end of 6, the beginning of 7 weeks ). Most puppies look the same as adults, and a good mover will become a good mover ( did I mention training ? ).

But like Bea said you are not able to see medical faults at that age, and a VA rating is politics and the personal vision about the breed of the judge first and foremost.

On the other hand you need to raise the pup accordingly, otherwise your "V" dog will become a "normal" dog, maybe V rated, but at the end of the line, nothing else. A lot of people think a dog does "grow" by itself into the V rating - sorry, but that´s a myth for 90% of the dogs.

My personal goal always was to pick the puppy with the best temperament AND the best conformation 

The dog I posted so far has been the only dog I've really been able to pick in person. My other dogs were chosen by the breeder far away (but I've been happy with the choices). When I went to pick him, I wanted a male with a stock coat, so that narrowed my choices from 10 to 3. I had visited the litter weeks earlier, and the puppy I ultimately picked had been a spunky puppy that was already interested in toys, tugging, engaging with us. When we made the final picks, I spent several hours there with the breeder. I have photos of her walking around outside and the puppies all following around so we could look at their movement. I did want to show him (SV style) so conformation was important. I also do many sports besides Schutzhund so the structure must be functional and balanced. He didn't have any known faults and had both testicles. We watched them move and play. The puppy I ultimately chose was the one both I and the breeder felt was the best pick for me (and ended up being that same puppy we'd liked several weeks earlier). He was the smallest and shortest coupled. Since I do many dog sports including flyball and agility, you do not want a shepherd that is any longer in the body than the standard calls for, they're already at a bit of a disadvantage being a rectangular dog. As it is, I do not think my dog grew to be too square, I like his shape a lot.

I do believe there IS a lot you can see in a puppy at 8 weeks, if you know what to expect and what to look for. At the very least, you can be sure the bite looks OK, the general structure and angulation is what you want, the testicles are dropped. If the breeder knows their lines, no reason the breeder can't help make a good pick based on what you want. I wanted a dog that was not going to be oversized and didn't have an excess of bone, a dog with a balanced structure with moderate angles, an open shoulder/reach, "dry" movement. At 8 weeks we could see all of these things, and I knew my puppy wasn't floppy, no loose ligaments, no cow hocks, enough front reach for my preference. I entered him in some puppy match shows for UKC and AKC conformation when he was about 4 months old and he did really well, he placed ahead of some American line puppies even in the AKC ring because his movement dry, his topline nice and firm whereas they were flopping all over the place.

VKGSDs:

Nice dog!

I have noticed with my own males that they started looking really good - gaining substance and increased muscular development improving masculine type - after 4.5 - 5 years. Some would consider this "old". Personally, I really like the looks of a mature dog and they are still quite young even so close to being labeled seniors at 6 years of age.

I don't know if this is just my imagination - the brown in my dog's coat seemed to be darker at about that time. I noticed this in looking at all my older photos compared to the more recent ones.

I think two factors work towards 5 or 6 being thought
'old' by some: stock with some lines being liable only
to live to 8 or 9; and people who cast off dogs too
quickly cos they don't achieve the levels they want
before they are 3.
Those of us more used to our mutts making 11,12,13
or more have more appreciation for the fact that like
most larger breeds, GSD are 'slow developers'. One
ex-soldier who'd been in the Army Vet Corps used to
tell me they had only regarded their Shepherds as
'fully grown up' at 5 yrs, and I tend to agree with him.

bump

Bump

what a stunning dog especially as a mature animal. You must be very proud of him.

My WGWL female received a V rating last year.
 

9ish weeks

4 months


VP rating at 5 months


6 months


9 months


1 year


2 years

 

3 years (most recent)

VKGSDs LOVE your dog! he is so beautifull !!! 

VK and Alexis very nice dogs Thank you for the pictures I think that is very helpful especially to newer folk. Can you post the links to their pedigrees please.

While much can be seen in a pup some of it is subject to change or not. Fronts are fronts - you see what you have or not. Sometimes bite and teeth change, sometimes hindquarter angulation straightens or becomes more extreme ( the pedigree should indicate which is more likely). Dryness /looseness usally stays the same. Cowhockedness and the amount of it will vary with growth and pedigree etc.

I have found over the years that each line has a window where the growing pup will show you exactly what it's adult stucture will be. For some lines that is very early on sometimes as early as 5 or 6 weeks. For mine it was 12 weeks but then again I had slow maturing long lived lines.

Hundmutter when I first starting to go to dog shows here in the US in the early 60s the open class was for mature adult animals and they generally were between 5 - 7 years. Since open was for all regardless it they were homebred or imports we also have a class called American bred which again for the most part was for older mature dogs but occassionaly used to make a younger dog more competitive. Then folks started to choose for early maturity ( sometimes much too early w/ a very polished looking 6 mo old pup going winners) cause the faster they finish the faster the owner can move on to the next winner and the dog can be moved on. Sigh. Not surprisingly the very early maturation often brings very early death. Plus GSDs normally take a long time to come together and dogs were being shown NOT at their best age and that picture is what remains in peoples mind rather than the gorgeous mature dog. But if everyone else is showing 14 -25 mo old dogs then the lack of maturity and finish is less obvious.

I like old dogs and I like to breed to old dogs. You know what you have and what they can give you.