4 year old WL male - Page 2

If this is the dog I saw at the centennial, he didn't look small to me, Xeph.

Hexe, were you at the National Specialty?

Blitzen, yep.  Had planned on being there Thurs. & Friday for OB, since friends of mine were Chief OB Stewards and one of them was also trialing [with the lovely Bunny, HGH], but didn't actually make it there until Saturday morning  [the perils of having aging parents, being the oldest child and the only girl interfered with my plans that week]. Watched the majority of the BOB Males [was there through Rinke's chosing his Selects], spied someone I had a hunch was Xeph [because she's in her dog's pictures often] off to the side chatting with a gal with a lovely working line sable male and headed over to introduce myself to both ladies and the dog, then went with Xeph to meet her crew as well, who were all very well behaved, in fine fettle and a pleasure to be around. Returned to the arena just as my friends arrived @ the site, and we got to visit for a while over lunch.  Got to see the start of the BOB Females [really liked the Select#9 bitch] and then it was time for them to head to the airport so the one friend could return to the West Coast.

So I didn't get to see any of the obedience as I'd planned, and didn't get to spend as much time at the event as I'd originally intended, either, thus interfering with my plan to try and connect with you while there, too.  Also missed connecting with two other friends who had flown in to trial, and who'd already left by Saturday morning.   Amazed that I actually was able to make all four days @ the WUSV without familial drama derailing those plans.

Sorry we didn't have the chance to meet up, Hexe. By Saturday all the dogs started to look much the same to me, I don't remember most of the selects and had no real favorites. All seemed to be very similar in type with identical side gaits. I couldn't see them coming and going from where I was sitting. I  met Xeph at ringside, recognized her from her avatar and photos too. The OB trials, the honor ceremonies for the PAM, service dogs, and other performance accomplishments were more interesting to me than the conformation classes. Bev's son got another leg for his UDX, an agility leg and 4th in novice which was a big deal for me since he was the only half German dog to place in the conformation show, looked it, and doesn't have an extreme flying trot.  He's now a PAM (at 26 months), we think he's the youngest GSD to ever earn that award. I got there on Tues, went home on Sunday. It was a fun week, but very tiring and I'm not sure I'd do it again .

BTW German WL's and SL's did very well in OB at the National including some with Sch titles.. Complete results are on the GSDCA.ORG website if anyone is interested in seeing them.

 

Loch is on the low end of medium, just shy of 25"

Strauss is 27" and outweighs Loch by 20 pounds, so from my perspective, Loch is small.  From the standard's perspective, he is fine :)

He reminds me of Nikon even though the lines are totally different.  Nikon is 24.5" and "medium size, medium strong" according to his breed survey.  Some people think he's small, some people think he's huge.  Most people (even GSD people) over-estimate his weight by 10-15 lbs when looking at a photograph (he weighed 75lbs for his breed survey but generally is more like 69-71 since he does sports year-round and competes monthly).

He's not got bulky muscle and never will have. But he's got muscle. This is him back in April, with a dense winter coat. He's a super nice dog, very versatile. In my ideal world, I'd like a bit better head, a bit more overall size, and a bit more handler hardness. But this type of dog is excellent for RL work, such as SAR, and the handler sensitivity makes for an easy dog to train, especially because it is accompanied by excellent nerves and environmental soundness.

~Christine








 

^^Those pics are from before I had him (when Christine had him).  Seems like a long time ago already :)

He really is a cool cool dog, and I am glad to have him.

He looked great in those pics Christine posted! I agree with everything Christine said about him. From what I know of Loch, he's a good dog. Personal esthetic preference is the same as Christine's- more of him, nicer head, etc. His structure, from the first pic, is overall quite nice, IMO. I've seen a few pics of Loch over the years and I never thought he was terribly lacking in muscle, FWIW. 

Maybe he just needs his winter coat back and some more exercise? Dogs kept thin without a whole ton of exercise can very easily lose muscle tone as well. What does he eat? 

 

He eats a food called Victor.  Had him on a grain free I like and he didn't do very well.  Does better on this, and he eats well, but he does not put weight on quickly.  I don't do anything special to keep him thin...it's just how he is.  He's around 65 pounds.

He did lose a couple pounds when my bitch was in season a couple months ago, though.

He just didn't look underweight or small to me and he has a wonderful temperament.

I'm glad we got a chance to meet, Xeph.