5 yr old male and 3 yr old male - Page 1

Critiques are absolutely welcome. Practicing the stand-stay stack, one person and one ball. One semi interested dog and one completely bored dog LOL. Having said that, nope, the pics aren't perfect but I do believe its getting better. So have at it, I have thick skin.





Melissa
 

Rather nice stacks, given what you say about their lack of interest;
these are good because they are fairly easy to assess, you have
got them to Stand by themselves, no handler getting in the way,
simple backgrounds and grass that isn't TOO long.  Well done, now
you need to work on them keeping their heads straight and their ears
up !

I don't 'critique' often because I think its a little pointless doing so from
a still photograph - so many other things about judging a dog cannot
be included. (Muscles, dentition, gait, temperament & so on).  But
since youasked and are going to some efforts to get your dogs set up,
here is my 2 cents worth:

First, older dog has great solid black pigment, the better forechest of the
two, reasonably good angles and good balance throughout.  He is a little
longer in body than I prefer (they both are, this dog is slightly better);
Good withers, correct tail, pasterns look as though they could do with
being a tad stronger, but not enough of a problem to interfere with function.
Spring of ribs looks correct, croup is correct, hocks correct.  Overall an
attractive dog.


Second dog:  he is a little longer than he ought to be, imo;  this throws his
overall balance out a bit.  Too much 2nd Thigh also makes his hind legs
look too long and causes his hocks to look a bit wobbly. At 3 yrs I don't
think this will now change.  He is a good even Sable.  He lacks forechest
to a degree, but not badly.  He seems a bit slab sided. The croup is sl. steep.
Correct dark eye.  Good pasterns;  feet look a little long & flat.  Shoulder a
bit steep too.  But while he probably won't make a Showdog, he still looks
capable of a day's work !  I'm notoriously picky - but I try to be honest.  JMO.

Hugs to both dogs, they are obviously patient and calm if they would stand
like this despite being bored with posing !

Thank you Hundmutter :)
My second boy is also the dog in my avatar.... both have completed their AD with ease (haven't had a GSD yet that hasn't, despite structure). I was actually surprised I had as much cooperation as I did :) Thank you for your honest comments!!

Melissa

I should also add, that while you cannot evaluate temperament or workability with photos, I should mention that Nero has his AD, BH and AKC CD so far (not done yet by far!) and Deuce is Cert in Narc detection, mantrailing/tracking, article searches, tactical Ob 2 (through NAPWDA) and Sch AD (again, not done adding to that list in the least :) Working toward IPO and AKC titles on both (while 6.5 months pregnant!)

Melissa

First dog

Solid black male GSD,medium size and medium strong. Correct proportions; good fore leg length to height at withers, height to body length is at the highest permissible limit.  Good head size, correct proportions, good earset, good stop, very good neck substance and length,good high withers, strong back that is slightly long, long loin, good length of croup that is slightly steep, good tail and tailset. Good hind angulation, good strong hocks. Good underline, good forechest development, slightly short front upper arm but good angle and good shoulder lay. Good straight front legs, slightly soft and short pasterns. Allover a beautiful male of nice pigment, coat is a bit short though.

Second dog

Sable colored male GSD,medium size and medium strong. Correct proportions; good fore leg length to height at withers, height to body length is at the highest permissible limit.  Good head size, very good neck substance and length,good high withers, beautiful strong back that is slightly long, slightly long loin, good length and lay of croup, very good tail and tailset. Needs a little more hind angulation, good hocks that are slightly long. Good underline, could use more forechest development, short and steep front upper arm, good shoulder lay. Good straight front legs, good pasterns but splayed feet. Allover a beautiful male of normal pigment, coat is a bit short.

Thank you Ibrahim :) I always enjoy your critiques.
A not about their coat: I have 2 mountainous piles of dog hair out in the yard. I have only now, after weeks of daily raking finally finished up their coat blow. It is only now that you can see any muscle or ribs.




Both dogs are at the same weight, the only difference is season :)

Thank you SO much!

Melissa

Hi Melissa, Nice additional pictures, the sable one in this picture shows much better and longer coat, also richer pigment and very beautiful head though he could use a bit more stop.
The black one shows a much better croup in this picture, if it is a recent picture I then confess Hundmutter beat me to a more factual description of his croup, angle is good 

Ibrahim

They were taken last year I believe. I find it amazing how much the different seasons and time of day effect their overall appearance, especially in a photograph. I don't know that I would recognize Deuce (the sable) as one and the same if I didn't know him.

Thank you again :) I like comparing what I see and what others see. Of course I'm biased (isn't eveyone?) so need to step back every once in a while and really look at what is there. We have the Regional Conformation show in Sept. that I may try and enter (Due in Oct, so we will see just how much I'll be able to actually do).

On a side note, I absolutely LOVE looking back at all of my stacked/attempted stack photos and see the evolution of my abilities to do so. I'd like to say I'm pretty proud of myself lol.

Melissa

Yes you should be proud, they are both beautiful and good looking. Staking a dog affects how the judge sees the dog.
A hint:if your dog needs more of croup length and angle is steep then do not push the hind leg (the one away from the judge) much forward, as pushing it much forward makes the croup look even shorter and steeper.
Why do people do that ( push the away hind leg forward) ? So as to increase hind angulation and make the topline look more sloping and sometimes make the topline look like a banana shape and make the loin of a dog look shorter.

Always make sure the dog stands with his fore legs straight right under his withers, this way his shoulder would look its best, also his pasterns would look their best, also his withers would look its highest and muscle on top be more notable. Doing so will exemplify forechest development which a judge takes note of.

Good luck
Ibrahim