Hello,
I have a 6.5 month old Doberman. I would love to show him, but (along with not knowing the first thing about showing) I don't know if he is quality enough to be productive in the show ring. I'm in the process of getting pictures. He won't stand still long enough from me to take a good one...which is another thing...training. I've enrolled him in a basic obedience/manners class, so it should help with all of his flinging around, etc. But, depending on the answers I recieve about him, I will take him to conformation classes. Would the classes be worth it, though? Would he really learn from him. The "teach an old dog new tricks" questions pops up in my mind. The breeders never tried stacking him...they didn't take very good care of the litter at all. He was 25 pound at 4 months, ribs and hip bones visable, he had tapeworms and was internally weak (was being fed adult food once a day) So, I was too worried about him even surviving (legs were very week, painful to sit, was falling a lot) to do anything but check for a heartbeat. All of that also played a part in the delay of training, obviously. So, after I babbled about all of that, I'm back to would be learn anything from conformation classes?
Also, more possible things that could keep us out of showing are his ears and tail. Ears are more of a military crop (breeders cropped before I bought him) which from what I've seen isn't preferred in American show rings, and his tail is slightly longer than normal. These things don't really have anything to do with his actual body and the standard, but I know people are picky.
Whew, okay. Finally to some very awful pictures I just took. He was everywhere! The other two weren't very happy with all of the wildness, either :biggrin55
My view:
His shoulders are smooth, no big bump. His back is pretty straight. His butt look slope-y in the pictures because he was tucking his tail. he's also a little bony, but we're in te process of building muscle. He's come a long way from when I got him. Arms and legs caved in and chest was awful. So, as far as body condition, that's very fixable and he's on his way.
So, with those pictures...poor quality, wriggley dog and all...how does he look? :confused2
I have a 6.5 month old Doberman. I would love to show him, but (along with not knowing the first thing about showing) I don't know if he is quality enough to be productive in the show ring. I'm in the process of getting pictures. He won't stand still long enough from me to take a good one...which is another thing...training. I've enrolled him in a basic obedience/manners class, so it should help with all of his flinging around, etc. But, depending on the answers I recieve about him, I will take him to conformation classes. Would the classes be worth it, though? Would he really learn from him. The "teach an old dog new tricks" questions pops up in my mind. The breeders never tried stacking him...they didn't take very good care of the litter at all. He was 25 pound at 4 months, ribs and hip bones visable, he had tapeworms and was internally weak (was being fed adult food once a day) So, I was too worried about him even surviving (legs were very week, painful to sit, was falling a lot) to do anything but check for a heartbeat. All of that also played a part in the delay of training, obviously. So, after I babbled about all of that, I'm back to would be learn anything from conformation classes?
Also, more possible things that could keep us out of showing are his ears and tail. Ears are more of a military crop (breeders cropped before I bought him) which from what I've seen isn't preferred in American show rings, and his tail is slightly longer than normal. These things don't really have anything to do with his actual body and the standard, but I know people are picky.
Whew, okay. Finally to some very awful pictures I just took. He was everywhere! The other two weren't very happy with all of the wildness, either :biggrin55
My view:
His shoulders are smooth, no big bump. His back is pretty straight. His butt look slope-y in the pictures because he was tucking his tail. he's also a little bony, but we're in te process of building muscle. He's come a long way from when I got him. Arms and legs caved in and chest was awful. So, as far as body condition, that's very fixable and he's on his way.
So, with those pictures...poor quality, wriggley dog and all...how does he look? :confused2