Thanks for the reply! When you say a slightly different type what do you mean?
Just that--what Gary was breeding when I was still showing in Canada frequently were dogs (and I really only paid a lot of attention to his males because I only keep males) who weren't quite as well angled in shoulder or hindquarters than I prefer.
Difference breeding lines vary from each other--tends to depend on what the breeder is most interested in. Some of Gary's dogs were enough like what I prefer that I'd have considered one.
You tend (or at least most of the long time breeders or exhibitors tend to have things they can live with and things that they cant') I want a really good head--and that's a sticking point with me--I know a lady whose been showing (and in her case breeding as well) Dobes as long as I've been showing them Heads aren't as important to her as they are to me--bone and substance is a sticking point with her. What people have for preferences tend to either be what they've had in their dogs in the past of what those dogs in the past have lacked
So I look for good heads, dogs that are pretty curvy (really good front and rear angulation), good toplines and proper croups. I'll forgive some things but I'm very likely to make the quality of the head the final decision point with me.
I know another breeder who will forgive a variety of croup faults that I couldn't deal with--I passed on a puppy I grew out for a breeder because his croup was just plain too round--not impossibly bad but not quite right. He could have finished--stunning head, neck and shoulders--nice rear angulation--a lot of presence and attitude (which I want to see in a show prospect) But the croup was just plain too off for me. It was too off for the breeder I grew the puppy out for--he went to a great pet home. If it had been the other breeder--he'd have kept him and showed him, probably finished him successfully specialed him too
Sometimes it's just the little things that make one person want to take home one particular puppy as opposed to another. It's all about the difference in details.
PS I just went back to Dobequest and looked up Am /Can Ch Karlee's Victim of the Game--Stetson--he was whelped in 1994--and I really liked him a lot--but practically every dog behind him on both sides were dogs and bitches I liked a lot. There's a picture of him on his Dobequest page. Actually when I looked at the picture I looked back through Stetson's pedigree and realized that probably the things I liked best about him had something to do with a dog of mine that was back there about 6 or 7 generations.
