You think Homer has show potential?

[blackandyellow]

OK now that I´ve finally mastered this art of posting pics here, and also got some nice shoots of the pup, I was wondering if the show experts could give your opinion.

I really don´t care much about showing him but since I got him I agreed with his breeder that if they thought he had potential I´d let handle him (his papa is a Mex CH and they want to start showing his off-spring).

Bear in mind this is a british blooded dog, so he´s not as massive as the American bloodlines (he´ll be showing in Mexico if he does indeed). He just turned 16 months old

This is a lateral, tail looks high but he was excited with neighbors dog:


3/4ths head view


3/4ths rear view


last one is a 3/4ths front view


And... here´s Misha, couldn´t resist this pic. If cute factor counts little miss vanity Misha would certainly win points with this pic

[Canyon Labradors]

It might just be from the day you took the photo, but the tail is held too high. Otherwise he looks like a nice boy.

[labby]

Not unless he drops that tail. I know, I have one of those also.

[CaliforniaLabLover]

I agree- the tail carriage is too high in those photos...looks like his tail is set properly, though.

Having said that, the rest of him looks nice and I have seen *much* worse tail carriage before in finished champions in the United States. Probably depends on the judge, the region, the competition, etc. I'm nowhere near an expert, though. Has your breeder seen him? How does he hold his tail when gaiting?

[blackandyellow]

Thanks

The tail is not usually carried that high, what happened is that the neighbor´s dog was barking at him and he was all excited runing around. His "everyday" tail is usually flat with his body.

The breeder has seen him three times since I got her (she´s actually the one interested in showing him, I´m not much into showing even though I´ve show dogs in the past). When he was 4 months he looked very promising and she took him for a weekend but ended up not showing because he got an upset stomach.

Then she saw him again when he was around 9 months old but then his head looked very small compared to the rest of his body and wanted to wait til he was done growing. I´ll take him in a couple of weeks for her final evaluation, and the she´ll decided if he starts training him for showing.

He´s a sweet boy, but I don´t know how she will teach him to behave to be checked up by the judge. He´ll probably want to jump over him, play bitey with his hands or start playing with the other dogs

I´ll let you know what she says, and try to get "less excited" pics to see his regular tail carriage

[cinderbay]

He looks pretty nice to me. The tail could be an issue..or not. If your just looking to get out there and have a good time.
Most photos you may see of my boy in the yard he often has his tail carried high. But in the ring he always gaited with it straight out and also baited and stacked for me with it straight out.

[blackandyellow]

thanks

In my case it´s more for fun and to help the breeder. As long as the pup enjoys it I don´t mind, for him it would be another experience and hopefully will learn to settle more around dogs (he´s still very playful and gets very excited around other dogs)

The other dog I showed for over a year was my Great Dane, and she was doing OK (won a couple of points) but in the end she really didn´t like it, she always wanted to be by her mom´s side and never quite bonded with the handler

I´ll let you know next weekend after the breeder sees him, in the meantime I´ll take pictures of him in a relaxed mood for you to see his tail

[canUdigIt]

The tail is the major issue for me, but it looks like he lacks rear, 2nd thigh, is upright up front, and could use a touch more bone to him for my taste.

He's got a gorgeous head though!

[blackandyellow]

Thanks for the comments I appreciate it.

It´s funny how they develop their muscles... thinking he´s a male I thought he was going to be full of muscles very young, but instead has taken longer than I thought. His tighs used to be pretty flat, even though they have filled in the last months. In contrast, in the case of Misha I can see all the muscles in the rear and in the shoulders.

The reason why the breeder wanted to wait so long for the final eval (he´s almost 17 months) was because she told me most of her males take more than two years to "fill" out...

My bet is that if he shows he´ll be disqualified for jumping and playing bitey with the judge... he may be a big boy in size but still thinks like a 6 month old...

[imported_Iamalabrador]

The tail is the major issue for me, but it looks like he lacks rear, 2nd thigh, is upright up front, and could use a touch more bone to him for my taste.

I agree with this poster! The tail is a major killer. And even though you say he was excitable--it can happen at the show ring too with that many dogs around. When I see a dog in the ring with tail like that--it is a major killer for me. The rear too doesn't look like there is enough.

If you can get additional photos with his head down so you can really see where the shoulder hits it might be better too.

:-)