Re: Slimdoggy - the next instalment Loving everyone's comments - thanks for saying what you think! I agree with all the comments about Obi. In no particular order: Yes, he could lose a bit of weight for sure He has a slight wobble. That'd pick up his underside a bit too and stop his front legs from looking quite so short. His front end doesn't look too bad in the pic but I still think he needs a bit more upper arm length which would bring his front legs under him a touch more. The purpose of that is so the front end can act as a spring and shock absorber and also so the dog has room to carry game without bashing it with the front legs. Obi's actual shoulder bone is fine though - sloped back pretty nicely. His back legs are good - good 'turn of stifle' which is the curvy upper part of the leg and also the lower half of his leg (the straight bit) is not too long, aka 'hocks well let down' as it says in the Standards. Show dogs are trained to place their hind feet further back or they are 'stacked' which means the feet are placed back by the handler. His top line could be flatter, as Julie mentioned. His body length is pretty good and I'd agree that he's fine in the 'short coupled' department. On his head I'd not want to see any more stop on him or he might start to look too domed in the head. A flatter head would be good (though it looks pretty flat when his ears are more alert). A minor thing is his nose - looking from the side you should see a right angle formed by the top of the muzzle and the front of the muzzle. So the muzzle should be straight along the top then go straight down at the end of the nose. Obi's nose angle is slightly acute, making the end of his nose a fraction pointy. Overall I do like his head though (no bias here!!). His tail is a little brushy - would be good to lose the slight feathering on the underside. Probably his biggest fault is that his front feet turn out a bit (and his back feet a little too). His eyes are pretty big (not helped by the eyeliner) and I agree, Julie, that a more diamond shaped and less round eye would be better. I think his eye colour is good though you wouldn't want it any darker. As you say also, Julie, ears should like they are almost too far back and he has pretty good ears. I like his build overall as I don't go for the really chunky look. I wouldn't want any more chunk factor in a dog I owned (leaving aside the slight weight issue, LOL). Eye colour should always be brown regardless of coat colour. With eye colour in chocolates it seems that it is hard to get a nice rich brown due to the diluting action of the chocolate genes. From what I have seen if you can avoid a yellow looking eye in a chocolate you're doing well. Eye colour can be hard in blacks too as an overly dark eye looks too hard in expression and an overly light eye looks too intense. Sam reminds me of my old boy, Nicolae, who was also tall and 38kg and a total angel
Re: Slimdoggy - the next instalment I see a few light, amber coloured eyes in black dogs, it's almost startling and they can look slightly crazed generally very lovely dogs though I have looked more closely at Riley's chest and I can get a hand down between his front legs but his breast bone doesn't protrude very much at all and his upper arms aren't quite as straight as they appear in the photo but probably still a little short. I think the thing I like most is actually his proportions, it all fits together well, and his lovely face with it's cute zipper ;D
Re: Slimdoggy - the next instalment This is Benson...he is 19 weeks old..and from strong show bench lines.. head shot.. collecting tennis balls!
Re: Slimdoggy - the next instalment [quote author=bbrown link=topic=4651.msg58571#msg58571 date=1393934621] and his lovely face with it's cute zipper ;D [/quote] Dogs with zippers get extra marks in my book!
Re: Slimdoggy - the next instalment Loving these photos and commentaries... can't post any photos of Brew right now, but basically, you have already seen her - she is very like Penny! Field strain through and through - too slender and narrow by far against the breed standards, tail too slender too. Her head-shape differs to Penny - suspect she is slightly more 'houndy'. She is also very long-legged, but as she is still only 6 mths, I'm expecting her proportions to change a little. Completely unqualified to comment against breed standards - Riley and Sam are just both utterly gorgeous; Obi could persuade me of anything with those eyes, although his front legs do look slightly short to me - factor in though that I seem to be living with the canine equivalent of Jerry Hall, so lots of legs do start to look short. Benson is also very young, so whilst he's obviously show strain and drop-dead stunning, I'd need him to mature more before I stood any chance of thinking of anything along the lines of breed standards. And Lisa, I would LOVE to see more Simba pics, because I do see the Lab first and foremost when I've seen pics of him, so I'd love a closer look. If you're short of things to do, any chance you could measure him too??? Would love to know how he measures up. Clare
Re: Slimdoggy - the next instalment Alrighty, I'm just going to try one right now....not sure if these links are working properly Simba by psalmone1, on Flickr
Re: Slimdoggy - the next instalment Okay, that worked. Here are the others: Simba 2 by psalmone1, on Flickr Posing by psalmone1, on Flickr Posing by psalmone1, on Flickr The light isn't great, it's early morning here. The reason he looks so sad is that he is watching Mark and Sarah leave for the day, and he thinks they are never EVER coming back. In the first pic on the previous post he is, of course, wondering when the treat is going to appear, as after all, he DID come when I called him...... I measured him from the bottom of his front paw to the top of his back...not sure if that is right? It was 61 cms. I think he looks a bit skinny....but I can't feel ribs or backbone, so that's supposedly right? Last vet visit, which was a couple months ago now, he was around 26 kg, I believe. I don't think he's changed much since then. In looking at your lovely doggies, I would say he's closer to the "field" type in looks, more rangy and less solid? Which would make sense, given the American vs English labrador discussions we have had....I would assume the Lab half of him would have come from an American Lab, although, really , I have no idea. I'm assuming his parents were one Lab, one Newfie, both full blooded, but I really don't know. I have seen another dog from the same parents, different litter, and he looks more Newfie in the face than Simba - more jowls going on. I'm going to have to do more digging on that - his parents are owned by the parents of an employee of my best friend, so I could probably find out more without too much difficulty. His coat is silky smooth, but I do see the coarser fur on the top, although you can't really tell from those pics, I don't think. He has a thick undercoat. Anyway, what do you think?
Re: Slimdoggy - the next instalment [quote author=kateincornwall link=topic=4651.msg58607#msg58607 date=1393949180] Oh Simba , you are so beautiful and Lisa, he looks all Lab to me [/quote] Thanks, Karen, I do think he's beautiful, too. And I can't tell you the number of times people have said, "Oh, what a beautiful dog" when we are out walking....honestly I never heard that ONCE with my Border Collies....which I think were beautiful, too, but I guess people just love the Lab look. Sarah's friends all want to cuddle him and squeeze him and hug him and...... :
Re: Slimdoggy - the next instalment Looking at those photos again, I can see my window needs a little scrub. Too many presses of a doggy nose upon it, methinks..... :
Re: Slimdoggy - the next instalment And much more lab than Newfie. Are you sure he only weighs 26kg Lisa? That would be very light for a 61cm dog...
Re: Slimdoggy - the next instalment He's beautiful and very labbie He looks like he's got scrumtious large ears and a fluffy tail which might be a bit of newfie sneaking in and over-riding the lab but he is absolutely gorgeous xxx
Re: Slimdoggy - the next instalment [quote author=Karen link=topic=4651.msg58615#msg58615 date=1393950805] And much more lab than Newfie. Are you sure he only weighs 26kg Lisa? That would be very light for a 61cm dog... [/quote] Well, I'm not sure, exactly. That was a couple of months ago and I'm going from memory. So it's probably different now.
Re: Slimdoggy - the next instalment Simba definitely more Lab to me but I can see there is a hint of Newfie in his head - I think its the slightly bigger maybe thicker ears and slightly wider head but really not sure. Really surprised how slim and light he is as I would have thought that's where the newfie would come into it. All the dogs so far are gorgeous! I really couldn't choose my favorite...too tough!
Re: Slimdoggy - the next instalment I agree with Jac and Barbara - bit of Newfie in his wide head and slightly heavier/furrier ears and coat. But he's very, very Labbie. His shoulders are a little straight. His back legs look to be too but that could be just his he happens to be standing - you'd want to see more curve to the top part of his leg (which is the stifle or knee area). The straight rear leg thing also has the effect of elevating his rump a bit. He's a gorgeous dog. Julie, you mentioned something earlier about whether a coat should be matte or shiny. There is nothing in the Standards about that. Yellows do have a shine but it's hard to see and almost impossible to capture in a photo. I like shiny, meself Benson is a good looking boy. See if you can get a shot of him standing square and looking up, taken from directly side on. Like the standing side shot of Obi or Simba.
Re: Slimdoggy - the next instalment [quote author=Oberon link=topic=4651.msg58661#msg58661 date=1393963995] Julie, you mentioned something earlier about whether a coat should be matte or shiny. There is nothing in the Standards about that. Yellows do have a shine but it's hard to see and almost impossible to capture in a photo. I like shiny, meself [/quote] I like shiny too! Charlie's coat is to die for, it's so scrumptious. But whether it's a proper thing, dunno. It was something I read (on that full of rubbish internet thingy though). The proper undercoat, and the dense, short top coat results in a matt look - I'll try dig out where it was. That vid I posted the other day of the UK judge also included this point, I think. The UK standard says: Distinctive feature, short dense without wave or feathering, giving fairly hard feel to the touch; weather-resistant undercoat. The US standard specifies: The coat is a distinctive feature of the Labrador Retriever. It should be short, straight and very dense, giving a fairly hard feeling to the hand. The Labrador should have a soft, weather-resistant undercoat that provides protection from water, cold and all types of ground cover. A slight wave down the back is permissible. Woolly coats, soft silky coats, and sparse slick coats are not typical of the breed, and should be severely penalized. Charlie has a very soft, very silky coat, with a very high shine. There is no way it has a "fairly hard" feel to it. But he also has a very good thick undercoat, which is very noticeable close up, as it's a slightly different colour. He is also extremely waterproof, it's hard to get his coat wet in the shower!
