Well, today, Scampy turns 5 months old and this week he started his puppy obedience class. He's very bright, very confident and loves to learn new things. Today, we actually started stacking him for the first time since he was a small puppy with the idea that in a month, he can actually start competing in Conformation shows. The good news: he has very high food drive. The bad news from my right thumb: he has very high food drive
. But high food drive means he'll focus on the bait in the ring and pretty much ignore everything else. That's good.
I thought I'd share the results of the stacking session. Keep in mind that since I do the stacking and training, Linda is stuck with the photo responsibility. I think she did great in this session. First of all, here's a stacked shot of Scampy.
We really like where he is right now. His topline is quite nice, his front and rear are true and he has nice forechest. He has quite a bit of rear angulation -- which he comes by legitimately -- but that also allows him to fly when he moves. I'd rather my dogs have a little too much rear angulation than too little. His head is a work in progress but it reminds me of Rowdy's at the same age so I have confidence that it will come in nicely. As a comparison, here's a shot of Scampy's daddy, Max.
And his granddaddy, Rowdy.
That shot of Max was taken when he was six years old; the one of Rowdy when he was 10 years old.
As you may remember, this litter is line-bred on Rowdy who is both the litter's grandfather and its great grandfather (Max's dad/Juneau's granddad) so it's fairly obvious what we were after. But more than just physically. We wanted a dog that has Rowdy's personality. It's a bit early to tell, but Scampy's confidence and love of both people and other animals is a good indicator. More pics later as Scampy gets ready to enter the ring.
Jim
