Stacking Practice

My question is (LOL) why doesn't the slip fall down the neck in that standing photo of Fifi??? Is there a slide that keeps it there, so in fact it's no longer a slip collar when showing?

And since I never practiced stacking, and instead work on obedience and instant sits, wonder how hard it is to do both? Different commands? Are vocal commands permitted in conformation ring? She does know the word "stand"... I don't know that I'll ever show, but I love teaching Asha different things. And I've never gotten a good photo of her "proper position", which would be nice to have.
It does slide down. Trained dogs usually have it fall down their neck. We readjust when we move the dog IF the dog needs the lead up by the neck for control. Some don’t. I never move Belmont’s up for movement, but he is a pushbutton show dog.

You can train obedience and conformation at the same time. Belmont received three obedience titles while campaigning and had zero issues. A properly trained dog will know what you want when you ask. They are pretty smart that way. Train correctly and they will auto stack in the confo ring and auto sit in obedience.

yes you can talk to the dog in confo. Not obedience.
 
Aw yes! Great to hear y'all are doing it and having fun with something new.

The rear pad thing, I noticed that too. I think some of it is my poor placement and maybe some her rocking back. If you see, I could have put her rear outside leg back some more and that probably would have fixed it. I'd be curious the knowledge of those that show may have an answer. @Panama ?
She is down in her pasterns with weak feet in front and rear. It’s not a stacking thing. It could be a growing thing, but can also be structural. I would ask your breeder if that is normal in her lines and if so suggestions for help.

what will help is to do off leash trots for around 15 mn a day on gravel or sand. What food is she on and how much? Sometimes diet plays a factor.

Keep it up. Learning to stack isn’t easy, especially with a puppy. You are doing great! She’s adorable too btw! You will have fun with her
 
She is down in her pasterns with weak feet in front and rear. It’s not a stacking thing. It could be a growing thing, but can also be structural. I would ask your breeder if that is normal in her lines and if so suggestions for help.
Really? Even with the newest stack photos I posted? I actually picked her feet up this time instead of dragging in place and they look vastly different. They also look good in the shot I posted two weeks ago on a table. The only time they've looked flat like the quoted post was on cement driveway and I was accidentally dragging her feet into place there.

What food is she on and how much? Sometimes diet plays a factor.
She's on Wellness Adult Complete Health grain inclusive for the knuckling and it either was the cause for straightening her out or she grew up, she eats 2.75 cups a day. I'm about to increase it to 3c in another week or so. Probably will leave her on this food for a little longer.
 
@Rits this is why I wish I'd done photos in the same stance as Asha grew up. It's great info - dates and changes and maturing that you can never get back in memory.
 
@Rits this is why I wish I'd done photos in the same stance as Asha grew up. It's great info - dates and changes and maturing that you can never get back in memory.
I agree it's nice to look back on. I figure if anything we will look silly together but still have pictures to look at. It gives me a chance to assess her weight for the week too. Something that is always changing. Maybe not by scale but by how she physically looks. When I see her in person she can look fine but chunky or thin in a picture. I try to use a mix of both to decide on her food intake. Hey Asha isn't done maturing at one! She still has body depth and muscle to fully bloom into so it will still be useful!
 
Yes :) What you are seeing with the improved pictures is it correcting itself. I mentioned that it could be a growth thing, and it appears to be as you see improvement in the pictures you referenced above. A true cat paw should not be able to be splayed out if the pasterns are strong. She is in a tough age bracket for growth. Michelle Santana told me that during this age, you stop looking at them because they can go south. lol. You can see it in some of the photos of her sitting that you have posted on Facebook. She will be ok and she will grow out of it.

Also keep in mind that in order to see proper conformation, the photos need to be taken parallel to the imaging plane, otherwise it can throw things off as camera angle throws planes off. Make them look worse or better than they are. You are an excellent photographer, so I am sure you know this. I personally go off of how they look in person. Through natural standing and movement, but that's how I was taught.

You are doing a fabulous job stacking and your learning is showing in every photo. Keep it up!
 
. She will be ok and she will grow out of it.
Ok good to know it's looking like a growth thing. I already have her on Cran Tri C and a low protein low fat food which both help the ligaments and promote slow growth ( I know you know this but for others reading on why we have been advised to give these). We already like to do trots in the sand once or twice a week so I'll keep that up. No way I can do off leash at her age so it'll have to be onleash. It's pretty easy to keep a loose leash when she runs circles around me by herself. :D

Any positives so we can all learn about picking those out too? :p

There's two UKC shows coming up that we might jump into. My husband surprisingly expressed interest in handling her so I just might let him have some fun with her too. I'm pretty sure we can each handle her at different shows, just not in the same show? I better get to reading the rule book.
 
I did talk to her breeder and she said my stack job was horrible in that pic on the driveway LOL...yep, I did warn her it was :bag:. But also that because of her diet and she grew too fast, we were fixing her knuckling so she's still growing out of that (you can see some of it on the pic of her on the table which wasn't that long ago). She's also teething right now which will mess with things too. She suggested photos taken lower and more at the shoulder. I thought we were doing ok but my husband is tall so maybe we will swap who is the photographer since I'm a shortie :D And she said, like Ainsley said, they are babies and can look funky when growing so she told me she's fine based off of her last pic, whew. I just wanted to make sure there wasn't anything I wasn't doing! And maybe that info will help someone else?
 
Won't be updating this as much because of novice stacking that may make her look worse than she is, which isn't fair to anyone and honestly got a little gun-shy about it.

But Ripley and my husband have two fun puppy matches this weekend to learn and have fun! I'm letting him and Ripley have fun showing together. Ripley and I will continue to do puppy classes, obedience classes and other fun stuff! In the future, we will have fun competing in ring sports and other fun sports, wherever this girl takes us.:love:

They had to work on some body shyness Ripley developed after her recent shots so they had to reteach the stack in pieces all over again which has taken some time! Holding the head, the front feet, the rear feet, the tail, then lean. Each day a different piece until she was ready to move on. So this is their best stack so far, taken today, but we both agreed that he needed to move the darn lead in the right spot. They are getting there! Really proud of them working through the body shyness every day for the past week and a half!

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The day before with better lead placement but rear legs need placed further back. I had been helping give an eye every now and then but I've been holding back this week so they can learn on their own. :thumbsup:
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She looks great! Good shine starting to show up in her fur too.
Thank you! Shes always been a shiny puppy! If you look back on even this thread you'll see it. I just don't ever take pics with flash so some indoor pics, especially if upstairs, aren't bouncing harsh light on her coat or her eyes. We have much better lighting in the basement (kinda ironic lol) since we installed a lot of LED bulbs and fixtures in to be able to see in our living space! In the pics below, she's stacked in the later evening once the sun was below the house. Otherwise the sun was so harsh looking on her coat. Almost too bright!

I told my breeder and Jan that I didn't notice until the pics yesterday and today, but wow her chest is filling in out of nowhere!
 
Ripley (and us) have come a long way! This is her free stack which she really enjoys, she will gladly free stack over handstacking which makes our job easier.

Derek and her are going through a weekly fake show at our training center for the next 4 weeks so everyone can get ready for spring shows. This week a gentleman started talking to me and learned we were new so he started giving me tips from the beginning of the hour until the end. I usually take pics of Ripley so Derek can review for feedback but only took one this week LOL. I thanked him for his help and learned who he was. He shows pugs and is a professional handler, has been for 30+ years. Wow! I was humbled! To be SO helpful to a newbie!

I absorbed everything and then started applying it and we're already seeing results in two days! He gave tips on bait handling for the stack and bait handling during gaiting. One bit of everything he said was to teach Ripley to look for fake bait throws to help get that beautiful forward presence, even when gaiting. I'll also be asking her to step up on her front toes more as I notice she could stand up on them better but that will come together. She used to lean her neck forward for the stack so shes learning just where to hold it now. He had so many nice things to say about Ripley and her conformation. Ripley is one competition win away from finishing her U-CH which we hope to grab at her show in April. I think they'll keep going for her U-GRCH for experience but they plan to dip their toes into AKC soon! Ripley's breeder thinks we'll be ready soon! :wideyed:

Today
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And the only pic I grabbed Sunday. The rest was history as I unlocked my brain to try and store knowledge 🤣 Shes overstretched a bit too much. I took the pic to show Melissa how much shes matured in the past month.
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Ripley (and us) have come a long way! This is her free stack which she really enjoys, she will gladly free stack over handstacking which makes our job easier.

Derek and her are going through a weekly fake show at our training center for the next 4 weeks so everyone can get ready for spring shows. This week a gentleman started talking to me and learned we were new so he started giving me tips from the beginning of the hour until the end. I usually take pics of Ripley so Derek can review for feedback but only took one this week LOL. I thanked him for his help and learned who he was. He shows pugs and is a professional handler, has been for 30+ years. Wow! I was humbled! To be SO helpful to a newbie!

I absorbed everything and then started applying it and we're already seeing results in two days! He gave tips on bait handling for the stack and bait handling during gaiting. One bit of everything he said was to teach Ripley to look for fake bait throws to help get that beautiful forward presence, even when gaiting. I'll also be asking her to step up on her front toes more as I notice she could stand up on them better but that will come together. She used to lean her neck forward for the stack so shes learning just where to hold it now. He had so many nice things to say about Ripley and her conformation. Ripley is one competition win away from finishing her U-CH which we hope to grab at her show in April. I think they'll keep going for her U-GRCH for experience but they plan to dip their toes into AKC soon! Ripley's breeder thinks we'll be ready soon! :wideyed:

Today
View attachment 116844

And the only pic I grabbed Sunday. The rest was history as I unlocked my brain to try and store knowledge 🤣 Shes overstretched a bit too much. I took the pic to show Melissa how much shes matured in the past month.
View attachment 116846
She looks so beautiful. Those muscles....im jealous!
 
I'm missing that Wow button again - Looking so good! You're sure getting all the baby steps in while she's still a baby. I'm realizing how much I'm missing out on not living near a city. :banghead:
 
I'm missing that Wow button again - Looking so good! You're sure getting all the baby steps in while she's still a baby. I'm realizing how much I'm missing out on not living near a city. :banghead:
I know... It's gonna stink when we move this fall but we still will be about 40 min away so definitely still doable to go to classes, just won't be able to squeeze some of these in so late at night like we have been. I'm sure these baby steps would take less time if we knew what we were doing LOL. She's been a great girl to help as we learn together.
 

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