The summer bugs litter (from last year)

These are the four girls from my litter last August hung, and I'll put their picture from one year below each puppy's hung photo. Maybe we can see what you can see from birth and what changes. I know I had too much of my hand in some of these shots, but it was my first time.

Tango (now Tanga)=I stacked her up, but she doesn't know me anymore and was humping up. Her topline is not roached like that when she's standing naturally. This is the girl sold as a pet.



Ladybug (now Kali)



Junebug



Cricket (the adult photo is rotated for consistancy's sake-this is actually a photo of my side, not the judges)

I LOVE Kali:) So pretty..you got a few good pups from that litter didn't you? and GIRLS at that..makes me want to keep all these girls in my litter and see how they turn out, lol

I completely sold the wrong girl, no question about it. I intended to keep her, I even named her my "keeper" name (Proud Lake's Timekeeper), but at the last evaluation, I panicked about her temperament, and a little "flick" she was doing with her right rear leg that concerned me and I decided to keep Cricket. Her temperament ended up fine, though I'm sure a good part of that is from her living with Heather, who doesn't put up with her bull, lol. So, she ended up in a great show home, and I can't be too upset with that.

I think Junie turned out lovely too. She hated to show, and ended up spayed earlier this month. It broke my heart, but she was never going to be bred, so no point in torturing her, and as Lisa pointed out to me, why spend the money on a handler if you're not going to breed her either.

Tanga turned out better than I expected, except for that godawful head. Her topline really is level, despite the photos I took that day, and for her size (she's 7 pounds), she's not bad.

Cricket I'm just waiting on. I'm going to wait until spring and see if she fills out some and then make some decisions about her. Her elbows pop out which drives me absolutely insane, and she's got no coat to speak of. If she fills out, I'll send her to Heather and see if she can finish her for me. I just don't know if I want to take a chance on breeding her with the elbows. Ugh.

Thanks for posting these, Kathleen

Did you spay Junie just because she didn't like being shown?

Lois hated the ring,did well each time she went but her heart wasn't in it like her brother so was retired from the ring but still used in her breeders and my breeding programme, the pups she has produced have been very outgoing and so have the studs used.

I wonder why Cricket has so little coat compared to her sisters, she has been staying in the same enviroment as Junie I take it and fed the same so you would expect the coats to be the same too.

Just remind me which of the girls were poorly with pneumonia as a pup?

Rhodach wrote:Did you spay Junie just because she didn't like being shown?

Lois hated the ring,did well each time she went but her heart wasn't in it like her brother so was retired from the ring but still used in her breeders and my breeding programme, the pups she has produced have been very outgoing and so have the studs used.

I wonder why Cricket has so little coat compared to her sisters, she has been staying in the same enviroment as Junie I take it and fed the same so you would expect the coats to be the same too.

Just remind me which of the girls were poorly with pneumonia as a pup?

Junie had pneumonia as a pup. She was spayed because she didn't like showing, and I'd sold her to my mom as a pet with the understanding that we'd spay her after her show career was over. She's probably too small for breeding as well, not that my mom would have bred her. She's only 7 1/2 pounds. So a mix of reasons that she wouldn't have been used for breeding, but the reason for spaying her recently was because she was retired from the ring.

Kathleen, they are very pretty bitches. I'm still having problems with the dog language. How is Kali doing in the ring?

Do you believe the hanging pics were a significant indication of what you observed when they became older? I hang my pups and look in the mirror and really don't see anything really different with them and if I do then I don't see it the next day. Maybe it's just that I don't have a well trained eye especially with very young pups. The stud owner looked at my newborn pics and immediately picked out a head that she didn't like. I really couldn't see a difference. I might end of keeping all five of mine until they are atleast twelve weeks because I would hate to give up the best one by making a decision too soon. At what age did you decide?

priesty wrote:Kathleen, they are very pretty bitches. I'm still having problems with the dog language. How is Kali doing in the ring?

Do you believe the hanging pics were a significant indication of what you observed when they became older? I hang my pups and look in the mirror and really don't see anything really different with them and if I do then I don't see it the next day. Maybe it's just that I don't have a well trained eye especially with very young pups. The stud owner looked at my newborn pics and immediately picked out a head that she didn't like. I really couldn't see a difference. I might end of keeping all five of mine until they are atleast twelve weeks because I would hate to give up the best one by making a decision too soon. At what age did you decide?

It's funny, almost immediately Kathy told me that she liked the heads on Cricket and Kali best. They had "fat heads" when they were babies and I could see that-the smaller puppies had prettier heads as youngsters, but as they got older and they stretched out, all the fill disappeared on those pretty heads and stayed somewhat on the fat heads.. I actually like Cricket's head the best of the four girls, though there is still room for improvement, but she was right that Junie and Tanga's would be snipier since they had some shape when they were small.

I struggle with translating what I see in the hanging photos to what I see as adults. It's clear to me that the fronts don't hang well on any of the four puppies, but I don't understand why Kali's front turned out so much better than Cricket's just looking at the hanging photos. I don't see how the depth of chest will develop or not (Kali's did, Cricket's didn't) when they looked about even as puppies. I can, looking back, see how nice and short Kali's hocks are, compared to Cricket's (Tanga's are pretty short too), and I can kind of see the difference in the hanging photos, so that is something for me to note next time. Junie's topline was rock solid - easily the best of the puppies until she was maybe four or five months old-why did that fall apart? I'm not sure.

I would REALLY like for someone experienced with this to show me what they do and don't see in the hanging photos and how to evaluate that for future growth. Right now, I'm with you-I don't see it very well, other than the really obvious things.

edit: I missed your question about when I decided. I decided on Tanga at her six week old evaluation. It was obvious to me and my friend Lois who looked at the puppies then that Tanga was going to be a pet. Interestingly, we also designated Junie as a pet, partly because of her illness, and partly because her shoulder placement was SO steep at that point-her shoulder blades were up in her neck. Kali and Cricket I waffled over for a long time. We evaluated them again at 8 weeks and at 12 weeks. Kali was the pick for Kathy and Lois both times, but they thought all three girls I had left at that point were show quality. I decided on Cricket as a last minute thing at the 12 week evals. Kali was doing a funny little flip with one of her rear feet and her temperament was whiny and resistent. I thought she'd be like Millie to show and I hated the idea. As it turns out, Junie was the one like her mom. I am very happy with Cricket's temperament, but I think Kali's body would have more than made up for any PITAness she would have been.

It was interesting to look at the pics : in some respects I can see they displayed different traits in their baby pics that carried through but to be honest I am a little surprised at the fronts : mind you looking at a pic and actually hanging them and looking at them in the flesh is different :: BUT the fronts generally turned out better than what you would predict going on the pics :: dont you think ?

Tinsnips2 wrote:It was interesting to look at the pics : in some respects I can see they displayed different traits in their baby pics that carried through but to be honest I am a little surprised at the fronts : mind you looking at a pic and actually hanging them and looking at them in the flesh is different :: BUT the fronts generally turned out better than what you would predict going on the pics :: dont you think ?

Yes, especially Kali's (though I do think a little bit of that is some creative grooming). I honestly can't figure out where the "boom" in her front came from, but even the other three improved dramatically from what I thought we'd get.