# Cooper's Growing Up-Conformation Critique



## Ljilly28 (Jan 22, 2008)

This is a beautiful puppy, and my kind of dog. Love. Cooper still has his beautiful head and wonderful breed type. His issue is going to be conditioning him to hard working muscle, bc he has a topline that looks good in some pics but like in #3 has a dip. That can happen with a half and half dog, where the rib cage comes half and the longer loin takes up half, or in a dog a titch long in body. Play some up hill chuck it on grass or sand. He looks nice. Pictures are hard to say anything useful, but it seems like he has a good amount of rear angulation, so be careful in the ring how you set him up so he doesnt slope to the rear. He has short fat hocks I love. This is a very nice puppy.


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## Christen113 (Dec 3, 2014)

Ljilly28 said:


> This is a beautiful puppy, and my kind of dog. Love. Cooper still has his beautiful head and wonderful breed type. His issue is going to be conditioning him to hard working muscle, bc he has a topline that looks good in some pics but like in #3 has a dip. That can happen with a half and half dog, where the rib cage comes half and the longer loin takes up half, or in a dog a titch long in body. Play some up hill chuck it on grass or sand. He looks nice. Pictures are hard to say anything useful, but it seems like he has a good amount of rear angulation, so be careful in the ring how you set him up so he doesnt slope to the rear. He has short fat hocks I love. This is a very nice puppy.


Thanks, Jill! Do you think that it could also be that the dip is from grooming (basically not properly grooming his cape)? He definitely needs more conditioning, but I've never actually noticed a dip but I have noticed that the cape hairs grow longer and can make it look like one if not properly trimmed. I've mainly been taking him swimming-I figured that would help with all over conditioning. Do you think that will help? We have a lack of hills here


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Christen - he has a gorgeous head - there's no question he's all boy<:

The back has a dip like Jill mentioned (I saw it in the first three pics)... but that could be grooming. When you groom him for show - really make sure you keep an eye on the back. The judge will feel what they will feel, but don't give them anything to think about when they are standing in the middle and looking down the line. 

I don't think he's long bodied.


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## Christen113 (Dec 3, 2014)

Megora said:


> Christen - he has a gorgeous head - there's no question he's all boy<:
> 
> The back has a dip like Jill mentioned (I saw it in the first three pics)... but that could be grooming. When you groom him for show - really make sure you keep an eye on the back. The judge will feel what they will feel, but don't give them anything to think about when they are standing in the middle and looking down the line.
> 
> I don't think he's long bodied.


I don't see the dip in the outdoor free stack-do you? That's probably the difference between pro vs owner grooming . I have never felt or noticed a dip in his topline but that cape/hair annoys me because I can't get it to lay straight. The handler trims it better than I can and right now he's totally blown his undercoat so my friend said not to trim too much more because she didn't think it'd lay right without the undercoat. Suggestions??


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