Critiques And Coats

Ross in coat (end of May)

Having had a pm from another dog show exhibitor and judge in another breed who was also at a loss regarding the underline comment in the critiques, I decided to ask a couple of friends for their interpretations. I could only think he was talking about chest development as really not a lot else changes in the underline.  Anyway, one is a Champ show judge in Belgian Shepherds .. the other in German Shepherds.
To BSD judge the critique was clear as the underline in their breed is very important. A shorter coupled dog than a GSD, a BSD should have a well descended chest with good tuck up. In puppies the underline is almost straight and the shape comes with normal chest development, as it would in any breed but possibly look more defined in a shorter coupled breed.

The GSD judge like me was a little more confused by the turn of phrase, especially as she said both the dogs are really teenagers and she considers both dogs to have normal chest development for their age. Males especially develop more slowly and develop deeper chests.
I have no issues with these critiques and do not dispute his interpretation of the standard or the fact that both have a lot of developing to do, I quite agree. It was simply the turn of phrase that confused me (and others) as I've never read "Chest Development" written in that way in critiques for this breed. A GSD should not be overloaded in front, it's not suppose to be a deep breed .. it should be slightly longer than tall and the length of leg should be longer than the depth of body. Ideally the length of leg should be approximately 55% of the overall height of the dog and as we know particularly males are not mature till they are over 3 years old.

Kaiah is coming back into coat, with luck she'll look great for the next batch of Champ shows, unless she's in season. We only have four left this year .. scary to think how quickly this year is passing us by. We go from one closing date to another, one show to another. In 12 months time I'll be hoping to breed from her .. Either Ross .. or maybe Zalu who's in Suffolk, the other dog I like is in Dublin .. anyone fancy a ferry trip?
Ross still looks awful. He simply has no undercoat and has lost all his feathering and furnishings, he has a tail like a stick. Looking back he looked at his best in late May early June so lets hope he'll soon return to some kind of glory, but I can't imagine he'll be in full coat in a month. Unlike Kaiah I can't see any improvement in his coat. Ah well what will be will be ....