I have a Champ show next Saturday. The judge has judged my dogs before, be it at an open show so there was less quality but his critiques for the three dogs influenced my decision on who to enter and I'm taking just Kaiah and Ross.
At the time Ross looked like this and the judge wrote this about him ...
Silkenwood Poldark Of Blanik- middle size boy of good overall type and substance , masculine head of correct proportion, dark well shaped eyes, good mouth , ears wide at base and correct size and height , moderate neck, good wither , correct for upperarm and shoulder length and angles, overline good and firm , underline needs to mature , croup good, excellent hind angles , moved soundly out and back and showed enough side gait but sure he could extend a bit more, just at that in-between stage for growth and needs to fill out a bit and mature in body and coat , promising youngster. Res BOB
Taking that into account I look at Ross today and consider that in 10 months he has matured and
changed somewhat? There is no doubt he has matured in body, depth of chest etc .. and head too but coat, hmm, well it is better but it's not fantastic. I have to accept that following in his father footsteps Ross does not carry the L/C gene and therefore he does not carry a profuse coat. There is nothing I can do about that, I can only make what he has the best it can be. On saying that currently I think it is the best it's been and with 6 days till the show I can't imagine there will be a drastic difference.
Last night I got chatting to a lady who shows Standard Poodles, about the sprays that she uses on the coat. Obviously I don't want what she uses on her troops but she recommended a Volumising spray by a company who's product she uses, so I've ordered it. She said the one I currently use would make the coat glossy but lie more flat. I have to admit I can't say I've seen any difference with it so I definitely want to try a different one. Maybe spraying the new spray and putting the blaster on him on a show morning will help the coat from lying so flat and give the appearance of more coat? I don't want to keep bathing him, I can't imagine it helps! We'll see!
Ross has been on biotin now for about 6 months ... maybe longer? It was recommended by a friend on the GSD circuit. I have to admit I do feel it helps, but this one is so bloody expensive! I had cut down the tablets to 2 a day which is a maintenance dose but last weekend his coat started to blow out again .. I just couldn't believe it. My friend said that when that happens she put hers back up to 4 and it stops the shedding in it tacks .. I tried it .. OMG it worked .. or it seems to have anyway! Ross has been on Cold liver oil, evening primrose oil and Yumega in the past. I believe the best product other than the biotin is Dorwest's Keepers Mix, but that is a powder and there was no way Ross would eat with it in his food, no matter how much I tried to disguise it! Fussy bugger! Anyway I have recently been given another bottle of the Yumega oil and will now add that to his diet, a little research seems to suggest the oil works better in conjunction with Yumega Boost, which is a biotin based product. Sadly it's a powder .. but I'll give it a go and if he won't have it I'll give it to one of the others when their coats are shedding.
You can see from the photo taken today that Ross has more of a ruff than he did have .. but he still lacks the glamour of a large male coat .. I guess I'm wrong to compare him to Nico, after all Mikey and more so Blade had less coat too. Loki's coat is different, he doesn't really have enough but the strands are longer and when't he's blaster his looks fuller. I think to satisfy my curiosity I'll now go and find photos of the other dogs at approx 2 years old and post them separately!
