Long Time No Speak

Yesterday I had a lovely message from a lady I've not seen or spoken to in years. My memory of Lorraine was that faded that I had to check her Facebook page to remember exactly what she looked liked. Well it had been a while. We first met when she judged locally and gave Mikey BOB. She absolutely loved him and we made contact through Facebook and kept in touch for a while after that. She told me then that GSD were her first love and she despaired at the path some were following, so she'd been delighted with her entry at North Wales and Mikey was picked as best of the bunch on the day.

As we chatted I thought, well if she liked Mikey then she'd love Orin. No disrespect to Mikey, he was super, but Orin is an improvement in type. I decided to send her the recent photo of Orin in stance - she then replied with a full, constructive and detailed critique. 

"Medium size, fantastic colours, wonderful front, with forechest, neck correctly set on. From the pictureI wouldn't want him any 'heavier' in head I think this just right at the moment. Hocks strong Yaaay, and bend of stifle balances front. From the photo I would perhaps like a little more 'crvature' at the croup. But I have often found that once they start to move this corrects itself. He's a very nice boy Rhian. Congratulations."

I can't disagree with any of that, his croup is slightly flat, but it's not really something that has every concerned me. He is balanced and beautiful. His head is masculine and strong, yes ideal as it is, any more strength would give him that coarseness that I dislike in the Chinese bred males. (They almost look like a mastiff) At the age he is now though it is what it is ... perfect, in my eye, let's not go there.. haha 

I then decided to sent her a headshot and this was the reply .... 

"masculine, flat planes, very much 'all of a piece' I shouldn't think at his age that it will get any heavier. He's got a lovely keen expression. Wow his colours are so good. "

I then considered my options and thought sod it I'll send her the Siska pic, not the one where she is pushing forward the one where her topline is a little more relaxed. I expected her to be polite and say that she liked her, but prefered Orin. "That picture of her is going into my file so I don't have to keep looking for it. Well for what it's worth, and assuming she moves as well as she looks like she should I would predict CC's for her. But we shall see. She is so very much my cup of tea. She absolutely not overdone in any way. Oh my goodness but she is gorgeous. Congratulations on another super girl."

Well I wasn't expecting that. She asked about the parents and I sent her photos of Kaiah, Sammi and Fransisco, explaining that I had mated mother and daughter to the same sire. 

"Your boy has taken after Dad a bit more and wow I can see where the colour comes from. For me, Dad is a bit too chunky through the chest  but his forehand and neck set on are really, really good and both son and daughter have that.." When I explained that Sisco was 9 in my photos she said, "Ah Ok understandable then."  

She went on to say "You chose dad so well. I truly love the type on your bitches. What Dad has done is not messed with your type but, if I may say, has improved further your forehands and slightly shortened them up. That puppy is just as good as you could have hoped for, and the dog is really not far behind. I really think you are doing a great job Rhian. And please keep me in the loop with their careers."

Well that left me buzzing, sometimes it really is nice to catch up isn't it!