question on stacking/grooming

L

Lynne

Forums Enthusiast
three quick questions for all you show folks.

Where should the back feet be when Jake is stacked?

Can I train him to hold his tail lower? When he is excited he hold's it like Luna does.

For show grooming where should the feathers on the front legs start? The bottom end of Jake's feathers starts at ground level. I know to trim the hair on his back legs from the hock down but am I missing anything else?

thanks everyone!
 
1. The hock should be perpendicular to the floor
2. It can be done, but I don't know how. I would think you can give a command a name and reward like you would for everything else.
3. I usually trim between the foot and the pad a little shorter, especially if they stand on that hair, and then leave the rest. I don't know if that is correct, but it looks cleaner to me, and keeps to mud to a minimum.
 
for 1: yup, perpendicular to the ground.

for 2: I trained a dog with a similarly "happy tail" once. I borrowed a riding crop from a friend, held it in my right hand, and used it to touch the raised tail when we gaited. When you touch/tap the tail, give him a command ("tail") and praise him (gently! or he'll put it up again). You're not striking the tail, you're just touching it downward, to remind him that he has one. It worked really well for me.

for 3: Be really careful about trimming the feathers under the pasterns (wrists). It can make a dog with perfectly nice legs look weak through there. Start with the thinning shears at the ends of the hair and go very slowly - don't just chop the hair out.
 
As stated before, when you stack Jake, his hocks should be perpendicular to the ground. Also be aware of his front; don't place the back feet so far back that he begins to rack. As for his tail, can't help you there. And for grooming, it's hard to develop an eye for grooming just from reading. I would highly recommend finding a breeder or handler to help you out. There is WAY more to "show grooming" than just the feathers and hocks.
 
BarbV said:
Anybody have any photos or links to ideally stacked/groomed pups?
Click to expand...

For stacking, every dog is different (of course). But here is a picture of my boy.

http://hphotos-sjc1.fbcdn.net/hs152.snc3/17933_306326276252_504906252_5102317_275085_n.jpg

You can see that he is standing "four-square". His front isn't racking, and his rear isn't under him, nor is it too far out. For different dogs, it depends on their conformation. You might see that a dog who is under-angulated can't have his rear stretched out that far. If it is, then he will rack. It all just depends.

Lynne, if you're up to it, find a camera man (or woman) and have them get level with your dog while you stack him. Post the pictures, and we can help you out.

As far as pictures of groomed dogs, there are certain grooming techniques that aren't necessarily visible through pictures. Such as thinning on the skull, trimming of the lip lines, under jaw, shoulders, tuck, etc. There are A LOT of things that we trim. And as I said about every dog being different, NO dog is groomed the same as the other. Which is why it would be soooo beneficial to get with a really good groomer.
 
The best advice I got on how to learn to stack came from an Anne Bowes clinic. She said practice in front of a full length mirror with the dog on a grooming table. Gives you great perspective on how and where you should adjust your dog, and it carries to when you need to fix them on the floor as well.

Of course I still haven't learned it properly.....she didn't say it would be easy! :rolleyes2:
 
YES the mirror works wonders!!!! That is actually how I groom too (except I dont have a mirror yet so I use the reflection in my french door in my grooming room), that and when im done I take a picture. Im a visual person, in person I sometimes just cant see what needs to be fixed however you give me a photo and I could ramble off whats wrong
 
Gina said:
For stacking, every dog is different (of course). But here is a picture of my boy.

http://hphotos-sjc1.fbcdn.net/hs152.snc3/17933_306326276252_504906252_5102317_275085_n.jpg

You can see that he is standing "four-square". His front isn't racking, and his rear isn't under him, nor is it too far out. For different dogs, it depends on their conformation. You might see that a dog who is under-angulated can't have his rear stretched out that far. If it is, then he will rack. It all just depends.
Click to expand...

What is the term "rack"? I have not heard that before.

I don't do the conformation showing with my girl Diva. It boogles my mind how much technique there is to grooming. I can help but with something that doesn't involve scissors.
 
Justicemom said:
What is the term "rack"? I have not heard that before.
Click to expand...

Racking is the equivalent to A-framing. The dog's front legs are too far in front of him/her, in which they will be at an angle instead of parallel to the ground. For an easy example, let's use horses (since it's not easy to find pictures of racking dogs :P)

http://cowboyfrank.net/fortvalley/breeds/Graphics/TennesseeWalkingHorse.jpg
As you can see, this horse's legs are at an angle. If you were to draw a straight line from the hocks up, and the front legs up, the two lines would intersect.

http://www.king-ranch.com/images/photo_quarter_horses3.jpg
For this horse, when you draw those two lines, they are parallel to each other.

Now, of course, Horse #1 is a Tennessee Walking Horse, so they are supposed to look like that. But just ignore that for now :P

And sometimes, even if you align the feet correctly, your dog will lean back (he might be scared, or unsure of something), and that will cause him to rack as well. But that is basically what racking (or A-framing) is. I hope I made sense! lol
 
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