Anonymous
Posted : 5/13/2009 4:33:39 PM
Hi there! Another member of the Aussie club, woo hoo! Puppy
evaluations are hard, and best done by those with years and years of breeding experience and a proven kennel. I'll defer to them every time and most of the newer breeders I know have the more experience folks evaluate their litters to learn and get feedback too.
I show my Aussie a little bit. She's a nice dog, but not specials material. What I look for physically in a conformation Aussie is:
1. Movement -- the best moving dogs have a point in their gate where all four feet are off the ground and they are full extended up front and behind, giving them a trapizoid shape to their body outline. Big extension out front, extension behind and a picture of overall balance and fluidity.
2. Structure -- Front and rear angles, length of pastern, how far is the hock off the ground, any easy/westy action up front, are they square in the rear. At 8 weeks you get a pretty good picture of how a pup will turn out. After that they usually fall apart and come back together at different speeds. Some dogs never fall apart, Luna was kind of a butt-high mess until she was 2. She is starting to come together now and her breeder and I are both happy with her. Her brother has never fallen apart, but is totally different from her.
3. Head - I like a nice head. I won't lie. Parallel muzzle and skull angles. A bit of stop, but not too upright and not too weak. But, it does come further down on the list. A dog with bad ears and great movement is going to beat a dog with perfect ears and bad movement every time. (And should.) Gluing ears helps and most folks I know do it for the first year. I taped Luna's and messed them up. Oh well!
4. Coat - How much does a dog carry, how strong is the pigment. Any mis-markings, how much white, etc.
Feel free to PM me if you are curious about a specific kennel and I can share what I know. Most of my knowledge is with kennels in the Northeast, and the styles change from region to region, but there are great dogs in every part of the country, so that's a plus!
Hope that helps!