Comment on fronts part 1 discussion...

Sorry...too long to add to comments.

Le'o commented on pictures. I wish I had the skills to take better pictures! In fact they are more for me to remember what that puppy looked like and not to use like this in trying to get points across by using only pictures. Thus, getting back to a previous comment made on one of my lists...the best way to learn about all this is to get your hands on dogs!! My house is always open and I will tell you everything I do and don't like about my dogs and could trace about every characteristic back in the pedigree. (For those who don't know I am a pedigree fanatic, literally have 13,000 Cardigan pedigrees, most of them being older dogs, as I don't tend to put new dogs in my database unless I am curious about that dogs pedigree.)

Le'o's last comment on this discussion needs a big THANK YOU! For those who haven't gone and looked at the skeleton picture in the IS (p. 13), please do. Boy #1 actually has a longer forearm, thus making him taller. You have to be careful of this, as longer pasterns are going to make the feet turn out more, not so much a dog taller. So, look again at boy #2. He actually is the one with longer pasterns. It will become apparent when I post the older pictures. On the side shot you can see it much better. That arch in his foot is not present as in the other three puppies. When I evaluate puppies at this age, I don't want to see ANY turn out, none. Boy #2 is at this age slightly turned out. I did not like this feature but since he was my best male (that wasn't a mismark) I grew him up.

This brings me to another point. Some of us breeders have different ideas on where the front should turn out. I was taught that it is in the wrap, not the foot. So, it is a big pet peeve of mine when I see front foot turn out from the pastern not from the wrap. Thus why some of my dogs tend to be straighter then some people like and I will forgive a bit wider front before I forgive a front that has a long pastern and turns easty westy. In person is much better trying to explain this one.

And since I am going off subject a bit...Australian lines grow a slight bit different. You have to wait for them to mature and I have had many puppies go really wide at stages. So, a puppy that looks similar to one of these puppies we are looking at, may not grow exactly the same. Different lines mature differently...breeding is always interesting, isn't it?!!!!

Of course all IMO.