Show Prospect?

[swan]

Thinking about showing this boy, still a pup 10 months old here he is:

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[bjh]

He looks nice in the picture. Do you have pictures of him stacked? Also before you make a decision you should ask for videos of him moving. You can have the a beautiful yorkie but if their movement is bad it would be hard to finish them.

[bjh]

I looked back at your other posts. Is this the pup you bought awhile back? Did you ever find a mentor for showing? I hope everything works out for you.

[gemy]

Yes if you like we can look at his video of movement and stack shots. What is the quality of his coat like?

ANd how is your show grooming coming along? The topknot I am pretty useless at, but I can get one in.

Just remember that coat is a pretty important part of the standard, you want his coat to gleam like sunshine, and hang straight.

[swan]

Bjh and gemy thank you both for your replies. Your advice is wise and well taken.

I must apologize for the title of the thread. It shouldn't have had a question mark, and I should have just titled it "My puppy" or "puppy i would like to show". I feel like the title is misleading so I apologize. I was really more amazed that I figured out how to post a photo. A process that has baffled me until last night.

He is the puppy I got a while back, and I did find a great mentor who is incredibly supportive, talented, and kind. She thinks he is going to show great, I think she is right but I am more concerned with how I will do, I am a new.

He moves great, he stacks when he is into it, but not on command like I would like. Any tips on stacking practice? I have been using the blocks.

My wife handles the grooming and she is great at it.

[gemy]

I highly recommend you take a show handling class or three. Hopefully you have some dog clubs in your area that put these on.

There is something called the "hard stack", it is most often seen in the toy group of dogs. THe handlers kneel down beside their dog and place the dog in the correct stack position.

When teaching stack you start from there - ie the hard stack position. Using the blocks is a wonderfull tool to build up their stance strength. But make sure you are training the stack position correctly. TAlk to your mentor, and show how you are stacking your boy.

For the ultimate "free stack" it occurs over many many many times of practice. I use Stand - Stay. I use these two commands as they are also used in obedience training. You can trot with your pup, then slow down and say Stand - Stay. You want the dog to stand still. First you reward for standing Still ie the stay command. Then you work on feet placement, if you are lucky all your block work will translate to a natural stack pattern for your puppy. Then you can slowly if the feet position is not correct walk 1/4 or 1/2 step forward and guide your dog into the correct stance.

You really need to videotape yourself and him in practice runs. Have your wife help you - ie she could be the videographer. What you want to practice is the correct speed for your dog with you on the trot. Correct speed means that which shows off your boys side gait and front n back to his best. Try out different speeds, see his gait at slow, moderate, fast. Now for Yorkies especially you will be looking at your own gait stride, relative to your Yorkies; stride. I think their is a video of me somewhere on here showing my yorkie, also some pics. Look at the length of my stride. My boy is a very very fine mover, and even though he is 9 inches tall and I am 5 3 I go to the limit of my stride length to show him off. You are likely taller than myself (hey who isn't) so might not need to do full strides.


The down n back is very Key. It is often where dogs fall apart. By that I mean when structural anomalies are most apparent. You don't want to see cross stepping, sidewinding, rough movement or a jarring type movement. The dogs head should naturally be held high - especially for a Yorkie.

Look at your dogs natural movement. off lead in your backyard for instance, and videotape it.

A show dog needs to be an athlete - again in my opinion. They need to have great exercise overall, and specific exercise to enhance their gaiting. THey need to be incredibly well socialized and get used to strange places, people smells and noises.

Some dog shows put on fun matches, try to find some in your area.

Now I am going to say something that might be hard to hear. It does not look like you are wrapping this boys coat. His facial furnishings are quite short. ANd that shortness will be a negative, even though he is still a puppy, and I don';t know when you plan to start showing him. But you have what you have, you need to know you will need something else to offset that shortness. THat something must be a lovely gleaming coat, correctly groomed, coupled with a great structure which should be evidenced by his movement. You can look at my video here, Razzle my Road to a Grand Champion. Look at his coat. And like your dog he has short moustaches, but he had and has other qualities.

In the picture you posted your boys coat was dull, looked like he had fly away hair, and the hair was wavey. That needs to be addressed if that is how he normally looks. Show dogs need to be washed if not weekly every other week. They need top quality food to feed that coat, and correct exercise.

It is not easy to be a show breeder, I do hope you have gone to shows and seen the grooming and Yorkies in the ring.

In my avatar you will see pics of Razz when he was a puppy, look at his coat it gleams in the light, and I dock dived with him, rallied, and obedience trained him, while he was being shown.

I know it seems daunting, and it is. BUt you can do this, if your heart and mind are truly want this.

[gemy]

I have attached the link to the thread where I posted Razzles GCH

Here it is:

videos/242620-razzle-gch-video-retrospective.html

[bjh]

Gail, I see all kinds of coats in the show ring down here. To me the pup looks like it has plenty of coat for just being 10 months old. I can't tell much about the texture though. It is hard to judge from the pictures. You have some very good advise.

[gemy]

Originally Posted by bjh

Gail, I see all kinds of coats in the show ring down here. To me the pup looks like it has plenty of coat for just being 10 months old. I can't tell much about the texture though. It is hard to judge from the pictures. You have some very good advise.

I agree his coat looks plentifull. Texture is quite impossible to tell from pics (at least for me), but coat gleam isn't, it is either there or not.

Also I do like his coloration. Looks good to me.

Yes even up here we see all kinds of coat in the show ring. Doesn't mean that they are the correct coats...*SHRUGS*

I might have gone a bit overboard here. BUt I truly enjoy mentoring newbies to the show ring. And also I can be very direct on this front.

I want this OP to have every advantage we can give him in the show ring. Why? Because I totally support newbies to the show ring. In fact there now is a category in AKC show rings for Newbie handlers. It is quite great as far as I can tell.

[bjh]

Gail, I agree, the coat is lacking shine and luster but that could be because it has not been washed. It might be a modified silk coat. I like he color too.

No, you are not going overboard. You gave some excellent advise.

The link you posted does not work. I would love to see the video.

Swan, you are doing a great job with him. There is so much to learn about showing. Have you been to many shows? You can learn so much from just watching and talking to other exhibitors. You will have lots of fun. I wish you lots of luck. Please keep us updated on his progress.

[gemy]

Shoot let me try again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zey...ature=youtu.be

[bjh]

Gail, thanks so much for sharing that video. Razzle is a beautiful boy. So much work and money goes into showing a yorkie. You did an awesome job.
I love his coat and color.

[gemy]

Originally Posted by bjh

Gail, thanks so much for sharing that video. Razzle is a beautiful boy. So much work and money goes into showing a yorkie. You did an awesome job.
I love his coat and color.

Thank you. It was all worth it to me.

[swan]

Thank you to all that commented, Gemy especially you gave me some really good advice. Which can help me directly with training. I also genuinely appreciate the objectivity, if I wanted to everyone to say "aww... how cute" I could have posted the pic anywhere else. I really like honest feedback.

I will try and post some other pics, his coat is very silky to the touch and his color to me is really is one of his strengths. His coat looks "dry" to me in the pic, not shiny like it should. I blame poor grooming (by me). Gemy your right though, I don't wrap his coat yet, but its something I need to consider. We tried it twice, he didn't take to it well and started ripping them out. He is really active outdoors he loves hunting, chasing, and sometimes catching "prey". My wife and I debated it, and her contention is (and she won me over) was that Yorkies in 1890 coats were not being wrapped, yorkies were however encouraged to hunt rats. As a man, it is very hard to win a debate against your wife and your dog. I'm out voted 2 to 1.

I don't know how well we will do, I just hope its fun. If I leave feeling like we all had fun. Its a win. I want to do things the right way, learn from the best as much as I can. I have a lot to learn. Gemy I am going to watch those videos, I have the opposite problem I'm 6 foot 3 and he is on the smaller side. Thank you for the advice. I will keep you posted on our journey.

[swan]

Here's another pic from same day with his buddy he is on the left

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