# 18 month old sable male.



## sablecoat

Just for fun, I don't intend to show him and I know he's not really that well built. Can you guys critique based of these poorly done stacks?


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## eddie1976E

I have no critique for you....but what a handsome boy. Looks like a darker version of mine.


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## SiegersMom

Beautiful. Has the body type of what I think mine will have when she is older. About the same color too. Looks like a nicely bred dog. I am no expert so I can't give much of a critique.


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## wolfstraum

he is a nicely made working line dog.....he is not a ASL or WGSL so you don't want to compare apples to oranges!

His conformation is fine - has the typical working line "faults" - ie straight shoulder - which is nothing more than fashion in the show ring....otherwise he looks to be a SG dog.

Lee


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## Cschmidt88

He's a handsome boy! 

I like his handsome masculine head, and his neck seems to flow nicely. He has a decent front but could use more rear and lacks turn of stifle. Even from a non-show perspective, you get better ease of movement from the front and rear angles being similar/balanced. Short upperarm, but I like his depth of chest.


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## sablecoat

Thank you everyone for your time and comments, it's very odd hearing so many nice things (in spite of his faults) since I personally am not a fan of his build. His littermates are much more to my taste (stockier, more blocky conformations). I don't like his roached back, I think his chest is too barrelled (he has a tuck, but you don't get that defined waist even if he's in decent shape), his rear is indeed weak and I really don't like how high his tail is set. I also don't like how short his coat is, but I'm hoping it'll fill out when he's nearing 3 like it usually does with sables. But he is of a short coat type with an excess undercoat (this is also a fault), and IMO a little too unpigmented for my preferences.

But I love him all the same!

Here's a non-stack picture that shows him in a less favourable and more realistic light:










Glad to hear you guys consider his face/head to be masculine, I've always thought he looked very feminine but since he's not done filling out I think all of his body could use a bit of testosterone.


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## Cschmidt88

I think that is a very fair critique of him. Cudos to you for admitting his faults, I didn't even catch the tail set. 

And I may be biased since I've been following him on Tumblr. I always thought he had a handsome face, it could be more masculine that is true, I've met some shepherds that didn't finish maturing until around 3. So hopefully he'll fill out a bit more on those areas.


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## Reef LeDoux

I guess that's the old saying "to each their own". Because the things your not to fond of, I Prefer. I love the shorter hair and the leaner body. I don't like the blocky look on a GSD at all, and even though I think the longer hair is beautiful I don't think it belongs on a GSD. (just my preference) 
Your dog has many of the same traits as mine and I chose his parents carefully, to get these traits.
A working GSD and a show GSD are not the same. 
You have a beautiful working line GSD, and I think he's perfect. I know you love him regardless of the little things but in my eyes those little things a better.


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## sablecoat

Reef LeDoux said:


> I guess that's the old saying "to each their own". Because the things your not to fond of, I Prefer. I love the shorter hair and the leaner body. I don't like the blocky look on a GSD at all, and even though I think the longer hair is beautiful I don't think it belongs on a GSD. (just my preference)
> Your dog has many of the same traits as mine and I chose his parents carefully, to get these traits.
> A working GSD and a show GSD are not the same.
> You have a beautiful working line GSD, and I think he's perfect. I know you love him regardless of the little things but in my eyes those little things a better.


Oh, I think you misunderstand me or misinterpret my preferences! Here are a few dogs that are more to my liking, you can tell it's definitely not the "show type" I'm out for...




























I personally prefer normal (short) coat haired german shepherds too, but as you can tell from my dog he has excess undercoat but not a lot of guard hairs. Most of the guard hairs sit atop his spine or his shoulders, another thing I'm not a huge fan of as his coat quality along his side is not the same silky smooth as it is where he's more fortunately coated. 

But at the end of the day, with a dog like this, it's the mentality that's more important. And while he is a little low prey drive for my tastes (he has a lot of civil/defense drive but is maturing slowly as common to his bloodlines) he is a VERY VERY VERY solid and unfazed dog.

You can't get it all  but at the same time he is young, maturing slowly, both his true personality and exterior won't be possible to determine until he's around 2.5-3 years old.


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## sablecoat

Cschmidt88 said:


> I think that is a very fair critique of him. Cudos to you for admitting his faults, I didn't even catch the tail set.
> 
> And I may be biased since I've been following him on Tumblr. I always thought he had a handsome face, it could be more masculine that is true, I've met some shepherds that didn't finish maturing until around 3. So hopefully he'll fill out a bit more on those areas.


You're too kind  The downside to choosing a dog as a puppy is that you can never tell the final result. And Sören is by no stretch of the imagination a poor representation of his breed, just as he isn't an amazing one. Unfortunately he isn't my heart dog, but we're a decent team and that's what matters. What I did wrong with Sören I will be able to do better with the next, and by the time we're getting our next puppy Sören will be at least coming on 3.

But yeah, I really hope his time to bloom will come, and that he's not stuck in this scrawny premature stage. It might just be his build, sure, but to me he kinda looks like he got stuck in the 10-11 month phase...


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## Reef LeDoux

Oh yes I see what you are saying. I would like to see photos of him as he matures in the next 12 months.


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