My experience is that every dog is different. Some do look good most of their lives. But they lack muscle as youngsters, which they should. Some go through some real ugly stages that can last for a long time, but mature into wonderful examples of the standard. At different times of the day, some dogs will look different as they grow up. I have a late maturing litter that I have been taking counsel on from the stud owners. He has been bred enough that they know what he does to the maturity of a litter. It is not a pretty youth, but like the black duck, who became a lovely white swan, my dogs will all be very fine examples of the standard, though each will be very different. Thankfully our standard allows for this. I still say people lack patience to allow dogs to grow up. And while many toy breeds grow rather fast, and stay mature but not aged for a very long time, our dogs should need and should have time to grow up. While I really do want to place one of the girls, into a show and obedience home, I know that if given time, all 3 will be worthy of the attentions of many of you judges out there. sheila ------------------------------- This has been our experience also...yes they stage but never to the point that they cant be shown. And if they stage bad where they are ugly...they usually are back together in a month or two... Patty Szymczak ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2006. All material remains the property of the original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE PROSECUTED. For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxxx VISIT OUR WEBSITE - www.showgsd.org ============================================================================ __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2006. All material remains the property of the original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE PROSECUTED. For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxxx VISIT OUR WEBSITE - www.showgsd.org ============================================================================