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Hi Lana, in response to your query to me asking what do I think, well here is what I honestly think. In my eyes Striker has a huge amount of promise. I have been reading a few of the comments posted/questions you have raised and based on my observations of watching whippet dogs grow over the past quarter century, to those comments I would add the following additional thoughts.
Many nine month old puppies look up on a leg a bit at this age because they are, after all, still maturing and the final body set has not yet been established. The shoulder settles back into its final layback position as a dog matures -- usually between 18 months and 2 years of age, and at that point I can tell you, you will never remember Striker ever looking a bit long in leg. Dogs go through a series of uneven stages as they mature -- it is a lucky person who has a dog that does not look awkard or gawky or badly conformed at some stage of puppyhood, and so I see no cause for concern here. Dogs look long in leg at several points in their development. Just think of the number of 4 month old pups you see with way too long hocks that prop up the back legs so that look like jack rabbits! They quickly, in weeks, grow into the hocks and out of that stage and fill in and grow up, and then they hit the stage where your Striker is now... probably at full height, but with the settlng of the body still to contend with as he matures over the next months, and year.
Remember too that markings can create illusions that are not actual fact and never is this clearer than a dog that is solid coloured rather than brindle.
We ourselves have a black and white dog (Ammardan DuMond Avalonia who is out of Am.Ch. Sporting Fields AKs Rockafella -- litter brother of Patsy Gilmour's wonderful white bitch x Sporting Field Ammardan's Noir Chien) who is precisely the same age as your boy and I would say the differences between them at this stage are miniscule. Our boy also looks a bit up on leg, and he is certainly not helped by having a fully black left front leg on his show side (we cannot show a dog on either side as folks can in England, and perhaps Australia?), all the way down to the top of his toes that makes him look taller and his shoulder set straighter than it actually is. I wish I could swap his left and right leg markings! We actually have more of a challenge I would think in getting novice judges to see the shoulder set with that black leg than you ever will with Striker. We shall see as we (we co-own him with an American friend) take him to shows in two weekends from now.
At this point, while the topline on Striker is not finished, and, as I noted, the shoulder has not set into its final position, you can see that it is going to be quite a decent topline. While I would like to see another inch or two on the topline (I admit I like a slightly longer back on whippets) -- but I confess our boy's topline looks like yours too! --, to be perfectly frank I like his topline a lot better than much of what I have seen in recent photos from your end of the world where far too many toplines seem to be missing that part of the standard that refers to the need for a slight rise over loin in favour of dogs having toplines that descend like a ski slope down to a steep croup and drop off.
I think you have a winner in this boy Lana.
Now please tell me, who are the parents of Mom and Dad? Am I right in thinking the Gilnochie sire is out of Jessie McLeod's Peperone black breeding? And I don't have your dam any where in my pedigree program. Please fill me in.
And keep me posted on how he does!
Lanny
Many nine month old puppies look up on a leg a bit at this age because they are, after all, still maturing and the final body set has not yet been established. The shoulder settles back into its final layback position as a dog matures -- usually between 18 months and 2 years of age, and at that point I can tell you, you will never remember Striker ever looking a bit long in leg. Dogs go through a series of uneven stages as they mature -- it is a lucky person who has a dog that does not look awkard or gawky or badly conformed at some stage of puppyhood, and so I see no cause for concern here. Dogs look long in leg at several points in their development. Just think of the number of 4 month old pups you see with way too long hocks that prop up the back legs so that look like jack rabbits! They quickly, in weeks, grow into the hocks and out of that stage and fill in and grow up, and then they hit the stage where your Striker is now... probably at full height, but with the settlng of the body still to contend with as he matures over the next months, and year.
Remember too that markings can create illusions that are not actual fact and never is this clearer than a dog that is solid coloured rather than brindle.
We ourselves have a black and white dog (Ammardan DuMond Avalonia who is out of Am.Ch. Sporting Fields AKs Rockafella -- litter brother of Patsy Gilmour's wonderful white bitch x Sporting Field Ammardan's Noir Chien) who is precisely the same age as your boy and I would say the differences between them at this stage are miniscule. Our boy also looks a bit up on leg, and he is certainly not helped by having a fully black left front leg on his show side (we cannot show a dog on either side as folks can in England, and perhaps Australia?), all the way down to the top of his toes that makes him look taller and his shoulder set straighter than it actually is. I wish I could swap his left and right leg markings! We actually have more of a challenge I would think in getting novice judges to see the shoulder set with that black leg than you ever will with Striker. We shall see as we (we co-own him with an American friend) take him to shows in two weekends from now.
At this point, while the topline on Striker is not finished, and, as I noted, the shoulder has not set into its final position, you can see that it is going to be quite a decent topline. While I would like to see another inch or two on the topline (I admit I like a slightly longer back on whippets) -- but I confess our boy's topline looks like yours too! --, to be perfectly frank I like his topline a lot better than much of what I have seen in recent photos from your end of the world where far too many toplines seem to be missing that part of the standard that refers to the need for a slight rise over loin in favour of dogs having toplines that descend like a ski slope down to a steep croup and drop off.
I think you have a winner in this boy Lana.
Now please tell me, who are the parents of Mom and Dad? Am I right in thinking the Gilnochie sire is out of Jessie McLeod's Peperone black breeding? And I don't have your dam any where in my pedigree program. Please fill me in.
And keep me posted on how he does!
Lanny
