Stack??

[sherri]

Can anyone provide an explanation of the following situation??

Our female has always stood in a perfect show stack. At 7 weeks she was doing it, and now at almost 2 she is still doing it. She just seems to stop in this natural position.

Our male almost never stands like that. Even when I hand stack him he seems to not want to stand that way. Is this just not a comfortable position for him, or is our female and her standing this way the more abnormal of the two??

Just curious as to what some of you may think.

Thanks

[spidey]

My dog's (Nottweiler) breeder feels that a truly correctly-built dog will naturally stack itself much of the time (i.e. that its natural standing position will be pretty close to a proper stack). My dog does it.

[SABELLESMOM]

My first Show Handling class, the instructor seemed to "keep forgetting" to show me how to stack my girl. Seemed, I'd ask from time to time and she'd conveniently "forget" by next class. Hmmm!

By the end of 6 weeks, she encourged me to show already! She came and watched. Sable took first in her puppy class, and came in behind the winners bitch. The instructor, who'd come in support, came put her arm around my shoulder, "You see? She knows how to stack herself. It's natural for her."

Eventually, I did learn how to "hand stack" but I really don't use it much. She's just fine on her own.

Yes, you have a girl who's built just right and she's showing you. Your male could possibly be still developing. Or maybe he just doesn't get what you expect.

[Carol Burke]

I agree with the others, built correctly they naturally stack correctly.

[sherri]

Thanks for your thoughts. My male is only 7 months old, he's growing SO fast. One day he's sort of tall and the next day he's sort of long. Then the next day he looks pretty square. I guess we just got lucky with Cameo and her natural ability. I am sure Kaden will get it, even if it is a learned behavior.

[Carol Burke]

I find that bitch puppies tend to stay together better then boys. The boys seem to go through all kinds of growth spurts.

[fbkeays]

Duncan was my first show dog. He always looked uncomfortable when hand stacked. He has a beautiful free stack and rarely needed to be hand stacked. He didn't like to show and I neutered him when he turned 3.
He has been herding regularly for the past 4 years. At trials, I always get the question if he is a conformation champion (he never finished). The reason people ask is because when he does his stops in herding, he goes into a natural, square stack. It is very impressive to see.
Fizbin is a conformation champion. He didn't like to be hand stacked either. In herding, he also has a beautiful standing stacked stop. Watching dogs herd has taught me a lot about structure. Dogs that stop in a natural stack have correct structure.
I would have second thoughts about breeding the dog if he doesn't develope a natural stack when he is mature. A nice square stack should be the most comfortable standing position for the dog. If it isn't comfortable, that should tell you something. Wait until he is finished growing. Right now he doesn't know where any of his body parts are on any given day