Our Guardians
I'm just going to combine Luytiy, Masha, and Blue spam/news into this thread - since they aren't Nihonken - no need to litter the forum with their spam...
Some pics of Blue and Masha playing:
Blue...
Masha...
Luytiy...
The Ovcharka:
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Some pics of Blue and Masha playing:
Blue...
Masha...
Luytiy...
The Ovcharka:
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Comments
I didn't know Blue was brindle! WOW, gorgeous!
Also, I meant to mention this, Blue is incredible fast! He runs unbelievably fast for a Mastiff puppy!
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I was surprised to see they are playing together. The kavkazskaya ovcharka is a very hard dog for me with a strong character. But yours are really friendly
There is a great level respect and natural power your guardians seem to have, for one another and themselves alike. You guys are doing a great job raising Masha and Blue!
but I cannot covet him- b/c I know he is way too much dog for me. I love his last photo...and I love his natural ears. My daughter says he is "cute to the very last pixel!"
I have seen several mastiff-types lately that have higher hips than shoulders, some owners have said they grow out of it, but is this something to watch for? There was one dog, Turbo, at the Field we used to go to who was SEVERELY long legged in the back (he looked like a dragster) and he looked really uncomfortable walking. Can you educate me?
I do know that a dog w/ a taller rear-end would be seen faulted in the show ring.
Blue will grow out of it, his earlier pics show him level, his rear has just recently gotten taller (and his head looks small right now).
I have no idea what find of issue a dog w/ a tall rear-end could face, but my guess would be shoulder, elbow, and spine issues.
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Really, conformationally speaking, Blue will not be perfect - for example, Blue has VERY round eyes, they should be more almond shaped. Blue's breeder pays less attention to confirmation and more attention to workability, temperment, and health. The breed has horrible hips, but Blue's are almost perfect as his dad's (and mom's) are +90% for PennHip (which is great).
Blue's father throws the round eye fault (I think it comes from the Dane), but he also throws a perfect (real) Cane Corso temperment (which is what I wanted).
Mojo, Blue's father, can jump into the bed of a Ford F350 with the tailgate up - that's pretty amazing! That's a big jump!
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thanks for the knowledge about growing really big dogs (RBDs)! and I am glad to know Blue's hips are great.
edited for clarity:
I didn't mean to imply anything defective, just needed improved information about how these big guys legs grow, which I knew you'd know better than me!
Snf
Oh I forgot to mention ....I think temperament is so important, more than absolute perfection in conformation. What's the point of having a dog if you can't live with them and enjoy them at a very base level, which really revolves around a good personality.
Aren't you forgetting something extremely important? You know that all (if I'm not mistaken) of our members are very passionate about dogs, right? Just with a special interest in the Japanese kinds -smiles-.
[After having "said" this, I've actually combined my entire pack of (currently) 3 into 1 thread to try and "conserve" topic space - laughs-.]
The Guardians look fantastic!
Yeah, I noticed the brindle coming through on Blue. I think I've "said" this in another thread, but Blue is looking so mature now and "almost all grown up like." Still a handsome boy!
That's cool that Luytiy is using a cooling den too! If I stand corrected...he preferred to stay on top of it rather then inside it.
I love the last photo of Masha & Luytiy...Masha especially looks very cutesy!
I love Masha's Mask. Is it common with the breed for the black to be so strong?
The second picture of L he's like "Everything is in order Sir. I've got it covered."
Oh, and it's certainly NOT litter! =0)
lol, yeah...they're cropped!
>> It's common in the Reds, like Masha. The red color COs have some special traits. The mask does show up in other colors too tho, but the red COs have a more distinct one (like Masha's).
I'm sure it's been answered somewhere else, but are the CO's ears cropped somehow?
>> As Corina said, they are cropped. They usually crop the ears of CO at 4 days old. This helps prevent them from freezing in the winter or from being torn by a predator in the event that have to engage one.
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High rear ends are called for in some breeds and I think that contributes to their special gaiting styles. Large breed pups seem so awkward until they are done because everything is out of proportion. The main thing with any dog having a rear end too high as an ADULT, or legs too long in the rear, is that the rear half ends up swinging around the front half to avoid stepping on the front feet and the gait will be off or appear to be rolling (they will opt to pace like a reindeer or like a horse trained to harness race with the legs on each side moving in unison).
To clarify my comment on the the high hips.... I am referring to the coursing breeds where high hips are not as big of an issue when seen in an adult. How high the pitch in regard to the shoulders with each dog without problems that is a good question.
In mastiffs high hips in adults can produce some mismatched pacing from front vs hind end loping and side winding once the weight distribution changes in maturity.
Ditto on what brad said earlier.... blue is young and there will be high hips until his growth plates close as he balances out and settles a bit. So no worries at this point as he runs about in glee .
I still stick by my point about temperament though and really for an average dog slightly high hips are not the end all and be all and does not really detract from having a nice companion or a decent working dog.
All the dogs are beautiful! I would say I am not big fan of the cut ears....I like the "floppies" so much better. (LOL)
Snf
I admit that they do look more "approachable" with ears! And more like dogs, less like a bear, lol.
With or without ears though, they are still beautiful dogs.
I love seeing Big L & Masha side by side like that. Get a real feel for their similarities & differences!
Blue's been getting a lot of muscle in there! Wow. Look at that Torso! ~
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