Trent: Stacking, Napping, and Zombiefy-ing

Firstly, stacking practice. Not that we have anything to practice for LOL

My favorite of the day, although the front could be a smidgen better


Posting slightly


What a ham




Being overstretched on purpose, just to see the difference. It is such a testament to his tolerance and willingness to hold a stay, because this was not too comfortable for him.


Still a happy dog








Car ride

And then his nap... probably the 57th nap of the day


White hair at 3 years! Driving me crazy.




Waking up from yet another nap to make sure I'm not going anywhere


Comforting the poor guy


But he doesn't look convinced


Outside play




And, his Zombie look! I was trying to get a good photo of him snapping, but none of them were in focus. So I took advantage of the graininess and grittiness and changed it up a bit. Now Trent gets to look like a rabid zombie dog.

I adore Trent, I would have another GSD in a heartbeat if I could find one like him!

Wow love that last one! I really like the one of him in the car as well. Looks very peaceful

He's a great dog Made me incredibly proud quite a few times over during our busy weekend!

Thanks! I love how both of those pictures turned out. Trent likes to go between shoving his whole head out the window like a doofus, and settling down quietly to watch the scenery. LOL

*dons my "I Love Trent" T-shirt*
I can't get over how handsome he is. His face, his build, his coat. All of it put together makes quite a looker!
Those edited pics are so cool! They look like stills from a dog attack caught on camera! :rofl1:

Any stacking advice, BTW? It's easy to get a free stack like a "normal" (for lack of a better word) breed, but I haven't found much on stacking GSDs. I know they make those blocks adjustable so you can slide a rear leg into a different place, but I'm not spending money to stack my shelter puppy, lol.

Love the zombie pics!

Thanks! I had fun playing around with them!

LOL! Well, he was a Perfect Dog this weekend, around the house and going everywhere with me for errands, so I'll still be hanging on to him

As far as stacking goes (three point vs. four point/four square), I'm still practicing myself, as you can see! I found out the hard way that it isn't just grabbing paws and dropping them in the right position... got to make the dog look right overall, too. You should see some of our earlier "stacks" :yikes:

What I like to do is to walk the dog into a stack so it looks natural to start off with. Usually Trent will end up looking a bit slouchy otherwise. Then, I follow these instructions -

http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/1286572-post2.html

Here is also a video a friend made for me to help me out with stacking -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGX0G-KTlAE

And, here is a video of me stacking Trent a few months ago. Notice that on video and at that angle, he looks like a thin little thing with a pinhead. Trust me, he's not :rofl1:

Warning! Turn off the sound. I did this during my "study break" and left my studying playlist on. Had no idea my camera captured audio.

The last stack is the best, also move the dog as recommended by the elbows, or under the chest if the front is already nice and the dog is light enough for it. I was dumb and forgot, so moved him by the pasterns. That is *wrong*.

This is his first time being baited in over 2 years, so he does lean in and scoot his paws and all that, but not bad, all things considering

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE1fEzU7-bw

He is a very handsome-adorable, haha! That is something I've always really enjoyed about German Shepherds ... they can look very royal, but then be cute and puppy-like!

I LOVE him!!! He's always so adorable and his eyes are so expressive!! What a doll!

Well hello handsome!

I think you did a great job, even if you moved the legs the wrong way. Far better than any of my attempts. In my defense my puppy is very wiggly, lol. I think I need to work on "stay" with her more before I attempt a stack again.
I'm sorry I derailed your thread, but I'm glad I did. Thank you!
BTW, are you a member of that forum? I just joined in the last few weeks. (It's funny, though. Everyone has these magnificent GSDs and I have my little floppy eared mini-shepherd. )

I adore his expression in that closeup of his eyes!

Love Trent, as always. Will really answer your e-mail one of these days. But in a nutshell, YES, you're right.

Big thanks for all the kind comments!!

Oh, for certain! Sometimes he has the dignity of a mature Shepherd, and at other times... he's just a ridiculously derpy doofus boydog. :rofl1:


Puppies take a really special person to stack well, I would never want to go back to when Trent was a puppy and try and stack him :yikes: Another idea is to use weighted blocks or bricks positioned three point, although she looks so little, she could probably fit all her paws on one brick! I've also heard that it's highly recommended to practice stacking in front of a mirror, where you can see how you are presenting your dog.

When you're just on your own, really the most important step IS to get a good stay, and to make sure your dog understands that "stay" means DON'T MOVE YOUR PAWS EITHER $#@!! Otherwise, it leads to a lot of frustration. Speaking from experience :rofl1: You could also try making a video of you stacking her, and take a still from that of the best you were able to get.

No problem about the derailing, I love talking about it, as you can tell! Feel free to PM me anytime, too. I'm still getting the hang of it, so we can learn together.

Floppy eared mini-shepherds are the best. I will take one of those, please. But yes, I am a member of the forum, although I rarely post. When I do, it's just a few of the pictures I already share on Chaz. It's gone downhill since I joined in 2008, I mostly lurk the Genetics/Critique/Schutzhund/Breeder forums now.


I make it a habit of trying to make your life harder! Thanks for being so great about it

In reality, if I had checked Chaz before checking my e-mail, my initial reaction might have been along the lines of - "Which rambling novella of an e-mail does she mean? Oh, I SENT that one?" I have so many jumbled thoughts in my head, I can barely even remember which ones I threw at you