Snoods, grooming, Cider's award wall, and an overstacked pup who forgets how to stack

Pics..

Smudgy is going raw.. After a mishap with pork bones in his ear that he tried to chew out I made a snood..



After regionals laying in the dirt it took three days of grooming to demat him. Wow that was fun.. day 3 (yesterday) my Mom thought it was funny to take pics





Stacked black dog on black table handle wearing black not so good I'm afraid. He was way over stacked in the other two pics, and he's all wiggly. We haven't worked on stacking in a while. Ooops

Good dogs! Look at all that fur... holy moly. lol.. you do NOT look happy. Glad it's over, though.

Oh I managed to forget Cider oops.......... I feel bad.

Nice show of ribbons, too!

Man Smudge has some serious fur going on!

WOW Smudge looks awesome!! One suggestion though, if you are planning on showing him, try and get his feathering to lay a little straighter. Not only will it look longer but it will flow better as well.

WOW I can't believe how many ribbons she has. You two have definitely been busy.

Aww, Smudge is SO hairy!

I need to make snoods... was it easy?

And, that is a super cool wall for Cider. Congrats on all those!

Probably won't be showing. He's too tan-less. I enjoy his fur though, so I keep grooming him.. It was all without bathing as he was so matted it wasn't funny. He could use work between his top coat and sidecoat but I don't have the skills..

The snood wasn't bad. I did it all on guessing really. He kept leaving meat fragments in his ears which he chews on and would mat together (ewwww).

Thanks guys

He looks good to me!
I love the coat, but don't have the pateints, personally. Maddie and I get out in the fields too much, hiking and stuff. Too many burrs to have much hair. I don't think her's would grow out nice like Smudge's, anyway. Been shaved too many times...

Look at all those ribbons ~ I hope your proud of your pups, and yourself! You do a great job

nice pics goooooo cider

Grooming, IMO, is the fun part. Keep at it and eventually you'll get it.

I agree it is fun. More fun on him than her.. He's got something to style

Mafia, he looks AWESOME! Question.... are you sure he's B&T and not solid black? I don't think I've noticed ANY tan on him in pictures before.. but then again I could be really unobservant.

Oh, and since he doesn't have enough tan, why couldn't you show him? Is looking like he's a solid color a bad thing in the show ring - I thought Cockers came in solid black?

There's no question he's b and t. He's lightly marked. When he's groomed he's got cheek tan, it's on all 4 legs but with all his fur the black washes out most of it and his bum is pretty prominent. If it weren't for him bum people probably wouldn't notice.

Cockers come in black, but he's not black and in person it shows... Tan is also under his ears, on his feet.. To show him I'd have to be skeazy and dye him. Which people have suggested. Few people in cockers suggested it. But I don't want to play badly enough to cheat.

The tan in his face has partially fallen out, I can't find his eyebrows, and looking him over his ear tan has lessened.. but he's still a lightly marked b and t. It's on his legs in varying shades and his bright bum isn't going anywhere.





I've seen lightly marked dogs attain CH. But CKC lumps all the colours together for one, so the competition is always a large number and without better colour, there's no point trying.

He may pull a miracle and tan will return. Or not. He's doing well in agility. I'm trying not to dwell. Maybe I'll try again with my next dog.

OH I see! Thanks for sharing the pics - those make it much more noticeable.

It absolutely sucks that he has to be a flashier color to win in the ring. =/ Sorry, Mafia. In the meantime I'll hope for you two that it comes back with a vengeance.

Another question.. were his parents so lightly marked?

Mom is chocolate, dad is black. Cocker genetics are a funny one to predict. You can, but every litter can throw the unexpected. B and T wasn't expected. 8 were black, he was the only one that was not... and he was thought to be black. It was spotted a few days after birth that he had a couple of tan hairs on his bum. Cockers have a rainbow of colours, and then some pretty odd mismarks..

It should be function, rather than form that predicts a winner, Or at least solidly both.. More time I spend in the cocker world more jaded I have gotten as it's a beauty contest and people playing, many aren't doing so honestly..

I am happy he is still a gorgeous boy. He has a very lovely head. I'm contemplating starting field work with him. We do agility, we're working on novice rally-o moves. I wanted a title at both ends, but I'd be just as proud if we can prove ourselves elsewhere.