Growing Pains

It's fun to have a puppy around here again.  Hopefully Fern continues to look good so I have an excuse to keep her!  She's added a small amount of ticking (the itty bitty spots that come in after the "real" spots are already in place) which I don't care for, but most Dals have a few of those.  When I roll through her coat I don't see any more lurking on the skin, just waiting to shoot out colored hairs.  Although she has a really cute face, I'm not sure that she has quite enough underjaw for my personal taste, but that's something no one will ever notice - except me.   So far I'm only seeing minor issues that I don't care for.  The basics, and the really important stuff still look good.  She's nicely marked, has reasonable breed type, really nice legs & feet, very pleasing movement (when she can collect herself and slow down enough to actually trot), and a great temperament.  Her eyes are very dark and her tail shape/carriage are also very good, two things very important to me.

It's often hard to watch show puppies grow up unless you just close your eyes and concentrate on the Cute Factor.  Few puppies grow up in one piece, and most go through oh so many stages, most of them awkward, ungainly, and uncoordinated. Some of them just plain ugly! Their ends don't develop at the same speed, their proportions are all screwed up,  Their backs can look long, soft, dippy, roached, you name it.  They lose their chests and look like tubes on legs.  They can be so narrow in front that their elbows touch, and so rubbery in the rear that their hocks cross and you wonder how they can walk.  When they teethe their ears can hang limply, with creases in the wrong places, and their lovely feet can look like pancakes.  Some pups grow up "in one piece".  Mancini/Ramsay might do that.  Fern definitely will not.  We always says that a puppy who looked good at 6-7 weeks will look good again.  Someday.  Patience will be the key word here!