Critique please.. :)

We're just starting out stacking her,but let me know what you think is good and what's not so good...any grooming tips for wire(My first wire) And do you think she has a shot in the ring?
This is only my 2nd attempt to stack her up on something...She's a little timid..

littletinydachz wrote:We're just starting out stacking her,but let me know what you think is good and what's not so good...any grooming tips for wire(My first wire) And do you think she has a shot in the ring?
This is only my 2nd attempt to stack her up on something...She's a little timid..

Here I thought i would help with your post.....

Also when you post pictures you should be selecting this one on photobucket:

Ok on here I can be more open....LOL!!!

For her being a yr & a half......she is pretty much done growing. Her top line is not the best. She also appears a little leggy. I love her head tho! Strip all the long hairs from her ears! She has nice rib placement, looks to have a decent chest, long neck. Her front looks good from what I can see......her rear, not so good.....but I also am not a great judge with pic's alone, I am more of a hands on person.....LOL!!!

THANK YOU!Some input...exactly what I needed...I agree on most about her..Her rear/tail set is the worst...(tail bothers me the most)I actually don't think she's too leggy..but I have a mothers eyes I guess..lol..She has a very nice natural stack...we're going to work on the table a lot now....Thank you,thank you ,thank you..I'm going to have to work on grooming and take pictures as we move along..for more opinions...we really appreciate it
I think alot of the awkwardness comes from her being scared on the table..

Well she could just look leggy from her being nervous and not stacking well on a new surface. Put her on every different type of surface you can. Even if it is only for a minute at a time. In 3 days you can have her relaxing from the different textures under her feet! Why I take puppy pic's on all different surfaces in my home......it helps them not be afraid when put on a new one! With wires you know to leave the hair on the top of the feet! Only trim the pads and trim straight around the bottom of the feet. I hope I explained that right....LOL! Take your hand and place it sideways and at an angle on her face....tip of fingers near outside of eye and slant down by her beard....take everything long from there back to ear off. Leave length of beard around muzzle. Does that make sense?? LOL!! You want to make her look like she has a skirt near belly & bottom of her sides. Blend the legs in then to look nice.
This stripping tool is one of the best for the wires! It has 3 different sized blades for those hard to strip areas!!

Yeah,she seemed to be better on the garbage can outside than on the table in the garage...I do that to my pups too,to get them used to being everywhere...But this one is different since I got her at an older age..We've been just socializing her into our pack and getting her into the routine..(And she gets bullied by one of my girls too*sigh*)

Ok,How much wire do I leave on her legs?Just blended down to the hairy feet?I'm glad I hadn't made it that far...I basically took a lot of the silvery hairs off her back and top of head(Her afro..lol) That's as far as I've gone...I wasn't sure..I'm going to try to work on her more..

Oh shoot ,before I foget...Special shampoo for wires?What will keep it harsh?

Don't bath them.......LOL!!! No really try not to bath them unless they absolutely need it. Just use warm water and rinse them down good. Let me ask my handler.......she just got him some new stuff.....she likes it.

I'm not as sure on the legs for the length.....you can trim them down....use shearing scissors so there are no blunt cuts. But you want to leave hair on the legs.

I found this link about feet and hand stripping..
http://www.5min.com/Video/How-to-Groom-the-Feet---Wire-haired-Dachshund-198452981

I think I feel more comfortable doing it by finger tip instead of stripping knife(just yet anyhow)..This is the way I've started her out and It doesn't seem that bad...

I have a protein shampoo that I use on a couple of my girls..I was thinking maybe that would keep her coat the right texture...Oh She's dirty She needs a bath bad right now..She's so goofy she gets into some weird stuff...lol..

I watched that lady strip the whole dachshund...I mean whole body...???Now I'm confused..lol..Her video did very much help me know how to finish her head and face though...

Oh god don't do that to the legs......holy crap.......you want hair on the legs for show.....maybe back in the 70's they did that......LOL.....but not now!!

Ok,see I wasn't sure...Yeah that groomer looked a little" old school"..Hehe..

Ok,guys...How do you think she's coming along...I've been working with her everyday,stacking her on whatever different surfaces I can find.. and grooming her bit by bit..lol..Whenever I have extra time and when the dogs are out playing,I just pull some extra hairs...I have a bird feeder outside and I saw the little sparrows taking her fur away..lol..(I'll try to catch them in action)


I love this picture..Her face says it all "Come on,really....Do we have to do this stuff again?"

She's starting to get the hang of it...not too shaky now..but still kinda weirded out by the whole situation..lol..


Now I'm getting close to stripping her chest area...How much do I take off?

"Hey!,Where's my cookie??!"

Wow.....see I told ya.....amazing what a couple days will do.....she looks sooooo much better stacked! She still looks a little leggy to me but she looks much better. Take most of it off the chest......leave it longer on the bottom front but take it all off the neck area!!

Hopefully Once her look is complete...she'll look better...I think her legs are a little long..lol..But Geeze I've seen some champions with long legs too...It's really weird what she does...Kinda pushes off her toes....When she walks,her legs don't look quite so long..

I want to go for it and get some ring experience,if anything for fun

She's lacking in angulation both front and rear, but this photo does her a lot more justice than the prior ones. If you can teach her to squat just a little, it'll help conceal the lack of angulation at the rear. I would take off most of the hair at the front, but leave a little at the lower chest to give her more depth and conceal the legginess a bit.

This girl is weird...at first she was sinking..lol..now she's pushing off her tippie toes....I am pushing her butt down when i am stacking her now so she squats a little..I think she may get comfused with what I want from her..I think the tufts of fur by her elbow is what's making her legs look longer than they are...I'm hoping even more practice and more grooming would do good for her..

Ok,hows about this one?? It's cut off,but her topline looks better to me,her rear has more angles and her front legs are shorter!..lol..All these issues may be because I'm taking pictures of her with one hand...lol..

That does look better. You're brave-stripping a wire looks like too much of a pain in the butt to me.

It has been a lot of work...BUT I have been doing a little by little,bit by bit...Learning as I go as this is my first wirecoat...

I'm loving wirecoats more and more as we bond..lol...I think I may want another now!

Ok,Didn't get hubby to hep me this weekend with pics,but maybe today when he gets off work...

I've stripped and thinned most of her areas I think needed attention,but now I am at her tail...I don't know how to do her tail....I went to strip the base,but I stopped because right away it didn't look right to me and kinda thin! YIKES ! What do I do to her tail?..It's bushy,but not too bad...Should I trim and make neat with scissors?

Pictures soon to come,I have to trim her beard to make it even and I think I did a pretty good job this being my first wire and all...lol..

If I remember correctly, the tail should be thicker looking, so only strip it if it's bushy. Same with the legs-very carefully and only to clean up the outline.

Ok...Good I'm glad I stopped!
I'm excited to show off the "finished" look now.....I hink she's finished..hehe..when I post pictures you guys can tell me if I missed anything important..lol..

WOW! I love the job your doing!!! i don't own any wires, but your are doing AWESOME jumping in there and getting it done!!! cudos to you