My little angel will now patiently wait in a free stack, wherein i have not touched or moved any of his legs, for a good portion of time. if i attempt to move a hind leg, he moves, bounces, sits....anything he can do to put it back or to shake me off. if we are just on the sofa or not in training, he doesn't mind at all when i touch him. He does seem to think having his hind legs positioned is really bizarre, and as he is now 5 months i am wondering if i have missed the boat somehow as i see so many similarly aged pups stacking as well as my adults do! Help!

I have used clicker training before with my adults though not for showing related things and the following article looks helpful so i think this is where i'll begin:

http://www.clickertraining.biz/stacking.htm

If he does a nice balanced free stack there is no need to stack him, it isn't compulsory.  If he is all wrong encourage him to move and get him to stand correctly by use of lead and body movements like all free stacked dogs learn to do.

Does the breeder stack her dogs when shown?  In some countries they show in a much more relaxed an informal way.

The ones that seem happy with stacking have been stacked on the table from 4 or 5 weeks of age, and continued on from there so may be that bit more used to it than yours

Yes her dogs are always perfectly stacked, my pup freestacks, or more just stands to be honest in a way which does not improve him whereas when i have him nicely stacked, and it's really just a matter of moving the hind legs a little, it shows him off far better so is really something i want to get to grips with :(

The litter were stacked on the table for photos from 4/5 weeks on but probably more on a weekly/monthly than daily basis.

Have you tried pushing back until his back legs are in the correct position and then you can allow him to move his front forward until they are in position. If its the back legs that he doesn't like being touched then maybe try to get him to position those correctly free standing and then if the front need moving by you its not so much of an issue.

Also when moving the back do you go straight in or do you keep your hands on the dogs and move them down to his feet? If the former, try the latter and then command, so he knows what you are about to do.. However being able to free stack without any hands on looks great and its nothing something which comes easy to start with and each dog is different to how they take to this.  Give him time he is only a baby

Thanks for the tips, with my adult i manually stacked them and over time they learned what i want and will now do it themselves. How do i teach a free stack though?

Teaching a free stand takes a lot of patience; basically you wait till they're standing still, however badly, then reward (with titbits at training, or with their food bowl at mealtimes). As time goes onyou start getting pickier about the positioning, so that they only get the reward when they get closer to the desired pose. Eventually they learn to step back when you lean towards them (because looking up at too high an angle is uncomfortable so they move back to make it easier), and if you lean forward and to one side of them they'll move the legs on that side. It just takes time and patience.

aha thank you, he has a decent but reliable free stand so i have a lot to work with. how on earth do i make him extend his himdlegs though?!

Often if you lean back or step back just a half step they will lean forward without moving the hind legs, if the legs are too much behind then you step into them to get them to move the front back, but not enough to make the whole rear move too.

Basically you move your body and lead until they adjust to the correct stance, and if it is all wrong move them around in a circle and walk them into a stand.  A dog should generally want to stand in balance, though pups are often going through unbalanced stages.

Thanks for all the tips guys, making huge progress this week with the hind leg placement. Not perfect all the time but miles better than last week. My thanks to freeze dried liver!!