Conformation Critique

Interesting stuff! A potentially ignorant question - exactly which "angle" is being measured when you talk about angulation?

It's kind of cool - obviously we don't know what Boo's made up of and chow was definitely the obvious guess, but looking at the structures makes it seem even more plausible that it may be a large portion.

I'm pretty sure the angle of the knee is being discussed, as well as the angle of the shoulder and how much layback the shoulder has.

I'm off to find some pictures of Ozzy and Enzo stacked. I don't think I have any of Indy, and the ones I have of Knox are old, so I'll have to remedy this.

She was around three in the first picture, and nine months old in the second.

You can see her knee has a good angle on it, and her shoulders are nicely angled. It would be better if she'd let me position her feet correctly, but she kept moving them. Her croup I like, and her tail is set on correctly, she carries it straight out behind her when in motion.

(Of course, if anyone else would like to critque her structure, please feel free. I know these aren't the best pictures, but she's on level ground, and the picture is taken on her level.)



Here's another picture of her free stacking, but in this one you can see her front end is a bit posted up, and she's leaning forward slightly, which detracts from her chest. She has a nice chest, not too broad, but broad enough to break brush and plow through water. Her ribs are well sprung, and she's not slab sided. I love the amount of tuck up she has, and with her over all build, she's a very fast dog that can really drive through undergrowth and brush with ease. She's also MUCH faster than any of the other dogs here, and can leave them all in the dust.

Ozzy is next.

These aren't as good as pictures taken straight on the side, but you can clearly see how straight his legs are. In my opinion, they're entirely too straight, and he does not have a good turn of the stifle. In addition, I think he's got his hocks set wrong, but I can't remember the term for that. His shoulders are very upright, and his croup is high, with his tail set on very high as well.

If he was a horse, he would probably have an excruciatingly bouncy trot. His gallop would have good suspension (I think that's what it's called) but he would jolt you all over the place. He is a fast dog, and jumps really high, but I worry about his landings with his knees. I also worry he's likely to blow one of his cruciates or his ACL if he keeps going the way he's going with his bouncing all over the place.

Of course, this is all my opinion, and as such, it's possible I'm completely wrong

Here is a stack I did of Hawkeye. I wetted him down to be able to better see his structure and then I pt sructure lines on him that make his angulation easier to see

Aussies are supposed to be a very moderate natural breed. There should be nothing about an aussie that appears over or under done. He has fairly correct angulation for the breed. His croup is a little steeper than it should be tho.

I don't think I have ever seen what Ozzy looks like build wise. Very surprising LOL he has a very Chow-like build!

Are you thinking of slipped hocks? That is really a ligamentation issue and I think it's probably most common in dogs with straight rears.

It's hard to tell exactly with the camera angles and the 3/4 view in the one shot but Enzo's topline has a dip and a rise and she seems to like to stand with her rear legs under her.

Thank you for this link! That was by far the clearest and most informative (without being overwhelmingly informative) read I've seen on structure.

Oh wow! I wouldn't have ever guessed Ozzy was as straight as he is! Very interesting.

I'd love some input on Cohen's structure.







I feel like she has decent angulation but she's high in the rear with a pretty steep croup. Thoughts?

A lot of angles can be referred to but unless otherwise specified, normally people are talking about the upper arm and shoulder (front) and the femur and lower leg (rear).

Or, for photographic explanation, the blue lines:

here is a good link as well as a guideline.

http://jility.com/conformationstudypart3.pdf

Just what I needed, thanks!

I love Mira, have I told you lately? :::swoon::

Here is Arnold:


Feel better Boo? Ozzy?



(this looks better)


Humorously he's eight and truckin' pretty well considering the hell we've put that body through. I would however not recommend it in retrospect.

Boo is very cute, and yes, very straight in the rear. I agree that if you keep her weight good, and don't overdo anything, it probably won't matter.

I had a lot of fun with that, if I knew how to stack my dog and better where to put the lines it would probably be even more fun... Squashie is kind of a mess in some areas and looks good in other areas. Also, he is struggling with those last few pounds.

you gave squash too much angulation in the front and rear

I'm sorry that I don't have much to offer as far as Boo or Cohen or any of the other dogs, but I like this thread! And especially the pictures with the lines on them.

I've tried to learn, but I still suck at pointing out structure/conformation flaws and assets in my own dogs sometimes (nevermind other peoples' dogs). I know I think Ripley is straight in the rear and I don't like Dance's hocks and I don't care for any of my adult dogs' toplines, but that's about as far as it goes haha. The front confuses me more. Both Dobermans have weak pasterns, but I can't tell you a thing about shoulder angulation or anything. I know what I think looks pretty and functional (or not) when I look at a dog, but that's about as far as it goes. I really want to learn more and understand the more technical terms better.

Oh I put the point of his knee WAY too high, didn't I? And shoulder blade too far back on his back. Whoops. ANATOMY FTW.

I'm an acupuncturist, I'm used to FEELING for landmarks, not VISUALIZING them.

Can you go into more detail (if you have time)? I'm finding this thread really fascinating!

I should try to find some stacked pics of Web and Kim, especially Web... Webby is creatively structured