Conformation Critique

Equinox

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#81
Best guess having never had hands on him. If anyone has recommendations for adjustments, feel free! He actually probably has even more front angulation but since he's turned toward the camera that tends to make the front look less angulated :)



Hope that helps you ballpark at least. Another thing you can do is find the joints with your hands and put a bit of tape on them (blue painter's tape works well and comes off most coat types easily) and photograph him that way.
Thanks Shai, you're amazing!! I will try the tape thing later, that's a great idea.
 

Red Chrome

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#83
Best guess having never had hands on him. If anyone has recommendations for adjustments, feel free! He actually probably has even more front angulation but since he's turned toward the camera that tends to make the front look less angulated :)



Hope that helps you ballpark at least. Another thing you can do is find the joints with your hands and put a bit of tape on them (blue painter's tape works well and comes off most coat types easily) and photograph him that way.
I'd have to say just by knowing the breed, that Trent's shoulder's are much better than depicted here. At least from what I am seeing. Also his rear is a bit better than depicted but hard to show with lines on pics. (Those lines are VERY close and well done!)

The tape thing on the dogs themselves is the best and pretty cool to see how off or on you are about them!
 

SpringerLover

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#86
We did this with toothpaste at dog camp one year. Buzz was our demo dog, because he's built surprisingly well for his ancestry! I wonder if I have any toothpaste pictures of him?!?
 

CharlieDog

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#87
I probably failed terribly at this. My pictures are not nearly as good as they could be, and all my dogs suck at stacking. I'm sure the lines are off, but it was good practice!


linesOzzy by CharlieDogist, on Flickr


indylines by CharlieDogist, on Flickr


enzolines by CharlieDogist, on Flickr

And I probably could have made the lines thicker, but I didn't realize until I was done they were that thin, and I definitely don't feel like going back lol. I also followed Linds template, so you can blame her too :p
 
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#88
And I probably could have made the lines thicker, but I didn't realize until I was done they were that thin, and I definitely don't feel like going back lol. I also followed Linds template, so you can blame her too :p
Hey now! I had/have no idea what I was doing! Don't blame me when it's the blind leading the blind!
 

Dizzy

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#89
Ok I had a go.............. Can anyone tell me A) if the lines are in the right place? And B) what they tell me.

First Bodhi. She's a 7 year old mutt. IF the lines are in the right place, she seems quite balanced to me??? She has a giraffe neck though!



Now Fred. I did two of him, then remembered I had another side on from the other day so did all of them LOL. He is nearly 6 months old. I wouldn't say he's as he will be as an adult yet, he seems quite loose to me (not sure how else to put it... Like he's still growing into things, and doesn't have the muscles etc in place to hold it all together lol). From what I can see his topline could be better, he has a slight roach (which I think is there to stay). I think his front is better than his back, and this could be because he has quite long back legs??? I might be totally wrong lol.... Anyway. It might be interesting to see how it changes (if it does) as he matures. I know GSPs have particularly powerful and spring like back ends, so whether that makes any difference. Or he could just be a wonky donkey :D





 

Shai

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#90
I'd have to say just by knowing the breed, that Trent's shoulder's are much better than depicted here. At least from what I am seeing. Also his rear is a bit better than depicted but hard to show with lines on pics. (Those lines are VERY close and well done!)

The tape thing on the dogs themselves is the best and pretty cool to see how off or on you are about them!
Also, the stack itself can make a difference in what you see. For example, Trent being twisted toward the camera changes his angles both front and rear (mostly front). There is a reason feet placement is so important, as is a square stance and proper head carriage -- the angles we are looking at are the reason the dog moves the way he does. The stack is intended to be a way to physically evaluate dogs all in the same position.

And to reiterate: there is no substitute for watching them move and feeling the proportions with your hands, especially on a coated dog.
 

Shai

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#91
Just to help visualize -- a rough sketch of what's been looked for in terms of "lines" -- the "point" where lines meet are actually joints and so should always occur solidly on the dog. I can be easy to draw the lines where you think the bones are then end up with points that are float outside the dog. So what many do is find the joints (the yellow dots) and play connect the dots.

You want to be able to see at a glance the angle of the shoulder, the upper arm, the pelvis, the femus, and the lower leg, as well as where they connection.



There is of course a lot more to structural evaluation in case that's not clear...we haven't touched on rib cage coverage or forechests or width or any of the various topics...the pitbull link provided earlier in the thread does talk about a lot of that. There is also an ebook written by the author of adojrts' link, Helen Grinnell King, called Picking Your Performance Puppy. It is written from the perspective of agility but there are accompanying videos and such to help you see the results of different structures and give you a starting place in evaluating your own and other dogs.

For any dog-parkers and dog-sporters, you have a perfect opportunity to watch dogs of different shapes and sizes use their bodies in different ways -- see whether they choose to trot or pace, how clean their movement is, acceleration vs. speed vs. turning ability, how easily they lower their center of gravity or perform odd tricks like standing on their hind legs for extended periods of times. There is no ideal structure -- just ideal structure for a given job -- because there are always trade-offs.
 

-bogart-

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#92
Just to help visualize -- a rough sketch of what's been looked for in terms of "lines" -- the "point" where lines meet are actually joints and so should always occur solidly on the dog. I can be easy to draw the lines where you think the bones are then end up with points that are float outside the dog. So what many do is find the joints (the yellow dots) and play connect the dots.

You want to be able to see at a glance the angle of the shoulder, the upper arm, the pelvis, the femus, and the lower leg, as well as where they connection.



There is of course a lot more to structural evaluation in case that's not clear...we haven't touched on rib cage coverage or forechests or width or any of the various topics...the pitbull link provided earlier in the thread does talk about a lot of that. There is also an ebook written by the author of adojrts' link, Helen Grinnell King, called Picking Your Performance Puppy. It is written from the perspective of agility but there are accompanying videos and such to help you see the results of different structures and give you a starting place in evaluating your own and other dogs.

For any dog-parkers and dog-sporters, you have a perfect opportunity to watch dogs of different shapes and sizes use their bodies in different ways -- see whether they choose to trot or pace, how clean their movement is, acceleration vs. speed vs. turning ability, how easily they lower their center of gravity or perform odd tricks like standing on their hind legs for extended periods of times. There is no ideal structure -- just ideal structure for a given job -- because there are always trade-offs.

Thank you for this . Very Interesting.
 

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