Structural Evaluations

[corbinam]

I think it would be very educational and worthwhile to see him, if you would be willing to post pictures. The idea is not to be able to present the prettiest dog, but to see a wide variety of dogs and their virtues and faults.

This goes for all the "just a pet" Shelties out there!

I agree!

And if anyone has one of those lovely structure diagrams it might help to attach it to this thread as well. I know it helps me.

If no one has one handy I'll try to search for it later--I'm off to agility now.

Oh and I also want to come back and take a shot at Megan's honorary Sheltie!

 

[Calliesmom]

here's a pic of Cranberry, not a perfect stack but a pic I was able to snap a few years ago

 

[k9kreationz]

I think it would be very educational and worthwhile to see him, if you would be willing to post pictures. The idea is not to be able to present the prettiest dog, but to see a wide variety of dogs and their virtues and faults.

This goes for all the "just a pet" Shelties out there!

If you guys really want me to. I'll get some photos this weekend (need the natural light in the house). BF is going to have to help because as soon as I stack Koji, he looks at me. Haha. It's so hard to get a profile pic of him. I just pulled out a lot of his undercoat (they're shedding like crazy and it's cold!) so we should be able to see shape.

FYI. He was a show prospect, that's the only reason I suspect his early neutering was cause of his lack of physical maturity. I have got to get a picture of his chest, you guys would be like, WTH!

 

[corbinam]

For reference

Here's a good reference! Shows some of the expected angulation.

 

[corbinam]

OK, here we go - NOT a Sheltie (sorry!), but I thought I'd show everyone how fast and easy it is to set these shots up. This was taken ten minutes ago. Mr. Tofu took the photo, and I held up the dog

So... have a look... do you see what I see? Have a go, and later on I'll chime in with what I see, both in this picture and in living with this particular dog. Don't be shy; I didn't give birth to her.

Now, go take some pics of your own dogs!

This is my first attempt ever so I could be way off. But I guess it's a good way to learn! My thoughts are that she is high in the rear. Potentially due to lack of rear angulation? I've also heard the term "long in the loin" which maybe applies here--though I'm not completely sure I know what that means.

How far off am I? Lol

 

[Ann]

Here's a photo of Checkers, not perfectly stacked but a good view of her outline, and one of Lacey stacked. You can see the differences between their builds.

 

[ClantyreSheltie]

I have some good photos of a decent dog. This is Miss Liesl. She would have been 10 this May.

Stacked

First photo is of her stacked, and from the side rather than at 3/4 (3/4 is the best way to hide an inadequate front). What I LOVED about her is her front assembly. Her legs are underneath her body, with a well laid back shoulder. The point of her shoulder was where the black starts at the back of her ruff. You can see that her ears are well in front of her front legs, and above her topline without being was over her topline. Her rear from the side was lovely. Strong, correct hocks - from the side. She had a lower vertebra issue that caused her to kick one leg out slightly when she moved. It was ugly, but functional. Ignore the wavy topline here, I was learning to groom heads, we weren't too worried about it.

Moving

Same dog, moving. You can see that she drops her head level with her topline, and her tail set is low to make one nice continuous line. The reach in the front is demonstrative of her front assembly being so well angulated. She's not throwing her front legs high, just reaching out forward. Her rear extends far enough back without going too far, but not equal with the front. The white leg in the rear (the one towards the camera) is the one she would turn out, and you can see it here. Her inside legs meet in the middle without crossing, and her topline was level and clean, not a lot of movement. The topline is simply showing what's underneath it, so a topline that is moving and bouncing all over is showing there is something structurally wrong or out of balance underneath.

Anyway, sorry for the dissertation, but I loved her body. Looking at the two photos, you can also totally tell the difference between Barbie groomed, and yanked out of the back yard.

 

[Justicemom]

Here is my Ch Jamie. I think he was 18 months at the time. He was not in coat at all and was needing 1ppint to finish. He took a 5pt major reserve this day.

Give me your opinion.

 

[Justicemom]

Here is Birch. I think he was 2 yrs in this picture, out of coat obviously. Free stacking begging for a treat from my mom.

 

[corbinam]

Here is my Ch Jamie. I think he was 18 months at the time. He was not in coat at all and was needing 1ppint to finish. He took a 5pt major reserve this day.

Give me your opinion.

I think he might have a bit of a straight front. Ears should be in front of legs?