Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Interesting...

So I was seeing some of my friends were joining this group of Border Collie Structure and Evaluation...and I checked it out...

Is it just me...or are alot of the agility/flyball border collies over-angulated?

Is that the trend that the lines are going with? Maybe it was just a lot of the same lines...no idea...but to me it looks like they are breeding for a lot of angle...

I don't claim to be an expert by any means...but some of those dogs look REALLY weird...

There were comments about dogs rear ends being higher than the front end...which I found interesting...all of my dogs have this, and seem to do just fine in agility. It makes sense if you look at the Border Collie crouch and how they move when they are working.

I suppose if you don't want a herding dog, just sport stuff, maybe it is a bad idea...no idea.

Just interesting...

9 comments:

Sarah said...

i agree, weird looking. that's all i'm saying

Joanna said...

Link? I can't find it in a google search.

From my point of view balance is more important than absolute angulation, as long as the angles are not extreme (either straight or acute) to the point of losing function. So if they've got a lot of front AND a lot of rear, the dog can get out of its own way and can use all that hingeing to move efficiently. If it's just the rear, or just the front, you end up with big issues.

But I am now dying to see what you are talking about!

Loretta Mueller said...

It is called the Border Collie Structure Evaluation Group

http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=140782255940296&ref=ts

Knotty Dogs said...

Yikes. Interesting to see the huge difference even between the sport dogs and the clunky conformation crap. Wow.

Karissa said...

I joined that group hoping to learn something -- Because I've always considered myself fairly good at critiquing horse conformation, but I am just completely lost with the dogs and don't even know what to look for. That group hasn't helped at all. There seem to be a couple of "knowledgeable" posters, but most probably know less than me. ;o)

Loretta Mueller said...

It is just very interesting to me to see such a great difference in the dogs bred for A, B, or C...

Knotty Dogs said...

Some of the dogs from the mass production agility kennels are starting to get this look to them.

http://www.pets911.com/breedprofile/images/breeds/large/greyhound.jpg

Border Busses.

Anonymous said...

I also checked it out hoping for some valuable info, but all it seemed to me was a bunch of people patting themselves on the back and no substance to any evaluation.

(Oh dear, did I say that out loud?)

I prefer to evaluate structure as it pertains to moving---let's see the dog move. And let's see the dog jump and turn and then I will tell you what I really think ;-)

(damn, did I say that out loud too? ;-)

Debra Kay said...

I thought the back end higher was a good thing because of the crouching-Like a hunter jumper is built the opposite way for jumping.

So-maybe there should be a difference based on what the purpose is-but does require a different breed category? Or is it like a quarter horse-a halter horse, a reining horse and a race horse all look very different-but they are all quarter horses.

I am hoping the stacking pictures are just that-bad angles-I don't want to see that topline slant any more-LOOK what people did to the GSD! Oh no, please not my bc's.

I actually took a conformation handling class, but I don't think it's my calling....at ALL.