02/07/2022
LOVErador 🦮❤️❤️
At a recent dog show, an owner with a dog showing approached me after one of our class dogs; a 13-month-old female had been awarded a Best Of Breed.
The owner of the dog couldn’t understand why her dog was not winning its class and yet this 13-month youngster had just taken a Best Of Breed over champions.
Looking at her dog, I did my best to explain one of the things that seemed the most obvious with her dog.
I told her the following: Her dog’s Front End Assembly was very much off from the dictums of the breed standard. The shoulders were very straight and not at the desired 45-degree layback.
The withers were not over the elbows; instead, they were two inches forward towards the neck. The upper arms were much shorter than the shoulder blades, where ideally they should be equal in length.
When moving, the front reach was short and choppy, with the straight shoulders; the dog’s head would drop below the withers when in movement.
She kept looking at the Best Of Breed winner I was holding trying to compare and see what it was I was describing. I don’t think she could visualize what it was I had just gone over.
So, in case others have had a hard time with the correct front-end assembly, this Bud’s For You.
Front End Assembly.
Let’s establish some points from the photo.
A) Point Of Shoulder (where the shoulder blades form the fore chest)
B) Withers (where the shoulder blades meet at the top most position on the back)
C) Elbows (the medial line of the elbow)
D) Ground forming a perpendicular vertical line with the withers
E) Midpoint of the height of the dog
Using the photograph with the highlighted areas and designated attributes, let's read the breed standard. The exact wording of the Labrador breed standard will be encased by double hashtags # #.
Point A is a 90 Degrees formed by the shoulder blade meets the upper arm.
# # Shoulders-The shoulders are well laid-back, long, and sloping, forming an angle with the upper arm of approx 90 degrees # #
A-B is the shoulder blade and A-C is the upper arm.
# # The length of the shoulder blade should equal the length of the upper arm # #
Line B-C-D, where B is the withers, C is the elbows and D is the ground.
# # Viewed from the side, the elbows should be directly under the withers, and the front legs should be perpendicular to the ground and well under the body # #
Line E is half the height of the dog at the medial line of the elbow.
# # Distance from the elbow to the ground should be equal to one-half of the height at the withers
