CONFORMATION
CLINIC
by Paula Collins
"Good
Dog"
This is an overall 'honest' dog in conformation. He is by no means the
perfect boxer, but I consider him to be of Show Quality. He has his faults, but
in most areas, is correct, or has merit. Please review the Boxer
Anatomy page
to learn about the general terms in describing the parts of the dog.
He has a short back, good croup, high tail set. Good tight feet, correct head,
good arch to his neck, and nice angles. I would like to see a bit more chest,
and a bit more maturity.
(In the photo this dog is 13 months old. He has since matured nicely.)
"Bad Dog"
This dog has
problems of all sorts.
He lacks angulation, has sloping pasterns, is longbacked with a low tailset,
choppy transistion from neck to topline. Flat feet, his muzzle is too long, bad
ear crop short neck, he lacks layback in his muzzle. Not enough
forechest, along with a host of other issues. His faults are SEVERE and
combined. However, he has faults seen in many dogs showing, and being bred.
Please
understand no dog is perfect, and if a breeder were holding out for a faultless
dog to breed from, they would be holding out forever. Its not breeding
perfect dogs that creates show dogs, its breeding to offset faults, and
accentuate merits. A medicore dog with little faults has lesser merit in
breeding than an outstanding dog with a noticeable fault but some extraordinary
characteristics.
Look for the merits in a dog, not just the faults. Anyone can "pick
apart" a dog, but few can learn to judge on merit. Try and see the
positives, while you notice the negatives.
NO DOG IS PERFECT!!
Learn to balance your views, and learn to see the merits and faults in all dog
you judge, including ones online, dogs you see at shows, and ESPECIALLY your
own!
Dog graphics both of
Cinema's Flamingo Kid
Created by Paula Collins/CINEMA BOXERS