Weight pull gets political

So I want your opinion on this and see if this complaint should move forward. A friend of mine was showing at a 3 day weight pull event and took most weight pulled per body pound and a couple of other titles 2 days in a row. The final day they approached him and said he could not pull his dog because she looked emaciated and dehydrated. The dogs showed no signs of being ill and worked happily for his owner. The dog is in great condition and has great muscle tone with no hipbones showing. It appears that they found some excuse for him not to continue. I am not posting this to slam the judge or the club and will not say who these people are. If you know about this incident please do not post names I am not doing this to start bad mouthing anyone I just want opinions on the conditioning of the dog. The dog is ADBA/AADR weight and many were from UKC and that might be why they feel the dog was emaciated.

What do you think? Politics at it's best or were they correct for pulling the dog?

 

I think she looks ok. A little too much backbone showing for MY taste. But other than that she looks fine.

 

If that is the picture of the dog in question then it is of my opinion that YES that dog is on the skinny side. The spine is showing through too much for my personal liking. Do not get me wrong I love a lean dog its just I do not like seeing the ridges of the spine showing as much as it does on the dog in the photo.

I think that if there was an issue with the dogs weight then it should have been addressed at the beginning of the event not 2 days into it. I agree that it is BS to call foul after the dog has been pulling her heart for two days.

 

I agree she is a little thin for me too but I have to say I always look at hipbones and that's when conditioned turns too skinny. With that said I agree that if it was an issue they should not have let him pull from day one. It was only after this dog wiped the floor with the other competition for 2 days that they said he could not show the third day. Smells fishy.....

 

For the record, the spine is usually more visible in long, roach-backed dogs like this female.

I think weight pull dogs certainly benefit from being at their lowest possible weight, without sacrificing an ounce of strength. This usually means incredibly lean dogs with good muscle tone- which is what I see here.

If she was meant to take most weight pulled per pound, it should be quite obvious that she is not "emaciated", which would indicate her body had begun to break down muscle. Is she "skinny"? Certainly- but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

I've heard of folks doing some crazy things, and pulling a winning dog from competition at the last moment is definitely one of them. If this is the entire story... I call b.s. on the club.

 

too much spine showing IMO.

 

I think she's a bit too light, but I've seen other dogs similar to that pull and not get DQed from competition. It's possible that someone complained and the club/judge was forced to act. Either way, it's a judgment call, and I wouldn't want to be the one making it. Whoever made that call probably knew they were going to get some kind of trouble for it. It's a no-win situation. Let her pull, and you might be enabling someone to work a dog that's not fit for it. DQ her, and someone's going to suspect you're doing it for personal reasons.

 

As to the DQ question, I couldnt answer, but like everyone else said, with the spine showing like that, there is an issue with the dogs health. Imagine what would have happened had the dog been in top form!!

The ribs should show on the dog, but not the spine. If a dog looks like that on my yard, I begin to worm the dog, etc. Without the supporting muscle surrounding the spine, especially in weight pulling, could very easily cause issues with the dogs health. You may not see the issues now, but give it some time, there will be problems.

Had I been a judge, I would probably have never let the dog pull. but that's just me.

 

In my opinion i think its the way she is standing that making her spine show the way it is. Besides that she looks good front and rear have good muscle defenition and no signs of being emaciated, thats just my two cents.

 

Here is another picture of her

this was taken the same day. Thank you for all your input every op helps

 

It seems to vary from venue to venue as what's an appropriate weight for a dog. The dog's got a bit more spine then some folks want to see, but if the dog was obviously healthy and pulling well, I don't see an issue. There's no hip showing from that one photo and their's a fair amount of muscle in the front and hindquarters. I personally wouldn't have pulled the dog out, but each opinion is going to vary depending on who you talk to, unfortunately.

 

The spine should not be showing. Period. Like I said above, what would the dog had been able to do if it's health were top notch. Even back in the day, pre'76, you dont see match dogs with their spines like that. I'd be willing to bet the bank that if you take a photo of the dog with it's lip raised you'd be seeing white!!!
even with money down, when the blood count wasnt right, a man who loved his dog would pay the forfeit, as he knew his animal could not give it's best performance, and that to match a dog in that condition could very easily ruin the dog from doing what it could have done.

you say "some just dont like how it looks", I say it is unhealthy, and dangerous for the dog, especially later on in it's life.

 

Purplepig, the angle of the first photo somewhat skews the dog because of how the dog is standing. If we had a better shot, it would likely paint a different picture (no pun intended) since some photos make the objects of there affections look worse and some make them look better. But, then again, to each their own opinion.

 

I think the dog looks too lean in the 2nd picture, too. You can see several ribs even at that angle, and a spine point before the handler's sleeve gets in the way.

 

K, point is, they let the dog pull for 2 days. The dog kept winning and cleaning house. Oh did I mention the judges were pulling dogs in the same class? So his dogs were taking placements away from their dogs and the end of the year that will effect overall standings for 2008. And only after this dog was winning did they say he couldn't continue to pull. He also took both dogs to the vet right after the DQ and they were given a clean bill of health.
I personally think the dogs could use 1-2 lbs but the way it was handled was BS. If they felt that way in the beginning they should not have let him pull from day 1 at the weigh in. Not after the dog beat the judges dog's.

 

It's difficult to say without being there. Maybe they stopped the 3rd day because they thought that it was too much for the dog, and may have been thinking this on day 2. Kind of not wanting the 3rd day in a row to be the straw that breaks the camel's back. I have to agree that their decision may not have been completely un-biased since the judges were losing to the dog, but the dog being that lean (too lean) didn't really provide the owner with backing against their decision.

 

(Thanks shadowwolf for taking this nice pic)

Here's my dog at ADBA Nationals, she pulled at that weight there, no questions asked, and at UKC Nationals the week before. So, while I could see why people had some issue w/your friend's dog, you can see I push the same envelope. I am always prepared to catch some flack about her weight. I don't think your friend's dog looks unhealthy. She's got some muscle. I don't see dents above her eyes. Her coat looks OK. I'm actually surprised she doesn't have hip showing, based on her spine. I also find that photos can be decieving in both directions, muted light, everything is flattened out, strong light, everything's exagerated.
That being said I think people are being more conservative in general. There are enough people who think weight pull is cruel, throw in skinny dogs, and you've got humaniac bait. I can tell you that I had planned on competing at APA Nationals. I received a form letter (e-mail) letting me know that it had come to their board's attention that I had a dog or dogs that would potentially not be in good condition at Nationals, and that dogs that were found to be in unhealthy condition would not be allowed to compete. It was very polite, I didn't feel personally singled out, the intention was clearly to protect the dog's well being, and positively promote weight pull. It was a very diplomatic way to handle a potential problem. How your friend was handled sounds iffy to me, but I wasn't there. At face value, it doesn't make any sense that a dog could compete (and win) 2 days, and then be found unhealthy, unless something changed. Most people feed their dogs up after weigh in, so it doesn't seem likely the dog lost weight. However, I wasn't there, so I don't know if there were other factors. I think your friend is entitled to question how things were handled, and why.

 

Good post, Leslie. Kinda puts a different perspective on the whole thing.

 

You're very much welcome. She is a sweet girl and incredibly expressive as well!

 

I agree with what you are saying here. If they were to dq the dog, it should have been before it ever got started.