Why is it so hard to grasp the difference between lean and malnourished?!?!

Is it possible for a conditioned dog to show some spine and hip?

 

Yep, and there are also dogs and people that are skinny fat, ie. they have no muscle but have a high body fat percentage.

 

When stackd, no. Though when the dog is bending his spine etc. you can see very faintly the outline of the spine and hips. However, when the dog is stacked (standing upright, not just standng on all fours but standing upright with neck and head held high, body elongated, etc.), all you will see are muscles.

stacked amstaff


natural/casual amstaff stand

 

Oh yeah, normally a dog is stacked to meaure the height,since height is measured at the withers. Though such info is trivial to true fanciers of the working bulldog. However, this information, along with weight, is very important to show fanciers.

 

man....that poor obese thing is just ready to fall over and die on it's back that is a damn shame.

 

I guess thats what i meant. Sometimes i can see some backbone when my dog is eating. When hes standig tall or standing at the window pissed off at something he sees outside, theres no hint of backbone. He doesnt stack though lol.

 

Oh yeah, that's normal. When he's eating, I'm assuming his back is bent a little bit. You should also be able to faintly see some shoulder and some hip bone on a conditioned dog as well as the first two to three ribs. That is a sign of a conditioned dog. Pretty much if your dog is showing muscle, then you're good.

 

He shows muscle. Problem is, iv only seen one conditioned dog in real life. Everything else i have seen is either normal weight or fat, so its hard to know what hes supposed to look like. I need to make it out to some shows and meet some real dogs so i know what mine should look like.

 

I live in MI. When we decided to add a Basset to the family we had to practically move mountains to find a litter from working lines. I ended up spending a few weeks looking for kennels and then driving 5 hours each way out into the middle of nowhere across the state to get my pup. I don't like the show dogs, either. They look too fat and lazy to me and we all know that part of loving a dog is liking the way it looks, same as picking a spouse,lol.

Crazyk9, thanks for posting the pictures! The dogs you found pics of are beautiful and those shots go a long way toward explaining the difference between a working Basset and a show Basset.

I should probably have a t-shirt with the working vs show dogs pics on it so people will stop bugging me!

 

Find a weight pull in your area. You'll see some really nice dogs there! Plus, its a lot of fun.

 

Excellent post newdogman and this is a tell sign to bulldoggers who cut food versus ones who condition a dog. Two totally different things, the spine and hip bones tell the story to condition versus being starved. I wish the younger generation of dog people would really look at these pictures and really pay attention at conformation shows and ask questions from the really conditioners. There is so many ways to condition a dog but the best tell sign IMO would be the head of the dog. The head is the secret to how a dog is being conditioned.

 

How can you tell by the head?

 

I dont really know how you could look at a dog that is clearly starving or way over fed. I am all for a conditioned dogs and feel if you dont wanna work your dog get another breed! I have a neighbor about three houses down with a Basset Hound, the thing is never outside and when it is it is in the front yard tied to the railing. The fucker is so fat it is unreal, its belly literally rubs the ground and not because its legs are so short.. i gotta sneek a couple pics for you all it really f'ed up! Crazy shit is they love my well conditioned animals?

 

A starved dog will look a runway model, look at a woman runner who runs long distances or competes in events she will look like a well conditioned dog and then look at a run way model again in the face only, look at the difference of their faces. That will give you a good start and then apply the same technique to a dog. Can't give away all the trade secrets lol.

 

What are you talking about..? That dog is bad ass...don't you know that's a Gr. Champion Gotta Razor edge best of breed....its dropping a litter only 5000 each

 

The dog earned his Gr. Ch. at Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest right?

 

My Grandma's dog is about that big. I call her the blimp.

 

No...it was a game tasted mashed potato gr. Champion

 

I fucking know man.

I'm a member on several art websites, since I draw and do novice photography [not artsy, just reference]. I've posted a lot of photos from the APBT conformations I've been to... And let me tell you, there is NO arguing with idiots about this breed. I can show you pictures of perfectly healthy, conditioned dogs that I had the pleasure of being around, and all I get in response is OMG THAT DOG IS STARVING!! YOU'RE HORRIBLE FOR SUPPORTING NEGLECT AND DOG FIGHTING [How you get dog fighting from neglect I will never know :confused::confused:] but I've given up arguing. You can't fix stupid.

 

this post sums it up nicely