It would be interesting to know her height to the the withers. Perhaps it's just her deep barrel chest is making our uneducated eyes see her legs as short, together with not such a well defined tuck up as we have on our dogs.
With the saggy pectorals... Obi (show line) has them too even when he's nice and lean. I think it's maybe been selected for to accentuate the deep chest look? Dunno... His legs look short in side on standing pics too, but in real life and when he's moving they look fine.
I think one of the problems is, modern show labs are not being tested in the field like they were 60 years ago when we had dual purpose (show / field) labs. So although we can look at the angles etc, we don't really know what effect those shorter legs (if they are shorter) are going to have on performance. What I can see with my eyes cries out that the winning show dog is going to struggle to get over a five barred gate. But, I am willing to accept that it 'could' all be an optical illusion and that maybe the legs are not actually shorter at all, or that maybe they are shorter and that this is a better structure for athletic performance than the longer legs we are more familiar with. With the emphasis on 'could' On the other hand I think it a risky strategy for show breeders to take the unilateral decision to alter the structure of the Labrador in dogs that by and large are not performance tested. And it is hard to doubt that show breeders have altered this structure when you look at photos of dual purpose labs from the past. I am not by the way, saying that field breeders are blameless. It is their fault that so many working labs are ugly like my Tess (and yes, she is ugly ) and have poor coats and tails. Because they too have bred away from the original standard which arose around an athletic animal that could work in extreme weather conditions. What would be very interesting, would be to look at the the incidence of various orthopedic problems and compare them between dogs built in these two different ways.
Just a point of clarity - the show line dog does look to be short of leg (how much is difficult to tell because of this strange sagginess behind the front legs - I do wonder if that's a poor condition indicator and could be changed. Or, I do wonder if that has been selected for to make the depth of chest look bigger. Either way, I don't think this is a good thing. But the challenge (I was making) is you can't point to a longer legged dog and say that's better, without accepting that the show line dog had other aspects that were more advantageous for performance.
Well I don't think your Tess is ugly @editor No more than I think Sam is ugly because his legs are far too long, his ears are too long and he looks racy , in fact he has many faults , but for all of them I still don't like the short legs of the Crufts Lab .
I think there have been good "show bench" dogs that work. 2000 BOB Crufts was won by Carpenny Walpole.. a really barrel chested dog..to my unqualified eye though! Carpenny Walpole then went to Norway and competed in their open field trials and he did very well, despite his build. Casper is his grandson, and has inherited that deep barrel chest and very muscular build. From some angles though, and when he is a pound or two heavy, he does look like he has quite short legs.
This is a champion agility poodle - very racy and very fast indeed - with very poor angles. She has a very weak structure indeed. She was a top champion agility dog, and easily able to clear a 5 barred gate . She retired early with arthritis and had constant back soreness while she competed. poodle 2 by julieandcharlie julieandcharlie, on Flickr
This is his normal "I am an alert, focused labrador who is ready to protect his owners from whatever may be out there...." look. He stands like this for ages....I'm quite sure there is absolutely nothing going on in his head at the time, I think he falls asleep on his feet. But it looks good.
That is probably because the show dog has been 'stacked' to show off these angles, the other Lab was just standing there! Oops, see I came in a bit late here! Have just read all comments above, but I still think it is something to do with how the dog is stacked.
With the caveat that I have the book in one hand as I work out where the dots go...so I'm not very confident in my abilities! So anyone knowing more, do tell me some need to be shifted around.....but loving the practice. Pongo - not bad at all. The photo isn't the best, because it's looking down on him a bit. He has a straighter than ideal stifle (the front of the rear leg at the back is a bit too straight), but pretty respectable.... pongo by julieandcharlie julieandcharlie, on Flickr
Oh, that is fun to see! I'll still try to get you a better photo (no hope of that right now, his majesty is curled up fast asleep on the sofa). Thanks Julie, that's all really interesting. Not that Pongo is ever likely to see a show bench. The ensuing chaos just doesn't bear thinking about.
Although I've got the top front dot too far back...I think... Oh well, off to walk Charlie. His too straight angles won't stop him tearing round like a right old hooligan.
