I finally took a photo of Ella but I couldn't work out where to put the dots (I started to do it but I was honestly just making it up ). Anyway, even without the dots and lines, I can see that her back legs look too straight. Other than that I have no idea!
I think Ella looks nice! Her back legs are pretty good, her front looks good too - she looks a slim, quite powerful dog. She has a slight dip in her back, which I'm not sure about - not sure as in don't know, not I think it's a problem - I was struck by Patricia M saying "well cheetahs don't have a level topline" in one of her lectures. This might be a completely random comment - have you checked her nails recently? It could just be the light, but could they be a bit long and making her rock back a tiny bit on her paws? It really could be the light, but I wonder if I can see a bit of pad on her rear foot.
She looks good to me. She is also just at that lanky stage that young animals (including humans!) go through, and they can be a bit butt-high at that stage too. Does your concrete slope down to the right a bit?
Her nails are ridiculously long! We are still dealing with the massive issue of trying to cut her nails. Last week we managed to do four nails but we only took about a mm of each. We're working on it every other day and doing mm at a time but it's a slow process. At this stage, unless we want to have her sedated or have someone physically pin her down , her nails remain long. Do you think this could cause any problems with walking/legs/joints? Yes, just a little bit
In the extreme, yes, definitely. Just a tad a bit long probably not - but it's something I watch carefully.
It is something I worry about but I just don't see a sensible way around the nail issue at the moment (other than continuing to work on it as we are). Now that she's approaching 12months we'll gradually increase her walks so I'm hoping that a bit more pavement walking may help shorten the nails a little too.
You can only do what you can do. I found with Charlie that once his nails got too long, when he was on rest, I had to clip them. Once they were short and he was back on full exercise, they stayed short. So hopefully it's not something that you'll always have to do.
I'm still "in progress" with getting the dogs' nails to a respectable length. Shadow's are far easier, because I can see the quick, and have taken to shining a torch through them to see how much I can take off, but it seems like the quick recedes at a really slow rate. I'm really careful with Willow's because I know that nicking the quick with the Dremel will undo all the good work I've done with her, so I'm taking it excruciatingly slowly - and her nails are still bionic the speed they grow! They are now nowhere near the ground when she stands up, but they still touch far too quickly as she walks. As far as what you can do in the meantime, I took a bit of a view on it that it was better to get a long-term solution and take the risks in the short term. One thing you might try, that I also did, was glue some coarse sand paper to a board and teach Ella to scratch at it with her claws (clicker training). I did this to start with, but I found the paper I could get wore down far too quickly. You might be able to get better stuff where you are, though. Also, maybe try filing? My two both got to grips with a metal file like the one pictured, after some clicker training with very tasty treats, and it could be alternated with your clipping regime, so you're doing something to them every day, even if it's just taking off the tiniest bit?
I got some photos!! OK, so Willow is still standing incredibly crooked, Shadow is nowhere near perfect, and I've just kinda plonked dots on without feeling where the bones are (because they're currently snoozing and I'm happy to keep it that way for the moment, but here are my two, dotted to the nines. Poor Willow's lines look ridiculous when I join them up... I think the upwards extension meets somewhere around Jupiter. I'm going to blame that on the way she's standing, so I've spared her the indignity I'm actually quite impressed at how Shadow's lined up, but I did just plonk the dots before joining them up, so they're probably way off. Note to self: must train a "stand".
Gosh, they are so different, aren't they. Shadow has very solid feet and lower legs, doesn't he? I know you have shown their feet and legs before, but Shadow has very masculine legs
It's a bit hard to say with Willow, particularly at the front! She is not standing very straight! Shadow has a very typical working line dog shape at the front, I'd say, and short upper arms (Charlie is also like this, even though he's a show line dog). I think this straighter front makes them faster than a more angulated front - although that can't be all it is, because Charlie isn't very fast.
Also, I think Willow and Shadow look to have a quite long pelvis - I think this is good, and I'm beginning to wonder if people wanting a too level top line results in a pelvis that is shorter than ideal. I don't know, but it's something I'm thinking about. I wish I could ask someone...must find a 'real life' person that's looking at this kind of thing. Will have a think where I might meet such a person.....
Shadow is definitely "chunking out" as he grows up. Not in a fat way, I hope you'll agree! He's losing a little of that whippet look he really had when he was younger. He has pretty solid musculature front and back, although I'm pretty sure he's still developing more muscle all the time, now his diet seems to be more on track and he's not so skinny. He looks mighty impressive when the light falls to highlight them properly. What a stud Willow's front is all over the place in that picture. She just would not stand still! So, I think we can ignore her front. It does show off her cone head, though (shhh, don't tell her I said that). She has a big point on it - I think she's trying to be a unicorn. To be honest, her back isn't right, either. It looks like she's rocked back on her heels after taking her treat. Never mind, I'll try again another time. Willow's back has a much more pronounced convex curve at the back than Shadow's. His feet are so round! I'm pretty sure we've talked about it before and said that they should be longer - though not as long as Willow's? I have to say, I love them round. He looks like he's on wheels I have no idea what any of this means (the book is on my list of things to read when I have "time", whatever that is), but I do think it's interesting to see the differences in all our dogs.
I've just been comparing a bit more to the other dogs on this thread, particularly Obi, and the to differences that are most striking to me are the chest - as you say, Shadow is really straight up-and-down there, whereas Obi has a very pronounced, round chest; and Shadow's tibia is massively longer than Obi's.
Yes, most working line dogs are really pretty straight at the front. This probably makes them faster, at the cost of less shock absorption and probably weight carrying ability (that also depends on the neck too though).
