This is what I like to see, well in my breed anyways,
Nero, nice square profile, nice pasterns and a proud stance.


Caesar, the same, but you'll notice they've got different body styles, Caesar has a slightly longer body.


All too often in the rottie breed their legs are too short, the breed standard is body length to height 9/10 in other words from chest to rump and paws to withers should be nearly the same, hope I've expained it clearly.

Isn't it weird, but from my view the top dog looks longer, but maybe it's the reach of neck that is actually making it look that way!

Hi Rip,

Please forgive me if I'm stating the obvious but in the past I've been surprised how many people don't know that dogs have front AND rear pasterns. The hock is the joint above the rear pastern, the rear pastern is the bit between the hock joint and the floor.

The difference between the two needs to be understood when thinking about faults like cow or sickle hocks, for instance.

Just thought that needed to be pointed out.

Debs

Firstly, got to agree with Debs. Many people do confuse the rear pastern with hocks. I've seen many critiques which incorrectly state "nice short hocks" .... and I probably wrote it myself 20 years ago The joint is the hock and the part of the leg below it, to the foot, is the rear pastern. A well let down hock is one which is close to the ground ie the rear pastern is short.

The angle of the front pastern is dependent on bone construction and soft tissue. The angle, and so flexibilty of the pastern, does usually follow the general construction of the dog. Eg you wouldn't expect a well angled pastern on a breed with an upright front with forward placed upper arm like the Fox Terriers. These types of breeds tend also to have upright pasterns.

Breeds which have more accentuated angulation all round, like the Rottweiler and German Shepherd, also tend to have more sloping pasterns. Over angulation and so also weak pasterns are faults that often occur in the GSD.

A front pastern that is strong and flexible is not upright but has a slight but not excessive angle.

Here you go, bandit is weak in both front and rear pasterns

Rear






Front







As you can see , he walks very much on his heel, and as a result does not wear his nails down...

Oh I have a perfect pic of Maddy to describe this but it's on a disc somewhere, i'll be back with it at some point, you know what I am like!