This article first appeared in the AKC Gazette.
Written by Marianne Sullivan
This past August I had the privilege of judging, along with two others, the virtues match at Sunnybank, The Gathering. One of the “parts” we judged was for Best Rear. The moderator read the section in our standard pertaining to the rear and then we three had to reach consensus on which dog best adhered to the standard.
The standard describes the hind legs as “muscular,” and “sinewy,” with the hocks and stifles “well bent.” A dog with cowhocks or straight stifles is penalized. The standard describes the Collie’s relatively small, oval feet and well-arched toes and that our breed should come to a natural stop with legs “well apart.” Excessive “posing” is undesirable.
When you consider the entire rear assembly of the Collie and all the components that work together to make it a herding dog, that description scratches the surface. Additional clues come at the beginning of our standard; in the very first sentence Collies are “lithe, strong, responsive, active” dogs. The whole first paragraph is beautiful, really, in that it captures the essence of our breed–everything in “harmonious proportion” to the whole and a “proud picture of true balance.”
If Collies are to be lithe and responsive they must have the proper angles. Angulation is the set of the pelvis and the length of the bones. Without angulation the muscles do not have adequate power or flexibility. Less angle results in less muscle area; proper angles create more muscle area. The rear should move freely and the legs will nearly straighten out behind the dog. We know that good reach and drive take less effort and therefore less energy and that the greater the angulation, the greater the stride.
One of my co-judges at the match described our winner as having great propulsion; that is, the rear drives the dog forward. How do we get this propulsion? First we must have the correct angles. We can learn what those are from visual observation. Loraine Still’s Illustrated Collie is a great place to start, as are publications by Rachel Page Elliott or M. Christine Zink. If we have a good visual image in our mind before we go look at dogs, it will help us understand what the correct rear should look like.
If there is too much angulation, there will be too much drive from the rear and the dog will have to compensate to prevent interference with the front. If there is too little angulation it shortens the stride and results in an up and down, choppy bounce rather than the smooth, propelling forward motion our standard calls for. So, we also want balance front and rear to make gaiting most efficient.
Take a fresh look at rears and think about all the elements it includes: loin, croup (pelvis), buttocks, thigh, stifle (knee), hip, pastern (hock), point of hock, paws. Within all this are the joints, muscles, ligaments and tendons! We want open, fluid and flexible joints with strong muscle, as this also influences how our dogs’ move. Since full flexion and extension is essential for jumping and changing direction, understanding structure is relevant not only to the conformation ring, but also for performance.
