I have been asked a question I hope someone can answer for me.

what do you see when a dog looses its topline ..on the move?? is this a fault or poor handling?

>what do you see when a dog looses its topline ..on the move

Argh one of my pet hates in dogs is to see the topline bounce on the move, IMHE this is caused by the dog being short ribbed & long coupled-the bounce is caused because the ribcage isn't there to support the back(this is all  too common in a breed we both hold dear). I have seen handlers try to hide this by putting their hand under the tummy of the dog & push up the body !

Year ago we did a simple experiment with 4 differently bred dogs of the same breed. Two were apparently the correct length to height ratio, one was shorter & another longer. Two dogs"lost"their toplines in movement-one of the apparently correct dogs & the overly long dog. On closer examination the apparently correct dog that lost it topline was very short ribbed & very long coupled & the overly long one had an equal length of ribcage & coupling. The remaining correct dog was long ribbed & short coupled as required in the breed standard, the too short a dog had a short rib cage, but was short coupled-it didn't move correctly-but that's another thread ;-)