Hi all,

I sat by the judges table at my show yesterday.  A dog got onto the judging table who would not co-operate and stand still - the judge was very patient and told the young lady 'don't worry, her movement will show me everything I need to know'.  The judge was described to me as 'a movement judge' if there is such a thing.

My breed is short coated and sporty - nothing can be hidden! Can you tell everything without having to go over a dog from just watching movement or do you have to put your hands on - is being 'gone over' necessary? or perhaps necessary in some breeds and not others?

A shortcoated dog should require minimal hands on as everything should be visible, even muscle tone will show.  Dogs with unfortunate markings may give a poor optical impression of shoulders etc, which can easily be felt for, and of course you need to look at the mouth, and check entirety.

ahh yes! this was a solid fawn.  I hadn't thought about teeth and bits!

Do you think it's true that if movement is good, conformation must also be good?

Do you think it's true that if movement is good, conformation must also be good?

It depends on the balance if that is good the dog can move well even though it's construction may not be as required by the standard, in other words it may be too tall, too long, incorrect ribs, elbows in the wrong place, neck too short and so on but if the over all construction is balanced the dog may move well even if it lacks type.

The importance of movement is in direct relation to the work the breed originally did, a toy dog should be able to move well enough for it's own comfort but a working dog must show movement that makes it fit for the job it was developed for.

The laying on of hands and the checking of movement should go hand in hand, if the dog is well constructed you expect it to move well but if you find a fault in the construction you will watch the movement to see how that is effected.

I had an example of the opposite, a beautifully put together bitch, who really took the eye on the table, but was very, very ordinary  moving - not bad, just not exciting at all.   WE used her as a demo dog for some seminars to show the importance of judging the whole picture.Also know another dog (different breed, smooth coat) who has recently won 2 classes at Ch shows, and whose movement in profile is good to over exagerated, but coming and going leaves a lot to be desired as he is down on pastern, a bit out at elbow and has poor hind leg construction too.  Different judges have very different definitions of good movement (or even construction).

Different judges have very different definitions of good movement

Very true, have seen judges reward flashy movement when that sort of movement is quite wrong, in fact, there are very few breeds that call for flashy movement most breeds should have a workman like gate showing economic, efficient and precise stride with no unnecessary twiddle bits.

It depends on the balance if that is good the dog can move well even though it's construction may not be as required by the standard, in other words it may be too tall, too long, incorrect ribs, elbows in the wrong place, neck too short and so on but if the over all construction is balanced the dog may move well even if it lacks type.

If you are interested in a good read on this subject I recommend Robert Cole's An Eye for a Dog (Dogwise)

Thank you all for the replies and book recommendation