A friend of mine has just got a RBD with her boy and has seen the critique. Apparantly he lost his topline which cost him the BD. Shes anxious to know how to stop it reaccuring at the next show. I'm afraid I'm being as much help to her as a chocolate teapot so I said I'd ask on here for her. Any ideas?

I believe its supposed to be sloping over the shoulders and then straight to the tail. I wasn't with her at the time so I have no idea what the dog did or didn't do.

Did it say when the topline went, was it when he was moved?  I think it is unlikely that the topline can be improved in any way except by making sure the dog is in hard condition.

You can 'hide' a poor topline when stacking or even when free standing but all is there to be seen when the dog moves, some judges will be keen to see the dog in action but you will find those who do not really seem to look at the dog when moved although they have asked for it, seems a sort of habit because they seem to loose interest in the dog and turn to the next quickly unless, of course, it has lost its topline.

How about getting a video and showing it to someone in the know of your breed if you can't get the dog physically to someone to assess?

Does she go to ringcraft? Someone  there may be able to pinpoint the problem and say whether it can be corrected or is a problem with his conformation.

Is this the first time anyone has mentioned he loses his topline?

Don't think it can be that bad if he wins the reserve best dog he must win classes, it is probably that he is a bit on the soft side and some judges will personalise and some will not. When you are talking winning the top prize or not it is often more down to the physical condition than the physical conformation.

it could of course simply mean the dog got tired and slouched, so the topline was no longer as firm when he was alert.

some judges will personalise

?? don't think I meant that!!!!!!!!!!

Yep, penalise

it could of course simply mean the dog got tired and slouched

You are right would not expect that of a fit mature dog but a youngster, may be.

I think also the short faced breeds do get hot and uncomfortable and it was hot under the ring lights, even Peni was panting by the end of Puppy bitch stakes. 

So if the RBD had come from a recent class and the winner had been rested, may have been enough to give the other the edge, same as in the BOB challenge when the rested male comes in to contest with the bitch winner.

Well I hear and understand but it would depend on the breed, would not expect a fully mature fit example of our own breed to be wilting but accept that a pup may get tired or loose interest.

The ability of an adult to show in a class and then to go into the challenge and give of its best would be part of the assessment, of course, a judge realises the situation but will also know if a dog has any right to be tired after its class they also knows that a dog that has been waiting for the finish of the bitch classes may have turned off. Most of this is up to the knowledge of the breed the judge would & should have, the critique would say that in the challenge the animal had stopped showing not that it did not hold its topline.

Thanks I'll tell her to up the exercise then. Although the dog is generally fit anyway, I'm sure he won't complain. It didn't say if it was on the move or standing, just that he lost his topline.

He does do well at shows so I don't think this topline issue is one that keeps coming up. Although having said that, I seem to remember her saying something about it before, (really digging in my memory here, it wasn't recent) but its not been a major thing for sure because she has been winning well with him. I think he free stands, not stacked but again I can't be sure.

I reckon he must have dipped when standing for whatever reason.

Well, I don't think I would worry over one critique, if it kept coming up then I would. Tell her to ask someone to stand and then move him and she can see for herself if the topline is different on the move, not knowing the breed I do not know what is required but she will know and she can check for herself.