is the stack position to fix a reference point for measuring angles? - Page 1

make sense if all dogs were in the same starting position for comparison and have an absolute reference point for angle measurements, but is the stack position the best one to achieve that.

just askin?

No, they decided to stack the dogs in the worst possible position to examine their anatomy from.

Need a here's your sign icon. 

In a way.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        The correct stack position enables the judge to correctly evaluate the dog in relation to the written standard.                                                                                                                                         So as the judge can see and evaluate the Type, the Angles,the Topline, the Forequaters, Midsection, the Hindquarters, the masculature,etc.

Yeah,(to both ideas, vk4) - but only when handlers know how to stack properly.  Once you get into rubbish stacks,

IMO, the value goes out the window.   A good Show handler can bring out the best, or disguise the worst, of any

dog's conformation.   But on here we too often see amateur stacks,  and of dogs which are of less obviously correct

quality, shall we say, i.e. not really meeting the Breed Standard in their construction.  You cannot make a silk purse

out of a pig's ear, as the saying goes.  Only relevant to those who care about their dog meeting the Standard, I

suppose.

Let me just add that what I said about the expert Show handlers, showing off the dog at their best, also

means that in any Show ring where the concept of the Standard is a distorted one, what the Judges see is reflected

in their own expectations, right or wrong !

Either a dog is stacked correctly or he's not.  The front legs must be perpendicular to the ground and the left rear hock perpendicular to the ground.  The stack can only enhance a dog or disguise his weaknesses insofaras the dog is just standing there exactly how a handler has placed it (and perhaps we can see through this b/c the dog is actually "overstacked" or the handler has a foot under the dog's hock or is pressing the rear down), but that's why in a show the dog is moved around at different paces, adult dogs moved off lead, the judge watches coming and going, etc.  I've had judges ask me to do this or that with a dog, like drop the leash and see how the dog would stand naturally on his own.

A sickle hocked dog won't stand long with its hocks perpendicular to the ground. That was a smart judge asking to see how long your dog would stand naturally on his own.

In some breeds the dog must move into the ''stack postion'' without the handler placing them. In most breeds dogs are shown in motion on  a loose leash, not pulling against the handler. To truely ''see'' the dog is not the handlers job. 

In "the old days" there was a feeling, in Britain and to some extent Germany, that GSDs should "walk into" the stack, rather than

be placed in it by the handler.  Refers to the show stance being based on the way a (properly constructed) dog could stand naturally.

That did not stop handlers fiddling about with the placement of feet etc at every subsequent opportunity !

It also used to be thought better if you could run your dog round on a loose lead too.  That seems to have disappeared almost

entirely these days. 

sorry I misread your question. When measureing a dog, it's important, that the front legs are perpendicular and the measuring stick is placed correctly.The dog must stand poperly on it's hind legs.

Just to clarify, it was not my dog that was asked to stand naturally, but a dog I was handling for a breed survey (she got KKL).