Inferior Quality VonWilhendorf Dog - Page 3

Poor girl, even being 'knocked' by her new owner. she looks to me like another dog here not long ago that had issues walking and trotting.
    Yeah, she certainly has issues walking, to which I believe alot has to do with young dogs that are not allowed to run and play freely and develope control and co-ordination in their legs.
    I believe if given time and proper exercise, she will get much better. Yeah, still cow-hocked but not uncomfortable with her legs.
   

OMG. Hexe didn't say she was perfectly normal. I love how people jump on anyone who doesn't place 150% on whoever is being trashed here, right off the bat and tries to offer some hope and practicality.  What she said was that there can be some impovement. And I agree. The dog is clearly way out of shape. Ligaments that are all screwy like that to begin with need to be in top condition to function any way resembling normal. Also, the video is intentionally shot to make the dog look as bad as possible, hence my comment earlier about the fall. I love to see a compassionate owner make a dog with a problem fall to prove their point.

When you have a dog w/screwed up structure to begin with, add lack of exercise, excess weight, loose ligaments from all of the above...you can get screwy gaits, like we saw w/the 5mo. old puppy thread. Of course the dog is conformationally flawed! No one was disputing that. What's done is done- let's try to help the dog now. After all, it's the dog who has the problem, right?

I stick to my feeling that after a long flight, ten minutes is not sufficient for either mind or body to be exercised and then locked back up and left. We're not talking about a crate in the living room of the house...the dog was left at a "facility" after a ten minute reprieve. That alone isn't the end of the world, but added to the rest of it sure paints a picture of a cold person who bought some livestock to make a buck on and is pissed that it didn't show up exactly how she wanted it to. Sorry...call me soft, but that's just the feeling I get here. Not one mention of how poor Natalee will fair in the long run, or how/if she has trouble now, and watching the poor thing trotting on lead, obviously trying to please while being exhibited for a video expose was really sad. I felt awful for her.

And by the way, Capri is cow-hocked.

I can't say that I know John well, but I do know that he is a very different type of person and breeder than his father.

Although John says he strives to breed dogs with superior working drives, he has succumbed to the "fad" of breeding dogs that Americans will buy: over-sized dogs with dramatic gaits - and that usually means various extremes of angulation. With less extreme angulation, a pup can develop a fairly normal gait as long as the muscles are strengthened and ligaments tightened. This will take good nutrition and exercise.

When it comes right down to it, if you don't have a special association with him you will NEVER get any of his best dogs. Because of the economy he will let pups that might have been previously culled up for sale. You can blame the economy and the fact that this is how he makes his bread and butter. But he is not the only person doing this.

There was a reason that many years ago that only nobility were allowed to own and breed purebred dogs. It may have not been a perfect system. But there is something to be said for someone who breeds dogs for the continuation of the breed and its improvment, not for profit. For that you would have to have money from another career at your disposal so that your kennel would neither be a huge drain or necessary for profit. Sad but true.

You can see cow hocks really well when you watch the dog going (from behind). The paws (toes) will splay outward and the hocks will go inward. The best comparison is to that of a person who is knock-kneed (opposite of bow legs.)

The longer the bones are in the stifle and gaskin (with the "knee" being the center joint), the more "action" you will see and the more dramatic it will look. this also gives a dog the appearance in the back end of "crouching" - with the knee being closer to the ground. Although this may extend the gait in trot, it puts the dog off balance if it differes from front extension. It also uses a lot of energy and makes the dog less agile and manueverable. This does not support trotting at an extended gait over long distances.

Individual showline dogs vary greatly in both cowhocks, overangulation, over-size, etc. I recently saw a really nicely balanced SL get thrown out of the show ring for a slight fault in dentition that should not have disqualified it. (The rear angulation was not extreme enough.)

Sigh.

Some dogs do out grow being loose and cow-hocked. This is extreme, but I agree with others that she will most likely improve some with age and conditioning. I hate how she is being drug and jerked around. Occasionally she looks up and gets no response so looks away. How sad for her! No reason to not be loving and nice to the dog, it's not her fault! She seems very sweet but lost.
Animals are not allowed to fly with collars on! It's the rules. Why wouldn't someone bring their own collar and leash knowing that the dog had just come off of a long journey and would need to be walked? 
What is the reason you purchased her Iron Horse? Did you purchase her for breeding or showing?
What kind of facility are you talking about? If it's a kennel then things should have been prepared for her comfort, such as a clean indoor outdoor kennel run, or at least somewhere where she could be more comfortable relieving herself. 
 Debby

Ok once again excuse the question.  Hexe said cow hocked is to compensate for other structual deficiencies to allow the dog to move.  What are those? I am assuming it's the over angulation since that is being mentioned a lot.  I never understood the over angulation, I've seen it a lot in the American sl dogs, I personally think it's ugly makes the dog look deformed to me.  What is the purpose for breeding for that is it just asthetics?

Donner,
It mostly has to do with loose ligaments. Ligaments attach the muscle to the bone. It can have to do with other things but that is the most common. Even straight backed dogs can be cow-hocked.
Debby

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShpYV56VAec     This is the video of the other pup that had a similar walk.  Does anyone know how this dog progressed?
   

Debby explained it well.
And thank God for Jenni being here on the database,she is a knowledgable person with lots of experience.
For those of you who are jumping your guns too quickly - I think that you are probably not breeders as you would talk different.No perfect dog that produces only the superb progeny exists.Even the great producers throw puppies that are not perfect - with issues like undescended testicle,hips/elbows problems,soft ears,low drive,soft character and so on.If it was that easy to match two perfect dogs with very strong pedigree behind them full of top dogs,then we would have only great dogs.

Ok if it has to do with ligaments and muscles, does it correct if you do things like swim the tar out of them, and get them in better physical shape?