What causes a "roach back"? - Page 3

No Bazza, STRAIGHT, not level. A dog's back is neither a tabletop nor a bridge.

And my bad on the wording.  It should have been 'tip of the ears', and 'topline' rather than back:

The head pushed forward and the tail slightly raised result in an even, effortless trot showing a gently curved, uninterrupted upper line from the tips of the ears, over neck and back to the tip of the tail.

FCI Breed Standard

 http://www.workingdogs.com/lshaw1.htm

hello SS, this is JMO, but what I see in the pic presented serves exactly the opposite of presenting the dog's back correctly.

The dog is straining very hard against the leash, so much so that his head drops in an effort to put more power into his position. The leash is restricting his front motion and transferring much of the force into the rear. This is evident in that the rear is in full stroke and the shoulder is not open at all.

This difference in force must go somewhere, hence the exaggerated compression in the back. I'm not making a comment one way or another on roach, just that this particular dog probably presents differently in a free gait.

anyway, that's how I see it,

Rik

Please let's not get into a bashing of roach backs, as this topic is what causes it not whether we like it or not.  I brought the topic up as a friend and I were looking at some older littermates from a working line litter, and one of the dogs has a slightly roached back.  I thought that was odd since the parents and the other littermates had straight or level or whatever term you want to use, toplines.  He asked me what causes the back to roach, if it was an injury, or genetic defect, or if that's just the way it was.  I didn't really have a good answer for him.  Is the roach linked to dominant or recessive genes?

 I was looking for an exact definition of Roach and found out it is not same as Curvature, it is actually being used by dog owners to refer to a defect in a dog back when it curves upwards peak being mostly at mid of of the back leading to withers not being the highest point.
curvature is rather a sloping back withers still the highest point and back shows a slight arc and that is what I was referring to when I said:
"A roached back on a dog of minimum acceptable length ratio to height shows a remarkable rear momentum in fast gaiting and shows a beautiful smooth topline of less curvature when in movement and even long reaching strides. That said does not mean this is the correct thing to do as per standard but maybe it explains why some breeders like roached backs, not only it being the nowadays fad."

So instead of roached it should actually read with curvature.

Ibrahim

 This dog has a sloping arch topline, in regards to movement, theoretically it should provide a smooth transfer of drive force through the spine even at full reach when the topline is fully stretched and tensioned to its extreme resulting into a an almost level line at no chance of enduring excessive bending moment/ flexure on the spine as that caused in a 100% level back in standing then has no enough room in the spine to be stretched in fast trotting.

Two pages of responses and most have not  answered the OP. This is an example of a thread not staying on topic. Some bashing roach back some agreeing some putting other's dogs down. How about responding to just what causes.
Reggie

 Sorry for going off topic, I wanted only to reframe what I said earlier.

Ibrahim

Gemini:

                 The "roach back" does not occur in nature, it is a fault by improper breeding not design so it has been answered. What causes it?? Bad Breeding with out a good working structre. answer... Breeders.