Correct opening of the shoulder - Page 7

I don't want to site photos of dogs I don't own to illustrate a fault and haven't been able to find any appropriate sketches. Actually it's not that hard to visualize a dog that does not fully open its shoulder joint. Just look at a trotting dog at full extension where his forward foreleg is reaching out as far as it can go. Is the elbow straight or is it bent? If it's bend that odds are that dog cannot fully open it's shoulder joint. Understand that just because a dog can fully open its shoulder joint doesn't necessarily mean it has good shoulder layback. Evaulating that is an entirely different topic.

If you are a reader, you might want to get hold of a copy of "Dogsteps" and/or "New Dogsteps" both by Rachael Page Elliot.

The omotransversarius starts from the first cervical vertebra  (the atlas)  next to the back of the skull,  goes under the other muscles of the neck, which extend to the sternum and arm,  then attaches to the scapular spine near the acromion.  Its  action is to draw the limb forward and rotate the bottom of the scapula forward while other muscles are trying to hold the rest of it in place. A dog trotting in the show ring isn't going to extend its forelimbs in ideal or equal reach if it has its head turned toward its handler. It will not cover as much ground if it trots with its head held high instead of forward and slightly above back level. This is where biking a dog helps as it teaches the dog to lean forward and head down to keep his trot at a forced pace. I do believe the structure can be "altered" visually at a distance or in photos making the dog extended to look like it has a more open joint than it physically is. This will not fool at a show or under a judges hands though.

I also want to add that to see the dogs true angle of and length of my dog's shoulders I use those bendable ties from hardware. I stand the dog stacked and lay the bendy over the scapula and the upper leg. I bend it into a 90 angle at the bottom of the upper arm marking the length of it and follw the angle of the layback. I then measure the bendy's angle to get the measured angle of my dog's layback and measure the length of the upper arm. It has been the most accurate way for me to see and learn what is really in my dog. lol I dont explain things well and you may have wished a video lol

Blitzen thanks soo much I will go to amazon in a few and get the book, I am an avid reader and I find books like that are great to keep around for reference, especially because then I can try to apply it to my dogs.  GSDNewbie, I don't think you give yourself enough credit I think you explain things very well.  I can't speak for everyone but your explanations are always easy for me to understand and since I tend to think in mental pictures you are always descriptive enough to allow my brain to see the picture.  The Bendy  ties is a really cool idea, I have a few things I need to pick up at the hardware store anyway I'm going to have to add those to the list.  I figured a dog in a bad pick would have it's elbow bent, I'm sure I have probably seen one but since that was nothing I ever really looked for I probably just didn't notice it.  Since I had wl guys I always just made sure they could do the kind of work I was going to be doing, that included moving but I may not have always realized that's what I was looking at.  After learning about all this stuff it's funny how I look at my guys differently when they are moving. I find myself looking at the individual movements as opposed to just the whole pic.

I am a sculptor and visual learning hands on was always a better way for me. Ty for the compliments. I have learned more and quicker since having multiple gsds here one being a retired dog of good conformation to use to compare movement and structure with my other dogs. Having him here has taught me so much. When I started out what I saw in my female was different from other views and I had not developed the eye yet. I had nothing to compare to besides videos and such. I am now able to see the difference from what I had thought in the beginning to be good ie her lol and she is not horrible she did get an sg at NASS. I now see as she matured she changed even more and I consider her to have a problem on each end that having one or the other could have been doable but having both makes her look so wrong. She has low flat withers, her flat feet combined with this wither gives her zero shock absorbtion. She has a steep croup that is not well placed that makes her slope strongly in the rear angulation. The two combined are a bad combination. She moved well for physical activities and gets whatever done but if worked hard over long term she would fall apart. I love her very much. When I first had her and more knowledgable people spoke about her and it was not what I saw I truly as my knowledge grew stopped being insuted or hurt and opened up to learning more looking at her without blindness loving our dogs causes. No dog is perfect. I have a background in riding and understand how much an important role proper form allows function. They may get it done with bad conformation, but over time it is not going to be good. My female is an awesome protection dog, she herds a flocks for hours, she is a great dog, but she does not have proper conformation. I see some gorgeous and proper wl dogs. I do not think proper conformation is wl or sl it is a proper conformation gsd. If I bought a working line, I would select one with same conformation as my sl pup. When I buy a sl I buy one that will work. My goal is good gsds. I do not want to see the gsd loose its trotter build in favor of leaping walls.

Please watch it till the end where there will be explanation of gait

movement: walk,Pace, gait & gallop, watch the GSD gallop and try to find the resemblance with GSD gait.