Checking Structure in Longhaired Breeds

A Show Dog's Life

This puppy has good bone structure, but it is hard to tell with the pup’s full, dry coat.

A wet white with tan and black puppy is posing on a towel and a person is helping to pose the dog in a show stack.

To check the body structure of a longhaired dog, soap the dog real well and wrap the hair to the body. This is the same puppy as above wet down with water and a little soap. Notice how you can now see the shape of the body. This puppy shows a good, level topline.

The chest of a fluffy dog that is standing on a porch table. A person's hand is touching the side of the dog and their other hand is lifting the little dogs head.

Puppy with a fluffy, dry coat making it hard to see the structure of the front legs

The chest of a wet white dog that is standing on a towel. The dog has straight front legs

The same puppy as above with its coat wet; you can now see the straight front legs. This puppy has a very good front line.

A person with their hand on the rear of a fluffy coated dog that is standing on a table outside. The dog's back legs are straight.

Puppy in a full, dry coat showing its rear bone structure. Again, it is hard to really see what is going on under the fluffy coat.

Close up - A wet white dog that is standing on a towel. A person has their hand on the backside of the dog. The dog's legs are straight

This is the same puppy as above with a wet coat. You can now see the rear legs are very straight. This puppy has nicely shaped hindquarters.

The right side of a wet white with tan and black dog that is standing on a towel. A person has their hand on its back end and its neck.

This picture shows another angle of the same puppy wet down to show its nice bone structure.

Longhaired dog with a full, dry coat

This is the same dog as shown above with its coat wet down to show the body structure. By getting this dog wet we can see that the topline of this dog is slightly arched instead of the more preferred straight back for this particular breed, but this back is still acceptable. It would have been very hard to see this without wetting the coat down with water and soap. An arched topline is normal in some breeds such as the Whippet.

Close up - A wet white and tan with black dog is standing on a towel and to the right of it is a person holding its side. The dog's legs are very straight.

Longhaired dog wet down to show the structure of the front line; this dog's legs are nice and straight.