so true, Tabatha is such a wonderful example. And the icing on the cake is to see her in the ring with her dogs and the repoire she has...truly lovely

As "Observer" pointed out it is more about depth of body than short legs in most cases, now when it gets to be extreme that is not a pretty picture at all, however show labs should not have shallow chests nor lots of leg under them, that would be a field type lab which for me is not my cup of tea at all. This is not a square breed, they are longer in body than they are tall, I also think weight on a lot of dogs contribute to making them look shorter legged too so people take that excess weight off your dogs and you may just portray a different picture. You say these judges are rewarding these supposed short legged dogs, consider this, the judge has to look at all the dogs in the ring and if the one with shorter legs is the best "put together dog" while the others may have more leg that is the one the judge will give the win to.... so it could be the other dogs in the ring are just not up to snuff

Long time breeder, so you are telling me that at a large specialty that the only good dog is the one short on leg. I do not think so. And Labs at supposed to be equal or slightly longer then tall. And it plainly states that length of leg from elbow to ground is the same distances as withers to elbow.
I have seen these dogs in person and they are short on leg.

long time breeder one of the most serious faults is unbalance in a dog. A dog with legs that are not equal in length to the depth of body from withers to elbow is an incorrect dog no matter how pretty it is otherwise. I have been watching this become more and more common in recent years. The depth of chest can be deceiving and coat length can cause your eye to stray from the true point to measure the elbow. There are some very lovely dogs out there that are short on leg. Those dogs should not be rewarded though because it is a serious fault. Until you are the one in the ring judging it is hard to know what issues the judge is finding during an exam or gaiting. You must place priority on faults and failings and balance is number two behind type for me.

Short legged, long in body and poor upper arms seem to have thrown the outline off by a lot. Hopefully, it's cyclical and eventually the outline will right itself.

This again??? Same old, same old. Can we talk about something new on this forum?
Problem lies in what judges reward, period. Talk to your judges. Don't come on here and whine. Is it because your dogs has leg and does not win? Then find judges to show to that reward length of leg and movement!

If you mentor young/new breeders…EDUCATE. And go breed dogs with LEG!!!


I think this forum should be named the Wiscoy Whiners….lololol




Lighten up…and trust some of us judges to do our job to make sure stumpy dogs do not get rewarded

I think everyone makes great points on the subject, but your all missing the point! Romeo is the best dog in the world with proper everything.... Including legs................................................ He's the only dog all others should be compared too............. LOL...............