Page 18 - ShowSight Presents - The English Setter

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Dog B—Uses himself beautifully mov- ing unless he moved too fast. If he moved too fast, the length of his stifle would over reach his front foot. In addition he was less angulated in the front assembly than Dog A. Because dog B is more angulated in the rear than the front, the slightly extra length in body help to prevent him from over reaching the majority of the time. With his back being slightly shorter it gave him strength to carry the overall extra 1⁄2 inch of length in his body.
Dog C—Is balanced in length to height but he has a shorter scapula which restricted him to having as free and easy of a side gate.
When judging the English Setter, you can measure the length of bone but it wouldn’t be necessary as you should be able to tell what their balance is like when you watch them go around the ring.
Although coming and going movement is important it doesn’t override correct side gate balance. You can have a dog that is perfect coming and going slowly, but isn’t balanced at all on the side or doesn’t exhib- it good reach and drive.
An interesting observation that I have made is a setter that is set extremely close in the shoulder often has trouble setting (pointing, crouching) low to the ground. I by no matters am advocating wide shoulders however I do believe the two finger width might be too close together. Of course much of that depends on the layer of the scapula onto the spine and the muscles.
Muscles carry a big factor in this cre- ation. They hold the bones in and help carry the dog across the ground. Muscles take all tension off the bones and help the dog move with ease.
Hocks need to be stable without wob- bling. If they wobble, the dog will break down after hunting for a long period of time. Shorter hocks give balance and drive than long hocks do.
Tails should come off the back with a slightly sloping croup to almost level. Often if the crop gets too level then the tail is carried higher. The tail should be carried straight off of the back, not elevated above the topline.
As a whole, an English Setter should be slightly smaller than the Irish and Gor- don Setters. Balanced both front to rear and height to length as well as scapula to upper arm and upper thigh to lower thigh. Hocks should be short and solid without wobbling when moving. When moving, the dog should look so smooth that you could imagine putting a glass of wine on their back and not fall.
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SHOWSIGHT MAGAZINE, JUNE 2014 • 251