The following picture is of Maya. She is 12 1/2 years old now and quite frail - don't tell her that. She found the stacked position to be very uncomfortable but did her best.
Look at Maya's poor butchered tail! She still wags it like a maniac or if she is really excited it vibrates.
Maya has some slope on her pelvis but not a whole lot. Her pelvis also appears to be quite short. Her femur seems to be shorter than her tibia without any extreme angles. Maya has a very small croup with perhaps a small rise over the loin. Her tail set is high but not extremely so.
Maya's front legs are a little bit forward of the withers but not by much. She has a nice length of neck and is not ewe necked. Her shoulder and forearm appear equal in length but quite straight.
In her youth, Maya was an extremely fast running dog. In flat running and playing in a park few dogs could consistently stay in front of her. She loved to make spectacular leaps into the air to catch her beloved frisbee, however, she often landed heavily on her rear legs which was bad for her hip displasia and she stopped playing frisbee long ago. In agility, Maya WAY over jumped everything. If she was jumping 22" then she went at least high enough for 26" jumps. Maya was a very inefficient jumper and not terribly good at judging where to jump from. She also kept her head high when jumping.
At the age of 8, Maya had a stroke and was very unstable and needed help walking. After much therapy, she relearned how to walk and run and play again. Maya has had two bouts of cancer, both of which were surgically removed and is 2 years cancer free. Last spring Maya had several terrible bouts of pancreatitis and thankfully has recovered since. Every day with Maya is a gift!
So now, I am almost finished my course and think I am putting things together.
Maya has a short pelvis but it is not as flat as I originally believed. There is a pretty good slope there even if it is not nearly long enough. Her femur and tibia are close to the same length with a moderate angulation. Her croup is quite small. Maya no longer has tons of muscle in her rear end like she did as a young dog who ran around like a crazy thing for hours.
Maya's shoulder is pretty straight. It would be much nicer to have it laid back more. Her upper arm is shorter than her shoulder but has a nice angle to it. Her elbow is almost directly beneath her withers. Maya's front legs seem to be a bit too far forward, however she has a fairly long neck. Her neck is not a ewe neck and Maya always holds her head high. Her back is pretty long and she does not seem to have a rise over her loin. Although I think that as a young dog in her prime, she probably did have one.
Maya is not balanced. She is heavy on her front end. If her shoulder were laid back more, she would be much better balanced.
If you are wondering what is going on with her ears... they are tied together with a scrunchy to keep them from hiding her neck and shoulder. Her ears are fabulous and very thick and fluffy which hide lots!
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