Front Angulation of Working Lines

[DianaM]

To me, it is firm, tight, not fleshy/squishy, defined.

[onyx'girl]

I agree with DianaM....a 'wet' dog is one that is loose with no muscle tone and the difference in the two is very evident.
But a tight 'dry' dog is also agile and can be a noodle bodywise.
Onyx is tight, but not agile, she is overtight!(In her brain too, very tight wired!)
A loose dog isn't so athletic or agile, long reach or not.

[paulag1955]

So we're talking about muscle tone? As in dry/tight equals good muscle tone?

[Xeph]

I have to admit that I learned dry/wet in a similar manner, but not QUITE the same. I learned that a wet dog is a wet dog, regardless of condition. Wet dogs can be loose in the skin, not just in musculature.

I have a bitch here that is beautifully ligamented, but is wet in her skin. Her topline rolls a bit in motion for example(and no, she's not one bit fat).

[onyx'girl]

Structure plays into it. My female is very tight, not agile w/jumping though a great herder, yet muscled and can turn/stop easily. My male is the same structure essentially, yet he is graceful, collects himself over jumps and can turn and his brakes are firm. I think both are very good as far as structure, yet the difference is very evident. And neither one would probably go far in the show ring due to their structure....judges wouldn't like their height or weight even though they carry it well.
A loose "wet" dog may show the same, but when you see the gaiting or agililty the looseness shows clearly. They just don't seemed toned, IMO. Karlo carries some extra coat/skin in his chest but may fill in eventually. So the dry/wet could be age related or not.

[paulag1955]

A person can be in good condition and still lack good muscle tone, as contradictory as that may seem. I would assume a dog can be the same way. As for skin, I don't think I have experience with enough dogs to be able to judge whether or not a dog is loose in the skin, even though I believe I could distinguish good or poor muscle tone.

[paulag1955]

Yet another fascinating discussion.

[onyx'girl]

Originally Posted by paulag1955

A person can be in good condition and still lack good muscle tone, as contradictory as that may seem. I would assume a dog can be the same way. As for skin, I don't think I have experience with enough dogs to be able to judge whether or not a dog is loose in the skin, even though I believe I could distinguish good or poor muscle tone.

I agree! I have tone, but am not in good shape! And now my skin looks crepe(creepy!) and not one thing I can do to turn back time. Fur covers the flaws, yet we still can see thru the coat? How is that???

[Mrs.K]

Nala




On the smaller side, dry and toned, light footed, agile, very fast, can jump, fast turns, good conformation, graceful and tons of drive in every aspect. The full package.







Indra is longer, heavier, larger. She's not graceful. She's got more the brute force, larger, powerful strides, she can jump but she is not as agile and of a quick mover as Nala. Not as much fooddrive, not very good confirmation but overall she's not badly angulated at all. She's not having a good pigment. She's got tons of Hunt and Prey Drive though. Good herder.

This picture shows the difference. Nala is very fast and Indra takes twice as long to get around.



It also shows in the rear-end awareness. She's just a longer and heavier dog, so she's not build to be as agile as Nala. However, she's a very good worker.

[Liesje]

I was told to think of wet/dry like a noodle. A dry noodle is stiff, a wet noodle is floppy. It wasn't explained whether this is muscle condition or joints or ligaments....whatever it is, when a dog is really loose it looks bad. When Nikon was praised as being "dry" it was in the context of his movement, not his condition. He was doing an AKC show against American show lines and those dogs were really floppy and the movement was all over the place. Nikon didn't have the same angulation and reach but was tight and balanced, his back was steady and firm. He didn't give the impression that you could blow him over. These were 4 month old puppies so muscle condition was not really a factor.