Siska has always had a level wither, she also drops a little on her forehand on the move in the ring, but not naturally. Maybe when covid has passed will see if we can get some pics of her moving around in the field. Not many judges have commented on it at shows, but it's something that is blatantly obvious to me. The wither is the highest point of the shoulder blades. It is located behind the base of the dog's neck, where the neck meet the shoulder. Though it is obviously part of the front assembly it has nothing to do with the length of foreleg, a dog could still have the correct length of foreleg and a low or level wither, or can have short length of foreleg and a normal wither. Some dogs have a pronounced dip behind the wither which is distracting from the overline too.
The first picture above shows a high sloping wither, the second has a level short wither, you can see the difference in the bone assembly around the shoulder blade, and in the height of the wither on the overline. The wither should be the highest point of the overline!
These photos ideally show the difference, plenty of length of foreleg, but level and low withers.
In stance Siska is picture-perfect, and when she puts a little bit more effort into moving her level wither is not as obvious, but as we've said before, she is who she is, twice round and she's bored! You can clearly see how Orin holds his overline, though of course sometimes he puts too much effort into it!
The reason withers have come to mind right now is because I'm comparing photos of a 8 week old Beti and a 8 week old Siska. Like I say Siska has little to criticise, but I currently think Beti has a better wither.
The photos on the left are Beti, with Siska on the right. The wither is obviously very different, but in the Crufts photo you can clearly see that the 8-week-old pup was the pint size version of the adult. This is not me criticising, we are only looking at one thing, I am very proud of my lovely Siska, her character and her achievements, as I've said in stance she is almost picture-perfect.
