# Well let down hocks



## Galadriel17 (Jan 22, 2012)

I posted the following thread in dog chat and Dober helpfully pointed out I might get a better response in here.

http://www.petforums.co.uk/dog-chat/306741-well-let-down-hock.html#post1062926200

Which is right? Or does it vary between breeds?


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## Galadriel17 (Jan 22, 2012)

I've been having a browse on Google and can't seem to get a definitive answer.

Again, some people saying it's when the metatarsus is short so the hock is closer to the ground and others saying it's when the stifle musculature extends down below the point of hock...


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## Sleeping_Lion (Mar 19, 2009)

Never heard of it, for both my breeds the hock needs to be upright, there is a recent fashion to over extend dogs from the natural stand to something more akin to stacked dogs which I don't like to see.

I'll try and find an illustration of a dog that has a good stand and correct conformation for you to explain what I mean.


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## Galadriel17 (Jan 22, 2012)

The confirmation shown in the second, correct picture, is that true of all breeds do you know or just some?


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## Sleeping_Lion (Mar 19, 2009)

Galadriel17 said:


> The confirmation shown in the second, correct picture, is that true of all breeds do you know or just some?


That shows a free standing dog, so Labradors and flatcoats and the illustration is obviously of a Labrador; I don't know how many other breeds free stand. I personally don't like stacking, I think the temptation is to over stretch your dog. There are lots of photos posted online of really over stretched flatcoats in particular, mostly from Europe.


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## Galadriel17 (Jan 22, 2012)

These are some of the conflicting explanations I'm finding when searching the Internet.

http://www.oocities.org/willowind_dals/page1.pdf

VS

Rear Assembly

Perhaps it means different things in different breeds although from my knowledge of equine conformation terminology, I would've thought it to be the same across all breeds...


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## Sleeping_Lion (Mar 19, 2009)

Ok, this is how Rhuna's breeder interprets the phrase:

That the distance from the ground to the point of the hock is not excessive. Extra length here can cause structural issues higher up the leg.

Which makes sense to me now she's explained it


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## I love springers (Dec 3, 2010)

I stack my dogs and the correct picture is how I would stack mine

With a good turn of stifle ie; not over stretched like the incorrect picture and the hock straight...


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## Sleeping_Lion (Mar 19, 2009)

I love springers said:


> I stack my dogs and the correct picture is how I would stack mine
> 
> With a good turn of stifle ie; not over stretched like the incorrect picture and the hock straight...


Thanks for that, I didn't want to speak for stacked breeds, as I just have no idea and I think some do stack into the over exaggerated pose rather than the more natural pose shown in the correct illustration. I think the over stretched dogs look awful personally, it makes them look unbalanced to me.


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## Galadriel17 (Jan 22, 2012)

The SBT breed standard calls for (hindquarters) "Well muscled, hocks well let down with stifles well bent. Legs parallel when viewed from behind."

This is what got me curious and chatting about it to people.

I *think* SBTs are hand stacked but in the illustrated breed standard I've been looking at (no explanation of hocks well let down though!), it says rear angulation is correct only when a line can be drawn like the one in the second, correct picture.


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## Tollisty (May 27, 2008)

From the KC glossery of canine terms

Hocks well let down - Hocks set low


From the AKC

Hocks well let down - Hock joints close to the ground.


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## babycham2002 (Oct 18, 2009)

I see a lot of Dobes, RR's and indeed Chinese Cresteds stood as in the first diagram. 
We are a free standing breed but more and more they are stacked in the ring.

Our breed standard for the hindquarters
Rump well rounded and muscular, loins taut, stifles firm and long, sweeping smoothly into the well let down hocks. Angulation of the rear limbs must be such as to produce a level back. Hind legs set wide apart.



It is worth noting the feet part of the standard for those used to more cat footed breeds
*Extended hare-foot, narrow and long. Nails any colour, moderately long. Socks ideally confined to toes, but not extending above top of pastern. Feet turning neither in nor out.


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## Freyja (Jun 28, 2008)

I agree with what the others have said about well let down hocks.

With whippets they are stacked and should have a straight line from the hock to the ground. This is not a bitch I own but a bitch I bred in fact she is Freyja's daughter and is onwed by Freyja's breeder.


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