The front
assembly (shoulders and front legs) on a Doberman (and most
breeds) should sit under the body--you can draw an imaginary line
that would pretty much go through the upper end of the shoulder
blade, the elbow, continue down the back of the front leg to the
ground and that line should also pass through the deepest part of
the body of the dog which is the brisket.
If you look at dogs
and at pictures of dogs you will see that in some cases it is very
clear that the elbow (with the front legs perpendicular to the
ground) is well forward (or sometimes slightly forward) of the
depth of brisket (somewhat like a park bench which is supported by legs at
the outboard end of the seat on both ends hence the description
"bench front").
Bench fronts also come with some other characteristics ... they very
often produce a hollow where you should be seeing forechest.
One of the problems with the overdone basketball front that we've
been seeing a lot of in the last 10 years or so is that it will
conceal a bench front because that hollow isn't visible but in
that instance
you would end up with two front faults rather than one.
Because of where this sort of front sits (with the body slung
behind it rather than it supporting the body) it often shows up
with front movement faults such as loose fronts.
There used to be a lot of bench fronts but in the 70's and 80's some
of the best fronts ever showed up in Dobes. |
