A Comparison of the American Bred Dogs 47 
whom had very little angulation themselves and 
never produced it in the puppies. Since we have 
this fault, we are at least spared another serious 
fault in consequence, the cow-hock, which is rather 
rare in the American-bred, and naturally so, for 
straight hindquarters do not produce cow-hocks. 
We can congratulate ourselves, too, on feet, since 
these on the whole are good. Coats also could be 
improved; many of them are too long and profuse, 
and the good, thick undercoat with the smooth, 
closely lying and hard top coat are rather rare. 
The gait of the majority of our dogs leaves much 
to be desired, and this will not be remedied until we 
get better angulation. 
Correct conformation in the Shepherd is essential 
to a perfect gait ; the Shepherd is a trotting dog, and 
on account of his work, especially as a herding dog, 
must possess a tirelss trot. For this reason the body 
must be long, so that the rear action does not over¬ 
reach. If an imaginary line were drawn through the 
center of the tracks made by a perfect-gaited Shep¬ 
herd we would find both front and rear tracks close 
to this line. If the dog is too short he will naturally 
throw out his hind legs, so as not to interfere with 
his front action, and this would of course, be a 
strong detriment to the speed. The angulation of 
both the forehand and the hindquarters must be 
correct, so that there is no loss of power, especially 
is this so with the hindquarters, for this is the prin¬ 
cipal propelling power of the Shepherd, the angles 
