Conformation

I always think about a pair of catch dog gyps I had at the same time. Joel
I know you remember them both. One was Clementine and the other was Diamond. Hands down Diamond was my pick of the two. She was made like I like. She was very athletic and just moved easy. Clementine was a real foggy looking gyp. What I mean by that is everybody that saw her thought she was a male at first. She had that male type head, broader built or a lot of body, not as leggy but just about the same height as Diamond. Both of them were a pleasure to hint in the sense of manners and easy to get along with. Diamond was very accurate and rarely missed. Poor Clementine needed 3 chances nearly every time. Nearly everyone that saw the two liked Clementine the best because she looked impressive. They always talked about how powerful she looked how that bet she could do this or that. One day some buddies were over and we were comparing the two gyps and all of them were saying there was no way Diamond was the dog Clementine was. Finally I told them that she couldn’t carry Diamonds jock. “Oh your crazy” and all that mumbo jumbo was flying around. So, I said I tell you what, let’s hook them up and pull them and I’ll show you. I had a weight sled and a legitimate dog pulling harness that neither had worn over once. We hooked Clementine up and she started walking with it. Got her to a heavier weight and she had started having to lean into pretty good to pull it. It wasn’t far from her max judging by the way she worked it. Then came Diamond’s turn. When we got to the weight Clementine stopped with and had to lean into and struggle with, Diamond was running down the drive way with it. They couldn’t believe it. I said that’s what I mean about build. Diamond was still fresh and usable where Clementine was spent and looked like a big tight body builder walking of stage. Even in the woods, Diamond recovered and was ready for the next hog in a fraction of the time it took Clementine. Both gyps were in the 68-72 lb size range. I don’t want y’all to think I’m saying my mutts are perfect because they are far from it. I just want to know what others like in conformation and why. These reasons and examples are why I like what I like. Joel is right about want to overriding ability. Ole Roscoe was not built real well. He wasn’t ever fast and he labored to run. Sometimes I felt tired watching him. But he was a hunting fool and stay put kind of dog. There were days though after a hard hunt that I would nearly have to help him get up and eat or drink because his body just wasn’t made for the work load he put on it. He didn’t have the years of longevity that the other dogs I hunted him with had. He’s been dead for a few years and was unable to hunt anymore before he died. Yonder that I hunted with him is still alive at about 13 years old or older and was just fully retired in the last year and half or so and that’s due to having a leg amputation due to injury. In my experience, slower dogs often trail bark when they can’t keep up with race. It’s frustration in my opinion. Even with Roscoe, when he got too slow to keep up, he started trail barking and would even do it when he struck a track. I 100% believe it was because he couldn’t move the track as fast as he wanted or was use to. Not saying trail barking is good or bad just that it showed me how much of a struggle was going on with him mentally and even physically and it was because of how he was made to start with.