Art In Motion
Every morning, I am evaluating movement. Watching a well-moving dog, for me, is like observing a piece of artwork. While anyone can observe works of art, most of us, like myself, are limited in our ability to understand why or why not a piece of art is pleasing to the eye. For most of my life, I’ve walked away from acclaimed masterpieces never maturing beyond one of two statements. “I like it,” or “I don’t like it,”. Observing the movement of dogs is of a similar nature. Why does watching a Leonberger effortlessly consume the ground underneath its feet bring so much awe and wonder, or, on the flip side, so much confusion and perplexity? While we could come away satisfied with “I like it,” or “I don’t like it,” I want to understand why my eyes at times are witnessing beauty and grace and other times, not. Which leads one to ask, what does it take for a Leonberger to move well, and why does it matter?
Anatomy is one of the greatest factors that determines how an individual dog will move. Each breed was carefully designed to move a certain way to perform certain tasks. Today’s breeders take up the torch on these original intents and purposes. And one of the ways they do so is by understanding the basic elements of anatomy. If anatomy was a three-legged stool, it would be made up of the following; balance, proper proportion, and correct angulation. As a breeder, understanding what these things look like on a dog is one tool in evaluating puppies and breeding stock. There is an excellent forum that goes into depth on this topic that I will include at the end.
So much of life is training our eyes to grasp what they are seeing. Understanding what goes into effortless grace in movement is just one small example. As breeders, we are artists. We are called to not only cultivate eyes to see and understand truth, beauty and goodness, but then, in turn, wield these tools to paint a living picture. A living picture that is held out unto others, who then take it into their arms and back home in their homes, adorning their own, day-to-day lives. And it is in this vision that the joy of the artist is complete.