# Conformation Questions



## Marisa25 (Nov 7, 2018)

I have a spayed female Border Collie that I would like to do agility with. I was wondering if anyone could tell based on her conformation if she might have any problems competing. I have no intention on showing her as I do not have any information on her breeder and she is not registered anywhere. Thank you! 

In the first pic she is 8months old and in the second she is 11months


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## Lillith (Feb 16, 2016)

What do you mean? Conformation doesn't matter in agility. Mutts compete in agility! The weirdest looking mutts I've ever seen compete in agility! Shi Tzus and Chihuahuas compete in agility! As long as she can run and jump without pain, she can do it.

It should be noted, however, that you shouldn't have her doing any high impact things until she is a year old. She's 11 months now, so it's not like you would have to wait long, but dogs under one year old should not jump full height or do contacts due to their developing joints. Jump bars should be on the ground, contacts should be lowered if you want to start working on them. A good puppy foundation class is a great place to start working on ground work and slowly introduce to obstacles.


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## Marisa25 (Nov 7, 2018)

I just wanted to know if based on how she carried herself and how she looked if you could tell if she might have problems with her knees or back or anything like that, not necessarily how she conforms to her breed standards. And we haven't gone too hard into the agility yet, we are just working on basic obedience and just showing her what a tunnel and seesaw and jumps are 


Lillith said:


> What do you mean? Conformation doesn't matter in agility. Mutts compete in agility! The weirdest looking mutts I've ever seen compete in agility! Shi Tzus and Chihuahuas compete in agility! As long as she can run and jump without pain, she can do it.
> 
> It should be noted, however, that you shouldn't have her doing any high impact things until she is a year old. She's 11 months now, so it's not like you would have to wait long, but dogs under one year old should not jump full height or do contacts due to their developing joints. Jump bars should be on the ground, contacts should be lowered if you want to start working on them. A good puppy foundation class is a great place to start working on ground work and slowly introduce to obstacles.


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## Lillith (Feb 16, 2016)

Marisa25 said:


> I just wanted to know if based on how she carried herself and how she looked if you could tell if she might have problems with her knees or back or anything like that, not necessarily how she conforms to her breed standards. And we haven't gone too hard into the agility yet, we are just working on basic obedience and just showing her what a tunnel and seesaw and jumps are


Only a vet can answer that question. You can't tell by looking. Unless she's showing obvious signs of pain, I wouldn't worry about it. Some pretty weird looking dogs compete in agility!


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## Marisa25 (Nov 7, 2018)

okay, thank you!


Lillith said:


> Only a vet can answer that question. You can't tell by looking. Unless she's showing obvious signs of pain, I wouldn't worry about it. Some pretty weird looking dogs compete in agility!


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## animalcraker (Nov 9, 2006)

From the pictures you posted she appears to be rather leggy for her breed, high in the rear, long in the hock, and somewhat straight in the rear/stifle(keep in mind that I’m also on a tiny iPhone so the pictures aren’t so great on my end). That being said none of those things necessary mean that she will or will not have issues due to her structure in the future. At this point she’s not fully grown and things may change, typically most breeds aren’t fully grown until they’re 2, and the age at which they were fixed can also have an affect their growth. From my understanding many agility people hold off on working and competing with their dogs until they are 2 and fully grown out. 

The biggest structural concerns you would be likely to encounter would be hip or ACL issues. You could have your vet X-ray the hips and send them off to be evaluated by the OFA, but you can’t get an official rating until your dog is 2 years old. Ideally if you can find a vet that’s certified in doing PennHip testing that would be the best and you could get accurate results now. IME talking with other breeders and evaluating pedigrees full of OFA results and comparing those with hands on evaluation of the structure and movement of those same dogs, the general consensus is that OFA is too objective and not as useful compared to PennHip. I’ve seen multiple dogs be rated as fair or good and then had the exact same X-rays be rated as excellent when they were submitted for re-evaluation for OFA. The problem with PennHip is that not any vet can do it so you might not have any one available in your area who’s certified in doing it, whereas with OFA any vet with an X-ray unit can obtain the required image(s) and submit it for evaluation.

On a side note, you may want to let your vet know that you’re planning on doing agility with your girl and discuss possibly doing some sort of glucosamine or joint supplement prophylacticly.


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