Posing Your Akita /Overview of Breedfiles

[silverfish]

The purpose of this thread is to provide a guideline for what constitutes a 'good' PKC conformation show pose.

Note that this is specifically what I am looking for when I judge my own Premier show. It may not be what other judges are also after though my dogs have enjoyed consistent success in the ring so it is likely that we share similarities in what we consider to be the ideal.

I will attempt to cover each of the accepted breedfiles in turn. If you happen to be someone with a Best In Show winner (or similar) Akita, perhaps you would consider volunteering the winning picture as a model of what to aim for. You will, of course, be given credit.

Once you feel more confident with the basics and want to ask for critique of your own poses, I suggest visiting the relevant board at the PKC forums; Practice Ring.

[silverfish]

RDK Akita

The RDK Akita dates back to 2006 and has a Great Dane SCP. The body type is similar to the original P.F. Magic breeds, without angled legs and small overall size. While they can be tricky to align, the Dane personality makes them less likely to jump out of place while you are snapping shots. They are also probably one of the few Akita files that might place consistently using dali (head faces camera) poses. This breedfile is excellent for performance competitions like Obedience as it looks great out of pose.

Here is an average pose example modelled by BIS Ch Lakeshore's Brushtail:



Note that many judges will tend to place dogs with a higher head than this, usually looking for the muzzle to be parallel to the ground. The head on this dog, while reasonably well-aligned, also demonstrates a peeping ear and a moderately irregular nose.

Pay close attention to the breathing point and tail carriage (which coincide in this file). Getting this wrong is probably the quickest way to give up your chance for a placement.

Leg alignment is less important in PKC shows than elsewhere in the petz community as the point of conformation showing is to display the pet at its best in order to demonstrate how accurately it represents the breed standard. However, it is still good to align well. In this breed you cannot achieve perfect alignment but it is preferable to have a little leg showing both in front and behind than just on one side, as is the case here. Nonetheless, the peeping here is in front and that looks better than it being behind.

For comparison now, here is the picture with which Brush earned his BIS placement:



The reason this picture didn't simply earn Brush a BOB is that it goes beyond the basics mentioned. The expression is proud and he gives an overall impression of being collected and solid; a great ambassador for the breed.

To summarize, first look for alignment of the legs, with hind alignment being more important than front. Next, try to make sure the head is in a clean profile position without the offside eye being visible. You will want to aim for perfect alignment of the ears and the nose should not protrude or give the muzzle an uneven impression. Try to get the top of the muzzle parallel with the ground though head height is a personal preference. With this file, an even head looks most proud and collected. Excessively high heads can look messy and low heads may give a meek impression that does not befit the Akita breed. Finally, snap the shot when the tail is at its highest point, closest to the dog's back. This will ensure you get a picture at the highest breathing point, when the dog's chest is most puffed out and the topline resembles the hexer's intended look most closely.

[silverfish]

Abnormality V2

This is a file from 2006 which has endured the years and until it's recent remake had remained one of the most popular. The majority of my line was founded on this breedfile. Because of its dalmatian personality, this can be a frustrating file to pose at it often jumps out of place during a photoshoot. However, the ears can be used to accurately align it, making it easier to pose than some of the earlier files and later files with less prominent ears. I would be unlikely to place one of these dogs in a dali (camera-facing pose) as I think a dane pose (profileview) gives a far superior impression of what the breed standard calls for. This file is decent-looking out of pose and is one of the easiest realistic files to hex paint.

By picking up the dog and waiting for the prominent ears to align, it becomes possible to achieve good leg alignment quite easily. However, it is not unusual to see the front leg peeping out in front slightly and this is particularly evident in dogs with white legs or, even more so, those with white markings where a dark patch is visible on one leg. Take care to either avoid such accentuating markings or try for better alignment. Note that straight hocks are rarely achieved in this breed without misaligning the front legs.


Poor (front) leg alignment here.


Front legs can also be unaligned in such a way that the offside paw sticks out behind the near front paw. Try to avoid this for my shows though other judges seem not to mind as much. This flaw is less obvious in dogs with white legs and ticking as it breaks the outline but more obvious in dark solid-coloured dogs where the silhouette becomes more visible.


Much better leg alignment in this one. Eyes could be less wide.

Snapping photos at the highest breathing point is crucial to capturing the best topline. Practice will enable you to spot this moment: if you watch the dog's body moving rhythmically as it breathes, the highest breathing point is at the highest point of this motion. The topline is straightest then and the neck is also in the best position to show off this file's fine head if in a dane pose.

The ideal weight for this breed is around 75. While I do not show much preference for heavier dogs, thinner dogs sometimes look too lithe to give the correct impression for this breed.

This file looks great no matter the head height but perhaps too high is not good. Low heads look very elegant when aligned well and I would place them preferentially as they also reflect how the breed is typically presented in real life. Because of the dalmatian SCP, the impression created by the openness of the eyes is especially important. So-called 'fish eyes' should be avoided.


This dog has less-than-ideal alignment (front legs) but demonstrates clearly that some care needs to be taken in black-headed dogs to not gain excess white due to ball-rolls. This is of course temporary and picture-specific but gives an unsightly impression. Nonetheless, this dog has a nice head and proud expression so should not be overlooked simply because of this issue.

Below are a few examples. All dogs in this post have achieved their Champion titles and are going on to compete in Grand Conformation.

Here is a small selection of poor poses of varying degree. See if you can spot the mistakes and take note of the overall discordant impression they give.





And here, an example of a skinny pose, which is an automatic disqualify.



The following poses, in contrast, are not necessarily 'ideal' but represent placeable poses that should do well in most shows.

[silverfish]

Abnormality V3

This is the latest American Akita file from Abnormality and has the same stocky build as previous versions. The SCP is now Great Dane, making it easier to pose than the previous version. It will learn to pose quicker and not jump out of position as much. This file looks unusual out of pose and was not intended to be shown in dali pose (facing the camera). In profile, the furthest ear does not align completely with the near ear though it is sometimes possible to achieve the impression of perfect ear alignment by slightly sacrificing muzzle shape. I will not show a preference for either as both are compromises. The overall expression is most important.

The following are images of the same dog showing the drastically different looks alignment of the ears can produce.



Note that the second dog seems to have different markings due to a ball roll. In this instance this does not affect the dog's showability but take care hexing this complex file.

Also consider the straight hocks and that the legs are able to be aligned completely. The neck and topline only look right if captured at the highest breathing point and, especially due to the crest at the back of the head, there is no room for error in this respect.

In this breed my preference is for a low head/thick muzzle, accepting unaligned ears. However, the slimmer muzzle look seems to do well in the conformation ring with many judges.

[silverfish]

SN Akita

This breedfile was hexed by Supernova and is of slighter build than the other files. It has a Dali SCP, making it liable to jump out of position. It is able to lift its head much more than the other files and will throw very high head poses. These dogs cannot be aligned using their ears as these are slightly lop-sided to hide the furthest ear in dane pose. Pose these dogs in dali at your own risk.



This is a decent high-head pose from this file. The front leg is ever-so-slightly out of alignment but perfectly lining them up is difficult to achieve and only occasionally seen even in the ring due to the slim build.

Here is a similar quality pose with a low head. However, bear in mind that the head is turned towards the camera more than is ideal.



How you choose to pose your dogs is up to you but it can be much more difficult to create the desired overall impression with this file if the dog has its head held low as the muzzle can be easily thrown off.



Take care with the breathing point in this file. It can be difficult to spot when it is not optimal but might count against you if your judge is paying attention!

[silverfish]

LightningStrike

The LightningStrike file is between the Abno and SN files in build. It is also no coincidence that it looks quite similar to the Abno V3 as it was hexed off of the V3's precursor.

It is probably the most difficult of the depicted files to pose but can be aligned by taking note of the eye and ear positions as the dog is held and rotated. The SCP is Great Dane so it is less likely to jump out of place than some of the other files.

Keep in mind that this file has a handful of tail variations and two hock variation. No preference should ever be shown for any one variation over another; they are all equally accepted.

Here is a decent example of this breed posing:



Alignment and breathing point are good. I think a higher head is more flattering for this file and the ears are not perfect in this picture. However, the muzzle is nice.