What's in a Dog?

When I took over as president of my German shepherd dog club, I said that I wanted to:

• Familiarize everybody with the breed standard, terminology and what makes a GSD
• Get out more with our dogs
• Energize meetings with door prizes, guest speakers and mini-workshops
• Network with other local dog clubs

Well, I'm trying. Last Tuesday was only my second meeting in the big girl seat, so I'm not sure how it's going. The guest speaker I had planned on bowed out, so I had to come up with a Plan B in four days. eek! I thought dog anatomy might be interesting, and a game would be fun. I couldn't quite find what I was looking for so I had to do it myself. I found a drawing of a GSD on the internet. (We ARE a German shepherd dog club after all) and designed the following picture. I had it enlarged to poster size (thank you Office Max), made two copies and then attached the pictures to foam boards. At the meeting I divided the club into two groups and had them race to see who could correctly label their dog first. Here's the picture:

I printed the 18 terms on card stock, and had the numbers 1 through 18 listed under the pictures. Using push pins, members had to match the term with correct corresponding number. Here they are in in alphabetical order:

Back, Brisket, Croup, Elbow, Flank, Flews, Front Pastern, Hock, Loin, Muzzle, Occiput, Prosternum, Rear Pastern, Stifle, Stop, Tail, Withers, and Wrist.

The members had fun and did surprisingly well. (However, I did see a couple smartphones in use).

It's Thoughtless Thursday, so I'm not going to ask you to think about how you would label the dog. Instead, hop around below and see what others are thinking (and not thinking) about today. Thank you Ruckus the Eskie, M.K. Clinton and the pups over at Love is Being Owned by a Husky for hosting this hop. -- K


P.S. You couldn't help yourself, hunh? You played along anyway, didn't you? That's OK, I wouldn't be able to resist either. Want the answers?

1. Occiput
2. Withers
3. Back
4. Loin
5. Croup
6. Hock
7. Tail
8. Rear Pastern
9. Stifle
10. Flank
11. Brisket
12. Elbow
13. Wrist
14. Front Pastern
15. Prosternum
16. Flews
17. Muzzle
18. Stop