We often share terms here with which you might not be familiar, and some of them are dated, if not archaic, but that doesn’t mean the term isn’t worth knowing – you just might run across it in an old book or hear it from a veteran in your breed.

Today’s term is “keyhole rear.”

In a dog, it’s pretty much what it sounds like: A hind end in which the rear legs are bowed, but the pasterns are close. This aspect of hind structure takes it name from its similarity to a keyhole – an open area between the upper and lower thighs that resemble a keyhole. It’s considered a fault in most breeds.

We pressed our friend, and wonderful artist, Sandy Mesmer, into action when we asked her to do a quick sketch (as in nano-second need-it-ten minutes-ago-quick) of a keyhole rear.

If you have an actual photo of a dog with this feature, we’d love to have it!

Image: Sandy’s name may be familiar to some of you because she is a n Maxwell Award-Winning artist and author of five “Color Me Canine” coloring books. You can find the books, and more of her work on lifestyle items here.