Show Pose References

I think everyone should be free to develop their own preferences of what's "right" or "wrong" in petz show poses, this is not a pose judging guide in that sense!
I have posed and shown a lot of petz so this is a gallery of some of my own favorite poses that you could use when you're learning, or maybe if you're trying to figure out a breed you've never posed before

Purebred Bulldogs are so hard to pose but when they'll actually do it they reward you with this really nice alignment, look how hidden both far legs are!

Chis hide the far eye so well! I think either of these alignments is good (or you know, equally imperfect), I look for the flat back foot when these are aligned like the right two

1st generation Dachies have a nice flat bottom edge on the feet, and I look for the front-right toes to not be behind the front-left ones

The current Dali pose ideal is based on a 2nd gen purebred Dali's shape. 1st gens can't line up their eyes or back toes, these are what perfect alignment looks like on them!
The eyes will be 1 pixel off from level, and the back-right toes will be 1 pixel in front of the back-left toes

A 2nd+ gen purebred Dali with lined up back-toes and lined up eyes, no notes

Tamsins by default, without careful selective breeding or .pet hexing to "fix" it, tend to inherit Mutt body and leg extensions along with their Mutt markings
Dogz with 0 4 Mutt extensions like these can't line up their back toes or eyes, but pose shows aren't conformation shows and a Tamsin isn't a purebred Dali. These are still perfect poses :)

Different combinations of leg extension and body extension numbers are what make the little differences in mixie shapes: Some tamsins have the leg extensions to perfectly line up their eyes, but not their toes

Some have body extensions that let them line up their back toes, but not their eyes

And some, through careful breeding or luck, get extensions that let them do both and line up like a purebred 2nd gen Dali does

The important thing to remember is that pose shows are about how well each pet is Doing A Pose, not about how much they match one specific body shape!

Danes are going to show a ton of far-leg whichever alignment you choose to show them in, I think I usually pick this alignment because it has some of both front and back far-legs showing, which feels balanced

This alignment makes the front legs look great, but the far back leg sticks out so much. It's a toss-up honestly, both alignments are equal (ly bad)

Extensions affect bred Danes' back-toes too! These are all in the exact same alignment

With Labs you can either line up the front legs and have the back far-ankle stick out, or you can have some of both front and back legs showing. Some Labs can even line up their back toes and front toes at the same time!

Mutts align their legs really nicely when their back-toes are lined up! You just have the random eyelids to deal with, keep trying until you get one with more or less even eyelids when it's noticeable

This alignment has the back toes a little ahead and the front toes lined up (though they don't always look like it), it feels equal and balanced to me

Let's bring back mini Sheepie shows!

This alignment has their back toes 1 pixel ahead and their eyes are even with each other

These are Great Dane based so their feet are the same as Danes, their legs align a bit better though!

Two guides I put together when Poodle shows were new! To align for a Poodle pose you need to really turn them away from the camera when they're standing, they'll angle back towards it when they do the pose action
Note that you'll need to turn them farther away for a profile pose than for a camera-facing one!

Not every pet can get a level heart nose like this, but it is really cute when they do

That their bodies look level/balanced and parallel to the camera is the most important thing for me, don't turn them too far!

Poodles in normal poses are so nice too. Poodle ears will swing up and block part of their eyes, that's normal

Alley Cats are usually door-posed, or they can pose for the camera if you have a lot of patience for hissing! They'll have angry eyelids in camera poses and level or rarely calm eyelids in door poses (whatever expression they come out of the door with)

Any Alley Cat personality catz, in their original state, turn skinny as soon as you pet them. This is normal and shouldn't be treated as a fault! They'll almost always show more of the far-front leg just because of the skinniness, but these are all correctly aligned for their Cali legs and feet

Velveteens's smaller scale gives them a pass to turn toward the camera with cali legs, because with their smaller size the elbow doesn't show in front! I've been calling this "velveteen alignment" and it's not fair at all

1st generation Calicos and any bred ones with 0 0 extensions are almost identical, their faces will always look just like this when they're in the the right alignment
A slightly kinked end on Calico tails is good! It shows that the tail is curled in as tightly as possible

Cali mixes with other extension numbers will look a little different, their heart nose is squished and the eyes might be closer together, and longer legs will show more of the far front-leg. As long as you make sure no elbow is showing in front of that front leg though you're still doing it right

Chinchilla Persians are a little weird, they pose with their faces angled to the side because of the [Head Rotation Limits] section in their LNZ. This is just how they are and should be treated as normal
Chinchis also uniquely pose with a few different eyelid expression possibilities; I don't see any reason to fault that either, just pick your favorite!

Siamese don't pose the normal way with camera clicks so they are most often door-posed, they'll have level eyelids or sometimes calm slanted ones

Bred Siamese are a little trickier, they lose the fuzz on their legs and their tails get thinner, I'd just say to make sure those extra black pixels on the front legs are on the back edge and not the front

This is the alignment I hexed these to pose in! You want the bottom edge of the feet to be flat and the face nicely centered

Munchkins are Cali based so they have the same mismatched eyelids and kinked tail