The current state of the GSD

[Debbieg]

Originally Posted by Xeph

Not enough rear was the biggest complaint, in addition to soft back, and a coarse head. The "lack" of rear was a real sticking point.

I personally found the dog to be well balanced and decently angulated without being ridiculously overdone.

And he fit right into our household. An absolute JOY to live with. Seriously. My husband and that dog just clicked, too. There's a part of me that wants him back, regardless of whether or not he should still be shown.

Jackie, your story made me think of this one.

Shawlein Fine Art & Purebred German Shepherd Dogs

There seems to be so many different versions of the standard now. People, now would have made fun of my first GSD, although 40 years ago he everyone thought he was perfect and some offered my dad lot of money to buy him!

[holland]

Originally Posted by Xeph

Because I'm not/wasn't the owner of that dog.

That would be a really good reason

[codmaster]

Originally Posted by martemchik

I don't think I've ever seen SchH and sport/work bashed so much on this forum...and I use that term loosely. Money, greed, ego, is still at the bottom of all this. The higher your SchH score the more money you can ask for a stud/pup fee. The more points towards your championship (conformation) or the bigger the venue you win at, same deal with the money.

And I'm not even saying to make profit, I'm saying to support what it is that you do with your dog. The better it is at whatever venue the handler decides, the more the handler will be able to go to the trials/shows. I can really respect the breeders that breed those "in the middle" dogs. They're not doing it for the what I'd like to call selfish reasons.

And freestep, I guess I just put it too broadly when I summarized your post, but I think we all would like a dog that can win in the conformation ring and have the drives of a working dog. What I didn't say was that I too believe that the conformation standards must change in order for that to happen. I don't like the sloped look either, but that look won't go away anytime soon so I didn't really bother writing about it.

It ain't the standard that causes the over angulation or the opposite look of a roach back - std calls for a LEVEL back. it is the breeders and general show crowd who often goes to either extreme.

[GSD4LIFE21]

Originally Posted by Freestep

Chessies can be quite aggressive. Out of all the bird dogs, they are the most protective and will not hesitate to tell an intruder where to go!

I grew up with a gorgeous lab/chessie mix and he was very protective. Great dog, but very dominant. He ended up biting my grandfather during a visit and was pts by my parents after a few scary incidences. Some of my best memories as a kid with this dog though, would pull me around the neighborhood in a sled during the winter

[TxRider]

Originally Posted by Freestep

You really don't know if there is suspicion or not, because you've probably never seen these dogs in a situation where the owner was threatened. The very same dog who licks the friendly stranger may warn a would-be thief in no uncertain terms not to come closer.

It seems to me a dog, even a GSD, who can tolerate strangers petting, poking, hugging, etc. is a very tolerant dog who has good discernment. Of course some dogs will react with licking and tail wagging and others will just sigh and patiently endure the attentions of well-meaning strangers, but a guide/service dog must be safe in these situations. Confidence, self-assured temperament, Lower suspicion, high thresholds, focus, and discernment are good qualities for a service dog and a GSD with this temperament should be well suited for the task.

As well though a lot of temperament is genetic, a lot of behavior and personality is not and is conditioned and learned.You can take a dog with good temperment and make it a luv bug who allows anyone to approach and pet etc..

My rescue Hope has a good temperment, and through a lot of socializing and such she is very approachable by anyone.. She takes a few secs to think it over with adults, a little more for men, and is a bit more discerning when a man has something in his hand and may even bark once to slow his approach, but very friendly indeed, tolerant of kids, and will allow quite a bit of hugging or play to a point. She's toddler safe..

That point is generally someone trying to hold her or confine her, which she absolutely does not allow. She doesn't bite however, she simply leaps away. She did bust a freind of mine's lip with her head when he tried to wrestle with her and put both arms around her to try to bear hug her.. It's something she'll really only let me do.

Someone approaching in threatening manner is a whole different story though.. And one word from me and she goes into threat alert mode.

The GSD's I have seen that cannot do that are the ones without that stable foundation and have too much fear of people and things, and I have seen quite a few very skittish GSD's around like that that even conditioning can't really fix.