Disturbing

[Kaz]

Your thoughts are welcome. How are we allowing this? Is there any control?

GSD CHAMPIONS... From magnificent working dog to weak cripple... - YouTube

GSD CHAMPIONS... From magnificent working dog to weak cripple... - YouTube

[ShenzisMom]

I am thinking those are very bad examples of Show Line GSD. If you want to see more examples to see if that is the norm, you should go to a couple dog shows in your area.

I am also not a big fan of show lines, but I have seen a couple adults from breeders on here I would pay for and welcome to my house in a second. It all comes down to if you don't like it, don't buy it. If you don't contribute, your not a part of the situation.

[Mjxx]

After watching the clip at the bottom of the page, I feel so sorry for the poor dog.I wish these silly competitions will be stopped. ASAP :'(

[ShenzisMom]

Those silly competitions? How do you suppose we test and judge a dog to see if it is worthy of breeding? O wait... I forgot. All you need is an in heat female and a willing (and able) boy partner! Those silly people waste 1000's of dollars, when anyone can make puppies without it.

[Emoore]

There are a few show line dogs out there that are "weak cripples." There are a few working lines who are so insanely drivey and hyper that they can't live in the house. For the most part, modern well-bred GSDs are neither. I do agility with my dog, Danielle and Josie do PSA with theirs, and when we all go hiking with GSDAlphamom there are 8 GSDs flying around the trail, working, show, and pet lines alike, and none of them--not even the 10 year old-- are remotely weak cripples.

[PatternDayTrader]

Originally Posted by Emoore

when we all go hiking with GSDAlphamom there are 8 GSDs flying around the trail, working, show, and pet lines alike, and none of them--not even the 10 year old-- are remotely weak cripples.

Eight of em huh ?
That sounds fun.

[Kaz]

While I agree there has to be a standards criteria for breeding and I am sure there are good breeders who also show their dogs.

But I am confused why is there this obsession with the sloped back?

I remember reading that the original German lines had straighter backs and that especially in the American lines the sloped back is prevalent.

Can't we, as rational human beings, tell that when most 4 legged animals appear to have straight backs, a sloped one is inevitably calling for trouble?

[msvette2u]

It's not their backs that are the problem.
This video is like having a rash so trying to figure out by looking at Google what the rash is.
They don't give you a good example of how yours looks, they give the worst case scenarios.
I seriously doubt every "American show line" dog has this extreme angulation.

[Gwenhwyfair]

Hasn't this portion of video been floating around under the 'half dog half frog' title for awhile now?

BTW- those are WGSL dogs being shown in England in 2008.

It's the never ending battle between conformation show lines and working lines.

You can see it (not as obvious but it's there) in Labs and Goldens too.

A field Golden/field Lab often look very different from their conformation only brethren.

[Whiteshepherds]

Dogs didn't look great but I think part of what we're seeing is really bad handling. The dogs are pulling forward while the handler is pulling back and up on the leash. I expected to see front paws come up off the ground at any minute. Did anyone else notice that?

It would be interesting to see these dogs out in an open field without the leashes. I think some of them would look a lot different. (and some, not so much!)