Hello All! I am a life long dog lover and owner. My current GSD is a gorgeous sable WGSL. Absolutely stunning. My question is, in the AKC Westminster show ring, are the GSDs primarily American Showline? Rumor is lovely, but she still had that running-on-the-back-of-her-leg thing going on. Those back legs on the show dogs just don't look right to me! I would never want a shepherd that ran on the back of their legs!I am not a breeder, show person, or trainer. Please don't blast me, educate me please!
Rumor is a moderate American Show Line dog, and she actually looks quite nice. There are dogs out there that appear almost crippled. This is true in the West German Show Lines as well.
What appeals to you is different than what appeals to me and to what appeals to many of the various lines. I personally have an love WGSL dogs. But this particular ASL bitch is actually quite nice. Her structure is moderate, she is balanced, and if you think she is running on her hocks, could you post a video so that some with more experience than I can give you a better explanation.
Thanks for the info, Selzer! I agree that Rumor is pretty, and not very extreme. My WGSL is nicely up on her feet, which is where I guess I think a dog needs to be! As I said, I am merely a dog lover, but I have seen the dogs you described as looking almost crippled. It is just a strange look. Again, thanks for the info. Any ideas why is it that the American Showline desires such a look?
Aww I missed it this year ... everytime I watch some 'freaking not a real dog wins???" But this year a "GSD" won "best of Show" and a "Boxer" won best of "Working Dogs!"
Oh well, most likely another ten years before that happens again.
I don't quite know how to do that! But I can tell you what breeder I got her from, if you like. She is a Beauty! I am still trying to figure out how to post a picture of her here!
I take that in the spirit in which you intended I am a novice/"babe" when it comes to breeding , showing, training, assessing a dog. Having said that, I do know a nice looking purebred when I see one. My one Frenchie is show quality, his litter mate was not. Even I could tell the difference between them. If I was looking for a GSD to buy, I would not want one of those that I am talking about - they look like there is something anatomically skewed.
Hey Chip, sorry you missed Westminster telecast, if you had you would have seen a short video on two GS that I got for my nephew. One WGSL and the other a GWL.
I agree that Rumor is not to the extreme of the dogs I was talking about. It was still photos of her that I was looking at. Sorry for misleading you. She is a lovely dog. I was just reminded of the differences I have seen between show dogs and dogs with a more "normal" gait.
Part of what you see in that photo is because she is on a tight line which is lifting the front and throwing her onto her rear. I watched videos of her moving freely and she was much more balanced and normal in her gait.
Make sure the picture is in JPEG format, if not, open the picture with Paint (comes with windows) then click save as, choose JPEG and save with a different file name on desktop so it is easy to find and won't confused with the original picture. When done, click on the newly created picture with the right mouse button, hold it, drag it to the "Drag and Drop File Upload" box, then release the button and it will automatically upload the picture, works the same with multiple pictures.
You have to host the pic somewhere like photobucket or picasa. Then you click the little square above the text box that looks like a mountain and a sun, and you paste the link to your photo in there.
@Wibackerpacker....yes that was him.
In reference to picture, look at her length of stifle, that is the one point of her structure that is excessive and not really conducive to good working dogs. Whenever you see a picture of dog " running on hocks" lock at how long the stifle is.....by same token when you see a real working dog or a competitive sport dog, also look at length of stifle. After seeing or noticing enough of them you will get the picture and understand why thy is faulty structure for working.
Pretty moving in sidegait....yes, but able to "sustain" cutting and darting and explosive jumping which our breed demands for working or real herding, not so much.
Still, this dog is more moderate than most successful dogs in American breed ring and a nice looking dog to me.
@cliffson1 I love learning the intricacies of conformation.
Am I also correct on noticing the length of "hock" appears longer on some of these show lines as well?
And one more question: I read somewhere, that longer backs are not desired for working dogs because the possibility of injuries is greater when doing long bites etc. Is this true? TIA
I have seen some excellent working dogs with longer backs, some not so....with that I think it's the individual dog with backs leading to breakdown....because our breed naturally has many structural types as result of our breed being creation of four type dogs.
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