Because people get enamored with rare or distinctive. Some love questions at the park and conversation therein.
It's a good looking dog, hopefully stays healthy, well mannered.

In many of these discussions, it never gets mentioned that many GSD buyers don't want the full GSD standard if you read it in its entirety. We focus primarily on size/weight and color around here, not temperament, appropriate suspicion and aloofness. Traits I treasure but not really suitable for the way a lot of people live.

Appearance is described as "substantial and not spindly, giving the impression both at rest and in motion of muscular fitness and nimbleness without any look of clumsiness or soft living". Yet many owners don't give the dog sufficient hard exercise to allow for muscular fitness and instead let them live much of their lives on the couch.

Dogs (males) should be definitely masculine in appearance and deportment; bitches, unmistakably feminine, without weakness of structure or apparent softness of temperament. The condition of the dog should be that of an athlete in good condition, the muscles and flesh firm

They're supposed to be "direct, fearless, alert, not disinterested" these dogs or not for everyone in full breed standard form!

Yet, we constantly hear of fearful nerve bags and aggression on here. They might even be well bred but certainly not breed standard....

 

That is exactly the point that most people don't want nor can they handle a proper GSD. Those people should get another breed that is more like what they want & stop encouraging breeding of non breed standard dogs from breeders watering down a working breed of the traits it should have. This is a working breed, not lap dogs to be put in your purse, not doodles.

I'm starting to think when some folks, not all, come on here describing the dog they want & they describe nothing, but looks, with no temperament traits even mentioned that they are probably not a good fit for the breed. I have had gorgeous looks, but temperament wanted me to kill the dog multiple times a day, not literally. I've had the great temperament, but dog had poor health & I lost him way too early. Has anyone had the dog that had it all?

 

I'd encourage people to read the entire breed standard and see if your dog "has it all"
The correct temperament traits, the exercise requirements, the proper drive, the aloofness (people want a tail wagging door greeter for the most part) the protective nature can be challenging for the average family. Heck, many people want a dog park or doggy daycare dog.

Many many many GSD homes should not have and aren't prepared for a fully breed standard dog.

Do you really want it all???
I do an the compromises that come with it!

 

Conversation moved to a dedicated thread — go wild.

 

I was involved with the Shiloh shepherd folk for a number of years, and I can tell you exactly why Tina Barber (Ma Shiloh) started the breed. She had known and loved the GSD breed since she was a child. A relative in Germany had German shepherds, which, according to her memories, were oversized, but had all the other characteristics the breed should have. They were excellent guard dogs, but also had good discernment, and were gentle with elderly people and children.

When she got involved with the breed in N. America, first as a handler, then breeding her own stock, she was very disappointed by what the breed had become. Temperaments were either spooky or overly aggressive. Structure was overangulated and weak. Heads on the males were so refined it was hard to tell the difference between a dog and a bitch. Health problems were everywhere, but were hidden by the breeders so they could continue to win ribbons with their unhealthy nerve-bag dogs.

I'm not exaggerating - Jimmy Moses said some of the dogs had feet the sIze of 50 cent pieces. A lady I spoke to at a tracking seminar said she switched to the German dogs after one of her prize champions broke a leg just running down a hill!

Here's what one former ASL breeder had to say about the dogs of the 70's and 80's:

Don't worry-all these dogs are bent to self-destruct--as if their owners have a death wish for them. These breeders live ~1.5 hours north of me and bred to my old Ch.UDT. (about 1/2 German) in the late '60's or early '70's. Nice folks--used to belong to the same GSD club in Sacramento. I know that the gaiting hockwalker, Hoheneichen's Caisson Avalon, died at an early age.

Well, yes--I believe that Eiko Hazelda also had his spleen removed--presumably due to torsion. Yes, a number of Hoheneichen dogs and their families suffered early deaths. Poor dogs--if I saw that my canine family were dropping like flies, I'd have a temperament problem, too--wondering if I might be next.

Let take a look at some of the dogs (http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/gsd/pedigree/527359.html) in the "peacock"'s illustrious pedigree: (1) CH Leiter's Excalibur--suffered ED (I believe, fragmented coronoid process). (2) CH Nike Clayfield Andretti--died young (I believe, toxic gut syndrome--TGS). This was the dog responsible for activating AKC's DNA testing program. Seems that some litters allegedly sired by this dog were instead sired by one of his sons. (3) Cobert's Sirocco Of Windigail--wore a pacemaker--died when it malfunctioned or fell out. (4) CH Karagin's Crusader--died young of toxic gut syndrome. (5) CH Covy Tucker Hill's Durango--died young. I owned the litter sister to his dam (Covy Tucker Hill's Turtle Dove) who produced both EPI and TGS. Hey, I'm on a roll--I could go on all night.

Ma was aware of this too. She started trying to breed away from all these problems by breeding larger dogs with more substance, better temperaments, better hips, and any dogs with inheritable diseases like Epi or TGS were removed from her breeding program. As many of these problems were so prevalent in the American dogs, she brought in outcrosses to get away from them (German herding shepherd, Artus, and a white shepherd, Hoofprint Orbit) Eventually she outcrossed outside the GSD breed, and was no longer able to register her dogs as purebred German shepherds (Secret Samson-Woo, which she said was a GSD/ giant malemute mix.)

Unfortunately, she was still getting a lot of dogs with spooky, shy temperaments, and was never able to get the breed recognized before she died of cancer. But I certainly understand WHY she did it. When I looked at the ASL dogs with their extreme angulation, and the German dogs with their roached backs, and compared them with the dogs I'd known as a child, I wanted nothing to do with them!

Things have improved since then - the current ASL dogs have more substance, though overangulation is still a problem, and the German show lines are no longer as roached as they once were.

 

No idea about others but we chose a long coated pup because we fell in love with our big-boy who was long coated. He wasn't bred for a long coat. We were so happy with him in our lives we hoped a similar pup would fill the void.
We told our breeder our plans and they did an excellent job choosing a pup with the temperament that would be a good fit.
So even though we give the advice to not choose a pup by appearance, we did make that part of the "must have" list.

 

No idea about others but we chose a long coated pup because we fell in love with our big-boy who was long coated. He wasn't bred for a long coat. We were so happy with him in our lives we hoped a similar pup would fill the void.
We told our breeder our plans and they did an excellent job choosing a pup with the temperament that would be a good fit.
So even though we give the advice to not choose a pup by appearance, we did make that part of the "must have" list.

We're quick to (correctly) caution against looks being at the top of the list when buying. But come on, no one is buying the color they want knowing it's a health mess or nerve bag parents. Health comes first for the vast majority of people and then you still buy the dog you like the looks of, somewhere down the list, often at the recommendation of the breeder.

If the only healthy, good tempered dog that fits you lifestyle is white or black or bi-color and you're set on Sable, you compromise or pass if it's that important.

I might go back to a dark Sable female again next and although that's what I'll likely end up with, it isn't top of the list alone or a deal breaker. I could be talked into either sex though more easily than a black or white dog.

 

Because I got a dog free that died of cancer. He was the best dog we ever met so I wanted another as close to him as possible without cancer.

And that's how Paddy came to be our second 100 pound German Shepherd dog.
He is exactly what we want.

 

Ok, long coats & a dog that may be a little above the standard in size is not what I think the point of this thread is. We're talking about dogs way outside the standard. Long coats happen in all lines, that doesn't mean the dog is not a great example of the breed. Some people like coats, some don't, some don't care. Maybe you end up with a bigger dog, but if the breeder is not breeding for size & they are following the standard & occasionally there are bigger dogs I don't think that is a problem. We're talking the breeders that are breeding for off colors alone, softer temperament that are trying to create a Golden in a GSD suit or people bragging they produce the biggest "GSDs" out there.

 

I totally agree. There will always be outliers... Pocket rockets and big brutes... Coaties and strange colors... Over the top drive monsters and marshmallows.

I think any responsible breeder has a goal. They have a type of dog in mind and they do their best to produce that dog. Of course this archetypical dog is bred to standard. They also test their dogs to prove their nerve and ability.

 

The short and simple answer is people dont care about the standard unless they are a breed enthusiast or a dog show nut. What does Joe Schmo care that the upper weight limit for a German shepherd is 90lbs? The same way most people couldn’t care less if their dog had an lab registration or not. That’s for snobs that want to spend thousands on a dog. If the crux of your argument is it doesn’t match the breed standard, you’re not changing many people’s minds. The definition of a breed standard dog can change based on who you’re even talking to. I could take my dogs to an AKC show and be laughed out the room. They could bring their dogs out to work and the same thing would happen? Who’s right? I can tell you right now that there isn’t a dog on the planet that perfectly matches the breed standard.

 

My first german shepherd was on death row, the breed standard wasn't a consideration when taking her. She was an exceptional family pet, purebred, but kinda homely.

 

I do get annoyed with people bragging that their GSD was over a hundred pounds. I bite my tongue every time.

 

I have the biggest bestest smartest German Shepherd ever....

 

Bazinga!

 

Nitro was over 100lbs, but with my 6'4" son, he looked standard size. They both just kept growing.