If you had a Magic Wand.... - Page 1

The more I talk to breeders and trainers, the nuanced and confusing the GSD world ( in my mind ) becomes. If you were a breeder and you had a magic wand what would YOUR IDEAL GSD be like in terms of appearance and various facets of temperament?

I had him. He died in October. I would have given him a darker saddle/better pigment.

The standard is good enough for me.

I have her now;

"the standard is good enough for me"

[falls on floor, laughing]

I've been around the breed long enough to know the standard is very flexible, and what dogs win in the show ring depends entirely on who is judging. Dogs can be oversize, and have other glaring faults, and STILL WIN! I saw a dog at the Ontario Championships that had one of the most horrible ring tails I've ever seen, and was so overangulated in the rear (cowhocked, too!) that it could barely stand up.

Guess who placed first?  

It's pretty pointless to talk about this, but if I COULD change things, I'd go for moderation in structure - no extreme rears, no roached backs, and the withers would become the highest point of the back again. (This isn't the case with many showline dogs.) Front and rear angulation would have to match, and the trot would become a 2-beat gait again, instead of a 4-beat.

The horrible apple-domed mastiff-type heads with droopy lower lips we're seeing on a lot of the German showline dogs would be elimated, and the head would have to have parallel planes; as used to be required by the standard, with the ratio of muzzle to the rest of the skull being 50/50.

I'd also insist that American showline dogs have to pass a temperament test, and get some sort of performance certificate before earning a championship. I was ambsolutely appalled a few years ago when I checked out the entries for the obedicene classes at the Canadian Nationals, and saw most of the dogs entered either weren't GSDs, or weren't entered in the conformation classes.

Yup, I'd be VERY unpopular with certain people...

My ideal dog would look a lot like Mutz:http:// http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/german_shepherd_dog/dog.html?id=33-mutz-von-der-pelztierfarm

Here's a much better picture of him:

I have a file of pictures of GSDs I really like. They include both modern GSDs and dogs from the past, and there are showlines, working lines and even American dogs!

Names most people would recognize are Falk von Den Wolfen, Bodo v. Lierburg, Alf von Nordsfelen, Kismet's Sight for Sore Eyes, Bomber von Wolfsheim, and Mailo, a Bomber son, (Molly's) Bandit von Wolfsheim, Okka von der Schiffslache, and an ASL-GSL mix named Madeb's Fury. These dogs all have several things in common: nice, straight, non-roached toplines, moderate angulation and lots of dark pigment _ either bicolours, blacks or blanket-backs with lots of black; and nice masculine heads. (Okay, Bandit's a dark sable...) I find I'm willing to overlook certain faults if the dogs have these other traits. Some have shoulders that are too upright, some are a bit too long in the back, and a few have noses that aren't completely straight (Roman noses) My point is there's no such thing as the perfect dog, and we all differ in what we like/don't like.

Here's one dog that I'm having a hard time finding any faults with, but I doubt anyone's ever heard of him. I wish he were standing with the left hock perpendicular, so I could get a better look at his croup...

Harry von Gleisdreieck

Joan

Whats her ped like and can we have a description of her temperament ?

Sure. She is Czech on top and WGWL/Slov/Czech on bottom. 

She is aloof / suspicious towards strangers, self confident, solid environmentally, very very biddable. 70 pounds.

Vid link of first time with a decoy at 1 1/2 yr old. More interested in decoy than tug. Good prey drive but not expressed till twelve months thereabouts.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0ews4ekmguuu901/2015-03-27%2012.14.46.mov?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ikf9sir4rguhwza/2015-03-27%2012.15.14.mov?dl=0

"...what dogs win in the showring depends entirely on who is judging."

Sunny, individual judges' preferences aside, that really does depend on which Showlines, in which countries, of course ! Most 'showdogs' among the GSDs in this world are not really very like the ASL & Canadian 'type' that fills those two countries' (official, Kennel Club) showrings, whatever other faults they may have in common, or in particular, to their own sort. The main US and German shows are still poles apart for general body outline. The GSD universe does not consist solely of the North American continent, readers.

When even our resident, Windsor placing, ASL breeder/exhibitor says her ideal dog was her late, distinctly Germanic-type service dog, we really do have to acknowledge that difference !

I think you'd agree that your photo of Harry v G shows more of an international (Germanic) working lines type - not just in his colouring - than any dog that gets anywhere near being a Can. or US Champion ! As far as one can judge from any one still picture, Harry is an excellent dog, one I'd be happy with if he were mine, as he seems to portray the (original) Standard well - as I understand it, anyway.

Of course I'm aware of that, Hundmutter. The ASL standard is different from the SV standard, and the German showlines are very different from the German working lines in structure and temperament.

I'd also like to clarify that the show where the dog with the horrible ring tail placed first was the conformation part of the Ontario Schutzhund regional championships!

Not an ASL dog in sight...

I am sure you meant, "Westminster placing" instead of "Windsor placing".