Here Come All the American Show Shepherds - Page 4

I am so glad that I am not the only one to feel this way!!  I am a reletively new breeder and striving to offer a program that conforms to SV standards, which not everyone in the American market appreciates.  I was thinking of going to the NASS last year and so signed up with the GSDCA and GSDCA-WDA and the pictures of the dogs in their magazine (GSDCA mainly) look just like these!  So discouraging...  When I received my first copy of the USA magazine, I almost cried.  I think that i have finally found an organization in the states where I might fit in.   Can we not breed to take the best qualities of both the working and the show bloodlines?  I know that some people would think that's rediculous, but they DID all started out in the same place.

 I have to admit that working lines have always been my favorite...  The idea of working and training my dogs to compete in Schutzhund is far more appealing to me than running around a show ring, but that is just my personal preference as there are some tremendous showline dogs.

 Thanks for your posts! 

 Quote:  "Actually folks, it's up to us as consumers to drive the direction of the breed.  Even if the judges are selecting for the extremes, every individual has the right to choose what sort of dog we buy and show.  If a dog is oversized, over-angulated, too large you do NOT have to but it just because it got a VA!  There are many workingline dogs with V conformation.  They just don't happen to be fluffy black and red and so they'll never take high marks in the show ring."

Yvette,

You said a mouthful.  

And I also am wondering what is up with the general population not knowing a German Shepherd when it's in front of them.  I too was asked a few times while at the park a couple of months ago if my dog was a German Shepherd Mix.  I told them straight up she was purebred German Shepherd of W, E/Czech lines.  They obviously did not understand what that meant at all.  Then, one lady went on to tell me that there were two gorgeous German Shepherds at a house down by the trail I was getting ready to walk and I really should look at them.  Well, upon finding them, my mouth dropped open.  These were German Shepherds????  UGH!!!  They were the narrowest, long boned, faded pigment (imagine silver and grey) dogs I've ever seen being touted as being the GSD.  If that's what people think of when they think of a German Shepherd, we need to educate some people.  This was embarrassing.  

I always thought that Pedigree Database was created for The German Show and Working line German Shepherds.

Oli... Is the Pedigree Database now going to have American Shepherds being registered with dogs that do not do Schutzhund? OR DO NOT adhere to the SV Standard Breeding Practices, and now will be allowed to advertise?

Dawn Bonome

Blitzen, she's 4 mo. old, and at that age, they are either in constant motion, or sleeping, so I really need the help of another dog person to get a good stacked photo of her. Soon, I hope, soon! (And maybe by the time I get around to it, her ears will be back up again...)

Right now, she's standing up to my 80 lb. male, and letting him know she DOES NOT want to share her ball! She's got very good bone, and a very nice trot. When we're out walking, she barks at strangers, but allows them to come up and pet her.

Here's a photo I took of her the day I brought her home: http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a344/Sunsilver/StarofHopeat12weeks.jpg

Dawn, what you knew about Moses 20 years ago isn't  the same as what he's saying today. Here's some very telling quotes from that interview:

“A lot of Shepherds today - if you watch them, they walk on their hock and their rear foot, like it’s all one bone. The same with the front feet and the pastern. When they trot, their foot and pastern hit the ground at the same time. These are dogs - if they had to jump over these little ring gates to get in to be shown - they’d never get shown. I think that’s why our breed has lost a lot of popularity"

"... the biggest problem this dog (Dallas) has had is that he gets faulted for one of his very best features. That’s his head. If you stand back and look at him.” (He motioned towards the dog and instantly, even on the grooming table, Dallas made expectant eye contact.) “I mean, this dog has the proper muzzle, and the proper back skull. They are so used to … well, what we’ve done in this breed is we spend all of our time wanting the fleetest movers and for years I was a proponent of it. I caused a lot of it because I was younger and aggressive and I wanted the fanciest side gaiters I could get. And what we did was got a lot of fluffy coated Shepherds with feet like a fifty-cent piece. When you put them in the tub and put the hose on you had nothing left! It narrowed their head, their back-skull, and their muzzle. This dog is strong; this is what they’re supposed to be. Our standard calls for a medium size breed with excellent secondary sex characteristics. We’re getting better and better but that’s another reason why a lot of breeders use him. So many all-breed judges have been used to seeing such narrow back skulls, roman noses, and weak under-jaws that they fault his head!"

Sunsilver,

Was this sarcasm, as well? (Not trying to be fresh.)  To my untrained eye all of those pictures show the angulation people are upset with. Or is it that the stack makes it look like it? I'm not trying to act like I know more than I do, which isn't much, but I'm don't understand.

Dawg