To Excesses ! - Page 12

very good point hans..the genetic flexibility of the GSD seems to be tremendous.

all colours all shapes sizes..............beautifull thin although what the chinese are doing is well not very good. JMO

I agree with Hans and Rik...until DNA says otherwise, I have a very hard time believing that these dogs are purebred GSDs. The deviation is TOO great, there are so many things involved structurally. If it is a purebred...I will be surprised.

I don't remember anyone saying this could happen in a few generations. Comparing a dog  like Dingo to some of the V rated dogs already posted to this thread show what is possible IF these heads and body types are consistently selected for and agility is ignored. It's happen in other breeds and it can happen with this breed too.  Mastiffs, Saints, Berners et al didn't start out the way they look today either, man made them what they are.

We will never know if there is any Mastiff blood introduced. What we do know is that like begets like - how long did it take to set a topline roach into the gene pool? How did that happen? Greyhounds?

1899 sieger     2011 sieger

The result of the introduction of other breed/s or selective breeding?
 

What I read in Hans' post was that if there is not a mastiff mixed in here, that the genetic maliability of the breed is at work and capitalized upon to produce these aberrations from the breed. I didn't see anyone proclaim ths happened in one generation. Select for a certain trait, or CLONE for it, and you can distort ANY breed.

Two Old Style Neos above


In this last 50 odd years the appearance of the Neapolitan Mastiff has been changed considerably from the large but still functional animals the Italians had kept to themselves for so long. He has been taken to the extremes we see today, through becoming 'fashionable' his health has suffered considerably, for the traits that have been bred for mean that he often suffers from low thyroid function. This gives the huge bones, thickened skin which give the masses of wrinkle, and often shorted leg bones which is a form of dwarfism. He has been likened to people and other animals which suffer from Ehlos-Danlos Syndrome. These recessive traits which have been bred in often lead to health problems such as low immune system, low energy, sparse hair growth, skin conditions, bone deformities, cartilage and ligament problems, and bad hearts.

If this trend for breeding overblown dogs which can barely trot around the show ring, let alone follow his master to war as the Molosser of old often did, continues, I fear the breed will soon be bred into extinction.

Photos show us just how much the appearance has been changed in less than 50 years of breeding by those more concerned with fashion than with preserving this ancient dog for his marvellous temperament, guarding abilities, and character, which is like that of no other dog.
 

Modern Neo:

One only needs to look at other breeds to see what is possible. It's not necessary to be a GSD expert or to own a correct GSD to undertstand the power of selective breeding in the dog world.

well, guess I should apologize as what I saw in this thread  "To Excesses !" was that somehow the SV was condoning this type of breeding.

anyway, apologies to PDB best GSD breeders Blitzen and joanro. here is to you selling a million pups.

Rik Atchley

Your pictures make a very valid point, Blitzen. Nobody needs an agenda to see the changes within the breed over the past century. Comparing the pictures without the circa, one would logically think they were two different breeds. Don'cha think?

Rik, what's that supposed to mean? You have a problem with dogs being sound and meeting the breed standard? Cause the dogs in these pictures shur don't. Extreme bred to extreme, bred to extreme.......