Words of Wisdom - Page 1

A friend recently sent to me and article by Dr Christoph Rummel who was President of the SV from 1971 until 1982. Dr Rummel was also a Vet.

Words of wisdom - Dr Christoph Rummel

Let us not be blinded by the over-angulated hindquarter where the lower thigh is longer and the angle of the hock becomes so sharp, that during the trot we already see the entire rear edge of the hock/rear pastern placed on the ground instead of just the foot.
With over-angulation such as this, the balance between fore- and hindquarter is not produced and must inevitably lead to faulty movement with loose joints and above all lacking endurance, without even making reference to the negative influence in the firmness of the region of the hip joint and their consequences in respect to HD.

I only need to briefly mention, that we must take care to get away from the over long tail. The length of tail is limited by the standard; to the point of hock joint which it should slightly exceed.

A prediction made nearly forty years ago and is exactly what we are seeing today. Not many listened then and the same is today - not many listen and learn.

Mackenzie

I couldn't agree more with your post! Great info, thanks for posting it.

So, this over angulation of hocks is a 40 years old (at least) problem started in Europe, not America?

Or, did he write that article after his retirement from EUSV?

What does Dr Rummel know?...lol. He is of the past, and one thing I have learned on this forum....is that the GS today is better and improved and the dogs were NOT better representatives then than they are today. So I guess the good Doctor could not envision the great benefits that this evolution would lead to😘.

Swarnendu - I do not exactly when this article was written, or, when the problem was first observed either in Germany or elsewhere. On the balance of probability I think that wherever it was first observed the dog had German bloodlines.

Gustav - D Rummel may now be in the past but his opinion has been proved right and is therefore valid. If you think that what you have learned is what you have said “ one thing I have learned on this forum....is that the GS today is better and improved and the dogs were NOT better representatives then than they are today” then please explain yourself. We constantly read on this forum that characters are not as good, that unsoundness is present, the dogs are oversized and overangulated etc etc. Worst of all there is the common complaint that today’s dogs have declined in their ability to work. Because they look different does not mean that the dogs today are better when so many problems still exist. Nobody has suggested that the dogs of yesteryear were perfect. This is still a working breed but for how much longer we can only guess.

Mackenzie

Plenty of stuff on record about the LACK of connection with HD, much more recently than this Rummel quote. There IS now a structural problem, but there ISN'T a proven connection with MEDICAL problems. The structure has been developing and changing over four decades; and it has undoubtedly GONE TOO FAR now - but the whole debate about that has been muddled by contributions where people who have not liked the 'curve' aesthetically have kept trying to attribute HD to it.

I don't think Gustav's post WASN'T sarcastic !!

And, even if it cannot be connected with HD, it seriously hinders the dog's movement, until GSDs start growing pads upto their hocks, or better, turn into kangaroos!!

It will be interesting to see THAT phase of evolution in our lifetime.

We need a special sarcasm font. Mackenzie, having been around this board long enough to get to know Gustav from his posts, that post was complete sarcasm. He's an old fart like me, and remembers the days when the GSD could do it all, and wasn't split into many different lines.

As someone who had the power to control judges and lead the GSD in a different way, I'm not sure why the article was necessary. When it comes to the show ring, the judges have the most power, and they are definitely guided by the organization they abide to. Be it SV, GSDCA, ect...the organization can change what the judges focus on and put up as winning dogs.

I think that Dr Rummel's comments were for the breeders more than the judges. Until the breeders produce the right type of dog to fit as close as possible to the standard then the Judges will promote better dogs. An honest Judge places the dogs in their order of merit as required by the rules of judging. The results are also in a required format which leaves no room for either, refusing to give out a place card, or, refusing to give a rating. The winner is either given a red card for first place, or, a V rating except in young dogs classes where the maximum grade is sg.

Some years ago when I judged the breed at two different shows there were two small classes of 4 and 6 dogs. I withheld all of the cards because of weak characters. It did not go down too well but tough.

Mackenzie