The German Shepherd Dog
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      • The Teeth of the German Shepherd Dog
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      • ** NEW** Observations and Thoughts of the 2016 German & Italian Sieger Shows - Our Dogs Magazine - UK
      • The Forequarter of the German Shepherd Dog
      • The Evolutionary Development of the German Shepherd Dog Skeleton
      • Australian IPO National Championships 2016
      • Problems in the German Shepherd Dog - A Response
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      • 2015 Sieger Shows - Germany and Italy
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      • The Croup of the German Shepherd Dog
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    • 2014 Articles >
      • The Withers of the GSD
      • General Overview of the German Shepherd Dog
      • 2014 Sieger Shows - Germany & Italy
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      • Long Coat German Shepherd Dogs - A brief history and comment
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      • Discussion Paper on the Structure of the GSD
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      • ARCHIVES: (1986) The Great Debate - A Question of Type
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Transmission lines during the trot

31/10/2016

1 Comment

 
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Arguably one of the greatest moving GSD's of all time - Dingo
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German Sieger of the 60's who like Dingo excelled in his movement - Bodo
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The worlds ultimate trotting canine - Gray Wolf
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Contemporary GSD Show Dog with lumbar spine downward bend
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1 Comment

Size really does matter.

29/10/2016

0 Comments

 
At the last Specialist GSD show I judged there were 16 open bitches exhibited in the class.The statistics of the measurements in the order of presentation 'height followed by chest depth' was as follows:

60cm - 27cm
58cm - 26cm
60cm - 27cm
60cm - 27cm
61cm - 29cm
62cm - 29cm
61cm - 28cm
60cm - 26cm
59cm - 28cm
62cm - 30cm
61cm - 27cm
60cm - 27cm
60cm - 27cm
60cm - 27cm
61cm - 29cm
60cm - 27cm

Not by coincidence the V1 bitch was the smallest in the class at 58cm. Not a huge sample, but in my opinion it can be taken as a fair indication of the average size of bitches pretty well everywhere, that is most stand on the maximum size. Very good chest depth to foreleg ratio average.


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0 Comments

Optimum Hindquarter Angulation In The German Shepherd Dog

27/10/2016

1 Comment

 
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Because I often make comment about overangulation of the hindquarters in the GSD I get asked to provide a visual of a real dog rather than a drawing to show what I consider to be optimum hind angulation in the GSD. There are many dogs that are not overangulated, too many though are overshadowed in the show ring by dogs that are, and that is a tragedy for the breed.  So here is a photo of a current highly placed V dog that in my opinion displays optimum hindquarter angulation and I refer to the relative lengths of the femur and tibia and the length of the hock. For a trotting dog these elements give the dog an efficient high hip and knee position, a well angled tibia, effective leverage and stable hindquarters in movement.
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1 Comment

Prohibited collars

23/10/2016

0 Comments

 
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The developing trend - deep, narrow, slab sided rib cages = narrow front & east west placement of the front feet

19/10/2016

0 Comments

 
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Slab sided = too deep rib cage, narrow between the elbows, standing and moving with toes pointed east west
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Balanced and oval rib cage = correct depth of chest, optimum width between the elbows, standing and moving with toes pointed forward
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A trait that I noticed this year particularly in Italy is a ''developing trend'' to dogs that are not oval shaped in their rib cage - right side -  but slab sided - left side. When the rib cage is compressed from oval to slab the chest is inevitably deep, the distance between the elbows too close and when viewed from the front the feet can point straight ahead but more point in a 'slightly east west' position. The slab sided rib cage, close standing drawn in position and slight east west stance can be seen here against the stick and the angle the stick has assumed against the feet. Like I said - early days!
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0 Comments

Overangulation of the hindquarters.                                   

17/10/2016

5 Comments

 
Negatives = a steep croup, an almost level tibia, a too low hip position, a too low knee position, stepping close behind, unstable hocks and often unstable hindquarters.
​Positives = none. Oh almost forgot, some people think it looks nice!
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5 Comments

People are asking me as an SV listed judge how should they stand their dog at Specialist Shows given President Messler's message. 

17/10/2016

0 Comments

 
Not that I saw much evidence of it at the German Sieger Show but if all Specialist judges were to insist that from Juniors up during the individual assessment dogs must stand with the foreside extended hock plumb, the farside hock in a slight rearward position and the up and back and side gaiting assessment done free of double handling it would be a great start. Handler here was Craig Rice from the UK. Perfect score 10/10
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Exerpt from; http://www.louisdonald.com/theforequarterofthegermanshepherddog.html

16/10/2016

0 Comments

 
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    Author
    Louis Donald
    German Shepherd Judge

    SV Foreign List Judge (Retired)
    ANKC Working Dog Judge
    GSDCA Breed Surveyor

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