Letter from Dr. Heinrich of the WUSV - Page 2

Hundmutter, SV totally "clarified"...no doubts and no interpretations there.

Bav said: "Not sure if the English are where I'd be going for conformation lessons anyway".

Sorry, BW, putting it like that, with us all lumped together, is meaningless without context; are you not aware that in the UK the GSD breed is split into two distinct camps (and I don't mean Showline versus Working dogs !); people who breed and side with the 'English' "Alsatian" have very differently conformed dogs to the rest of us, whose dogs are largely just like the German dogs. Some of our stock has better toplines than others (just as the Germans); some is more angulated in rear than is correct (just like German dogs); some are even oversized LOL. Some of our dogs even get entered at the BSZS - and if they don't usually come very high in the grading, I doubt it is mostly their conformation that holds them back.

Susie - I think Bavarian Wagon was looking for some clarity ^^^ in her post ...

 

But overall I would agree the SV statement is much clearer than that put out by the UK Kennel Club (and claimed as their own)...

I like the idea of judging the dogs size strictly, and the 'natural' stance requirement. I hope this results in more 'working' dogs being shown and placed, and the less-'extreme' dogs being put up. We shall see.

A lot of things in this letter. To me a fast gait can show you how well a dog is put together, it might not be appropriate for a show, but it does show you how fast a particular dog can go and stay in a gait. I hate to see the stack disappear, but I agree that it will help with the outside perception. How is the SV gong to control every image at the Siegershow? Is Messler saying the system Lothar Quoll is developing is going to be strictly enforced? Can I take from this that there will be a ban in the US of prong and ecollars in training?

Marko,

I think Mr. Messler is doing away with the system Mr. Quoll and others have developed. It's reverting back to strict size enforcement which we have seen is a moving target. It hasn't worked for the past 10 years and I doubt it will work now. Why? Too much to be interpreted. Is 65 really 65 or is 66 OK if it's a really good dog. Just look at one of the top VA males from Mr. Messler's kennel and you'll see a real good example of how the rules as written were not interpreted or enforced.

Another problem is; if all the larger dogs are slammed. What's left to show? Throw a number out there. What percentage of dogs are on the larger side of the standard? It's a big number. There goes a large portion of participation.

The system similar to the ZW system Mr. Quoll developed made sense. The size problem didn't occur overnight, don't try to fix it overnight. Take some time, collect some legitimate data and start putting some numbers on it. The breeders will use it as a tool as they have done with the ZW system.

Who cares .. the SV and it's puppet the WUSV are dinosaurs trampling on their eggs. The SV is weak and getting weaker every year. What the SV says seldom matches the facts and their history of deceit and political gamesmanship.

The ZW system for size will be introduced starting October this year, until then the dogs being shown will be correctly measured for a correct size measurement. Dogs that are more than 2 cm oversize will be rated, but placed further behind in their ratings, so vastly oversized dogs will be at the end of the ring. At this years Siegershow, a measuring committee that includes Dr. Messler will measure the dogs, the judge that judges the class will measure the dogs and if there are big discrepancies the dog will officially be measured in public. It will be interesting to see if it makes any difference at this year's Siegershow, like it was said before, Mr. Messler is trying hard but he has a huge battle at very many fronts, my opinion is size is the one that being come down on first because it is measurable.

Bea,

The ZW ststem you referred to; is that the "Breed Plan for Height" Mr. Messler referred to in his letter?

I doubt ecollars and prongs will ever be banned in the United States. The SV doesn't have that kind of power here. If they do, you'll just see an elimination of any dog training videos on YouTube that involve those collars and you'll just see what you currently see from Europe...a video of a finished product.

I think everything they do is a good thing, but in the US it just doesn't matter. Too few people follow SV protocol when breeding anyways so making things "harder" or having new restrictions will not matter much in regards to the breed in this country. People will breed whatever they want to breed anyways.