What is a King Shepherd - Page 1

I have an 11 year old GSD. She is a genetic mess. HD & Ed in all 4 joints plus pano. I had her rebuilt when she was one. Now she has IVDD and DM. She has been to Hell with me right there with her. People are destroying the GSD. They are not suppose to have that ugly deformed sloped back. Most of the GSD breeders think that they are, especially in California. If you have ever gone through the Hell that my Shepherd and myself are going through, you would be very leery of getting another GSD. That is why I got a KIng Shepherd. Got her from an honest breeder. She is perfect, healthy, strong, beautiful, loyal, protective. She is 2 1/2. I am getting another one in a few months. Yes, she is not a pure German Shepherd. I stand a much better chance of having a healthy dog with a King than I do with a GSD.

When i was growing up a king sheps was West German  show line sheps. They were very loyal to thier family and sharp or reactive to outsiders.

'King' Shepherds are not and never have been West German Show lines GSDs.
They are a separate 'variety' of larger, based-on-GSDs  (probably more ASL),
dogs achieved by crossing in other dog breeds - Google it.  There are a couple
threds on here that discuss them currently.
I do not believe they are any more healthy or less prone to genetic problems
with hips etc than other dogs are.  If you are unlucky with your choice of pup,
you are unlucky.  How much 'research' did you do before you bought your old
bitch ?  Incidentally, 11 is no bad age for such a wreck as you describe to reach ! 

A marketing ploy! Nothing more.

I agree marketing poy, but i dont need to google it  Hundmutter. Wright or wrong  thats what every one in my neck of the woods call them.

Here is the website of Shelly Watts-Cross, the King Shepherd breed founder: http://www.kingshepherd.com/index.htm

She was originally a breeder of Shiloh Shepherds under the ISSR, the registry of Shiloh Breed Founder, Tina Barber. Tina took her to court, as she chose to breed outside of Tina's very strict standards. As Shilohs are still 'a breed under development', all breedings must be approved by the breed warden (since Tina's death, this is her daughter, Lisa.)

Here's the record of court judgement, which states Shelly can no longer call her dogs 'Shiloh Shepherds'.: http://www.shilohshepherds.com/buyersBeware/1996CourtCase.htm

As for the health of the Kings, many breeders of long-coated oversized dogs DO make an effort to eliminate health problems from their stock. It's like purchasing ANY dog: investigate before you invest, Caveat emptor and all that...

And to each his own: if you like this sort of dog, fine! Just don't expect it to be everyone's cup of tea, and you will not be able to show them as they are not a recognized breed under AKC or CKC. I think the UKC recognizes them??

Well then Roblew    'everyone'   in your neck of the woods, wherever that is,
IS wrong.

Guess somebody local to you must have said once that the German (ie original)
German Shepherd Dog was the 'king' of dogs, or something. and that got spread
around ?   There is certainly no other basis for calling  West German GSDs
"King Shepherds".

King,Shiloah even heard them called Max Shepherds... It,s all a marketing ploy... Basically people who have taken shepherds and breed tham over sized. 

Hundmutter, what I think is happening, (because I've seen it in person) since the crackdown on oversized GSDs in the SV showring, many breeders are marketing their oversized dogs as King shepherds, and selling them to buyers who don't know better. This is often done without papers, so it can't come back and bite them as having misrepresented the dogs! 

Sunsilver, you may be right about that.   Not aware that it has
begun over here, despite that we do have a few ppl selling
both (so called) Shiloh Shepherds and King Shepherds in the
UK.   Mind you, given the complications over how 'real' they
can be in the first place if they are not proven-from-source
imports (!),  I suppose they could just be oversized 'ordinary'
ie German ancestry  GSDs ?   Not sure about bitches, though;
we never had as much of a size problem with females (although
yes there still have been some big bitches about).

I suppose for how LONG Roblew has been 'growing up' with their
neighbours' misinformation, is the next question ?