Structure of the GSD - Beneficial or Detrimental? - Page 1

Before I start, no, this is not a bash on any of the lines and I hope it doesn't turn into that. 

I've been told by several people that if I'm interested in pursuing French Ring and flyball (among other things) with my next dog, then I should just get a malinois. Not just because of the fact that they're one of the dominant breeds in FR, but because it would be difficult for a GSD to do well in the venues because of their structure/conformation. (Yes, even working lines, which is what I'm going to get). 

I was told that I need to pay very close attention to the structure of my future dog if I want to succeed in the sports, particularly FR. 

If a GSD's structure can limit them in FR and even flyball, is it really beneficial? 

No other breed that I know of are supposed to be as angulated (particularly in the rear) as the GSD - of all lines. Even though other herding breeds are supposed to be out and go, go, go all day long, they have significantly less angulation. 

If a GSD can only really do well in select protection sports due to their structure, how does that benefit the breed any? 

Is the conformation for GSDs truly beneficial, or is it detrimental? 

I'm not talking about dogs in the conformation ring - I'm talking about the structure of GSDs in general.

Also, I will not get a different breed of dog to pursue a certain sport, even if another breed would make it 'easier.' My dream dog is a GSD, and even if I got a malinois that freakin' rocked in everything I did with it, at the end of the day, it's still not my dream dog. If the GSD I get turns out to be cut out for FR, then awesome - I'll probably go for it. If not, I'll pursue SchH. 

I think you should buy a Malinois.

I'm asking why a GSD would have trouble doing flyball?  Seriously? You run, you turn quickly,  if you can't find a gsd to do that, you're looking in all the wrong places.  There's a reason they don't do french ring a lot, most of them are in IPO.  Plain and simple.  I have never, and I do mean never, seen a Mal do something a GSD couldn't do or vice versa.  I see lots of shitty GSD's, I've seen lots of shitty mal's and everything in between.  I'd think if anything the overall temperament of a GSD would hold it back more than conformation.  

There's a reason why a lot of french bred mal's are even a lot different than a lot of belgian bred mal's.  You get a much more twitchy reactive type dog.  Some people love them, i happen to not.  GSD's tend to not be so reactive.  They bite a lot of times out of different drives in general, but that certainly doesn't mean they can't do the sport.  I guess I've only ever done Mondio and that's been rather recently besides IPO, but working a lot with both breeds and many others, I really have a hard time believing GSD's are limited to IPO and can't do ring sport or flyball because of conformation????????

I believe the structural 'thing' about GSDs and Fly ball is
they are just too darn BIG for what is wanted, no other
'reason'.  Ask yourself why the Flyball afficianados are
trying to breed smaller n smaller Border Collies for it !

it just baffles me that "flyball" has become a reason to breed for anything.  Seriously, you run, you turn and run again.  I'd hope someone has stricter requirements for a dog than that.  It's a sport to get people out to do something with their dogs and that's about all it should be

zdog, GSDs are not competitive in flyball because of their stride length. Dogs are faster on the ground than in the air (this is fact).  A large dog that also is longer bodied (GSDs are rectangular proportios) takes a longer stride in the air.  Now if the runback was longer and the jumps were spaced out farther, then you'd see more competitive GSDs in flyball.  Also, even a compact working line GSD cannot fit a triple stride on/off the box and this - to flyball people - is often what makes the difference between a fast dog and a world class dog (assuming the dog is already running fast and the turn is low and clean).  There's a difference between "doing" something and being in like the top 10%.  GSDs do flyball no problem.  I owned and trained the fastest U-FLI GSD in U-FLI history and he could never compete with good Whippets, BCs, staffies, even fast Mals.

Anyway, I would not call a GSD's structure "detrimental" because he can't excel at flyball or ring.  Is a Newf "detrimental" because he can't beat a Greyhound on a lure course?  No, because Newfs can fricking jump out of helicopters and save drowning people.

Fly ball is considered a very, very minor accomplishment by some on this database. They feel the same about OB, lure coursing, dock diving, anything that doesn't involve a dog swinging on a sleeve. They don't know if their dogs could even do any of the above, but they still take the liberty to judge how insignificant those accomplishments are and how accomplishing them doesn't make a GSD breed worthy.

it has nothing to do with swinging on a sleeve or not.  And by repeatedly showing how little you know about what bite behavior means and shows in a dog like a GSD, it shows your ignorance.  Flyball is a fun sport, it's a sport meant to get people out and do fun things with their dogs.  I'm sure it takes work and time to be successful.  It hardly means anything else in the grand scheme of dogs.