GSD back legs - Page 2

Go back and compare the " length of stifle" in the older dogs and the WL of today and then the SL of today.....I think you will begin to understand the differences of then and now and now and now. Btw, extreme length of stifle or even long length of stifle is not by nature's design....it is a aspect of this breed that has been created for some reason in past 50 years.( trying to be polite....lol)

I guess you know by now that you accidentally wandered into a mine field by asking this question...lol!

The stifle is the part of the leg between the knee and the hock.

Louis Donald's site has lots of photos that show the changes in the GSD's rear: He is an SV judge who judges internationally, and lives in Australia. The diagrams and photos on his site should help you understand the changes.

http://www.louisdonald.com/

http://www.louisdonald.com/history-of-the-breed-in-photo.html

http://www.louisdonald.com/hindquarter.html

I am posting a collage showing 2 dogs I have owned... The two pics on the left are the same dog and the 2 pics on the right are the same dog.

In the dog on the left, the first pic is of a square stack (where his front feet are even and his back feet are even) and you can see he has a straight back that slopes slightly from the withers to the hip.. In the second photo of this dog, he is over stretched and slightly on a hill where his front feet are on higher ground than his back feet... His back does not look straight anymore and the slope from his shoulder to his hips is much steeper....

In the photos of the dog on the right, the first pic is her in a random natural stance and she appears to have a completely level topline- you can not see any slope at all from the shoulder to the hip and in the second photo, she is alert to something out of the shot and she is over stretched- her topline is very different in this shot   

There is more to evaluating a dog than simply if the legs are behind the dog, you can train yourself to see the stifle, the croup, the hocks and the ratio of height to length, how long is the hock and is the dog over or under stacked.. all of this will help you to identify where the dog falls within the breed standard.

Hope this helps

I have seen a lot of dogs in the show ring whose back legs 'wobble'. Is this what the OP is reffering to? 

I've seen lots of GDS's at trials with the same rears. It's in the breed, not confined to a specific line or lines.

Yes, Cutatway, that's it. And no, it's not confined to a specific line, though it's definitely the result of poor conformation (cow hocks and/or an overly long stifle/lower thigh).

No Cutaway that is not what the OP was asking about They were asking about the slope of the dogs back. Over long stifle of the back legs is another problem and the dog can be cow hocked with or without the stifile being to long.

Check the pictures other have posted and the comments of the other members. 

There has been some very good information here so far.

My bad, WR!  Must be having a senior's moment. I was SURE the OP mentioned wobbly hind legs somewhere in her posts!    Sorry!

No problem Could be another excellent topic if it can be kept as nice and informative as this one Why not start one up

I fully under stand those elderly moments

A photo of a GSD in a totally unnatural position ( aka stack ) is useless for judging conformation and movement.  In the beginning the founders had black and white photos, then color photos, and now we have HD video.  In the future there will be 4K video, then 10K video, and then 100K holographic projection etc. .. the stack goes back to the early days of photography when slow shutter speeds and slow film speeds made a stationary and motionless dog a requirement to get a useable image. In this day and in the future motionless images of dogs will be a curiousity.  A video can be taken of the dog on a cell phone and sent within seconds around the world or posted to a web site or youtube so using a stationary pic using an unnatural pose is redundant and of little use.  A "stack" pic is about as useful to judging a dogs conformation, movement, and gaits as a smoke signal is to communication in the day of cell phones and video chat.  Many "stack" pics are set up to deceive .. dog posed going up hill or camera tilt, oblique shots with front legs and head closer to the camera than rear, and all manner of color correction to give a new color to the dog.