No more pointy ears for tsa - Page 5

@mrdarcy: nature does not produce canines or any other animals ( as far as I can tell) with floppy ears. IMO and opinion of others there is a reason for that. Survival of the fittest dictates that only the most optimally developed animals in nature survives. Any disadvantage, regardless of how small, will eliminate any individual with such, however small, a disadvantage from the genetic pool. The animals surviving and procreating in nature are the ones who are in the most efficient way designed for survival.  That is why we do not see any dry earth animals in Nature with floppy ears. If you look at mutt dogs which are being mutts for many generations then you will also see propensity of these dogs going back to upright ears. This may take many generations but to a keen observer, it is obvious that such propensity is there.  That is how hard the upright ears are genetically encoded by "mother nature". 

On the other hand, the floppy ears are only possible due to selective breeding which is not done by nature but it is only done by a man who caters to different fads and rhymes and reasons not related to survival of the animal in the Wild. Some dogs are bred with floppy ears because it is believed that floppy ears of a ground sniffing tracker like Bloodhound will scoop the odor closer to the nose.    As my friend aptly commented: Form follows function.

 That is what I mean by saying that floppy years are not natural as in they are not designed by "Mother nature"  Nature obviously favors upright short ears in canines. There must be a reason for it. the reason is that upright ears tend to be healthier due to less moisture being trapped in comparison to hanging earlobes over the ear canal opening. Another such reason, I am sure is that dog with upright, radar-like fashion moving ears, can hear better and determine the direction from which the sound is coming better and can do so without moving its head. ( which ma spook away his prey)  But that is not all. 

When I am talking about infections in ears I am talking about the higher propensity of dogs with floppy ears to get infections or to get injured.  I have learned this from my old vet who was telling me this based on his decade's long experience. In no way, I am saying that only dogs with ears down are the ones with infections, but the ears who are down are ventilated less and thus more moist which is an environment more conducive to yeast, bacteria, and even mites. 

The domestic canid is not a product of nature. It is a product of selective breeding by humans for human's needs for survival. The domestic canid will not be found in nature.

Prager: <<< nature does not produce canines or any other animals ( as far as I can tell) with floppy ears. IMO and opinion of others there is a reason for that. Survival of the fittest dictates that only the most optimally developed animals in nature survives. Any disadvantage, regardless of how small, will eliminate any individual with such, however small, a disadvantage from the genetic pool. The animals surviving and procreating in nature are the ones who are in the most efficient way designed for survival.  That is why we do not see any dry earth animals in Nature with floppy ears. >>

Elephants??  

 

LOL Good one.:) 

Seems to me that all wild canids have upright ears (except in those odd cases where the ear muscles are not strong enough for the weight of the ears, producing occasional drop ear(s) in an individual fox, wild dog or wolf). I think they just happened to evolve like that because historically they needed the wide-ranging hearing ability of a pricked ear, more than they relied on e.g. sight to detect threats. Some 'dogs' like Bush Dogs have very small ears, although still upright, because they live in circumstances where long-distance precise hearing is less advantageous.

Just as elephants and other critters evolved in their own way, depending on what was required by habitat, predatory threat or status, etc. And therefore some have pricked ears and some do not.

Domestic dog breeds however have emerged from a process where humans interfered and determined what features were needed (even on a very basic level, well before 'breeds' as such became of any importance, mainly from late 1700s or so onward). People like to take into their care juveniles, not adults. People may well have taken in wild wolf cubs as part of the initial domestication of the dog family.
Baby dogs almost always have drop ears at first, whatever the breed - even GSDs, born with small pricked ears, go through a phase of dropped ears when tiny. This is about human preferences, its not about Nature / what is 'natural'.

So its no surprise if an organisation wants to take this 'babyish appeal' factor into account, is it ?

Mr Prager:

Please explain to this misguided PC crowd in your infinite wisdom why cropping ears was done for health reasons.

The vast majority of original dog breeds have dropped/floppy ears so why didn't we crop them all. Instead of select breeds like the Doggo Argentino, Cane Corso, Pitbull, Great Dane and so on.

And when your ad it, why the original founders of these dropped ear breeds choose for dropped ears when according to you this is a hazard to their breed. And what about the tale.

The propensity of ear problems is has much more to do with wreck less breeding then physical form of the ears.

 

Back to the topic: We all agree on this board that a GSD without at least temperament is not worth breeding. Sniffing innocent (until proven guilty) nervous,anxious people/children could lead to a mishap.

Then they sue your ass off. So for safety reason it is plausible.

The work of the shepherd breeds has almost been confined to LE, Personal Protection and LE and PP simulating sports. The rest of dog jobs are multi breed jobs.

As the GSD is the most versatile breed on the planet, i think it is a shame we don't use the potential of this magnificent breed in a broader way then at the moment.

breeding for extremes, be it looks, agression, preydrive, you name it, has made the breed less desirable(generally speaking) for jobs that require moderate drives, low agression, and good physical abilitys

 

where the showline is almost only suitable for show and pet, there are some possabilities for working line dogs in different venues, also there are different lines with differen balance of drives also

todays sportdogs and desire to match malinoislike drives, makes them suitable mostly for sport only, and some for LE, as what we see alot, with malinoislike drives, we also get malinoislike nerves as well, which is also not desirable for pets also

what I personally see is that dogsfrom older lines, be it czech or german, that dogs are better balanced, suitable for more jobs, more easy as a pet or in kennel, but due to lack of extremes, not so desired by the sport and macho crowd and therefore loosing ground, but with that the breed is loosing ground in suitabilty for larger variety of jobs

 

TSA, what to say, that is of NO impact for the breed, as nobody will start to breed floppy eard GSD and demand worldwide for GSD is still bigger than supply, so impact zero

it is however concerning that a government security agency is allowing itself to get weaker, in order to comfort peoples feelings, as that never was a problem in previous decades.

we are definately on the wrong way with watering down everything, including IPO program, again, breedingrequirements, trainingmethods, humanizing dogs, etc etc

Please don't be fooled by long floppy ears when it comes to hearing. Having owned/bred many Cocker Spaniels take it from one who knows they could/can hear, and smell, the grass growing a mile away... from a very young age. NEVER had one that couldn't!!

 

Never had any ear infections either....ever!!

I've been around many working spaniels ,Labs ,and other soft ear dogs for explosive gun's and so on. If people think gsd is a better dog for this job they are sadly mistaken . GS can do the job as well but not better . GS won't fit in a small space as well as a dog that weighs 20 killo less . I don't agree with the change because people don't like them . A dog that does this job is the dog that should be there . But if these small dogs are less intimidating to young children I would think it's a better way to do business . If you're grand children were afraid of clowns would u bring a clown to the birthday party or would u bring a big cuddly floppy ear teddy 😂😂

Clowns are not being used to secure the safely of millions of Americans.....neither are birthday parties.