Structure of the GSD - Beneficial or Detrimental? - Page 2

never mind

Well zdog for something that "hardly means anything in the grand
scheme of dogs", its AWFULLY popular !  Yes, its a Sport rather
than a 'job of work';  but its a competitive sport, and ppl involved
with it take it VERY seriously.  And I dunno about in America, but
in the UK our Kennel Club etc spend a lot of time encouraging and
filming it etc, it gets a huge chunk of the Agenda at Crufts for instance;
and many of the regional teams are extremely picky about the standard
of dogs and ppl who join them to compete.  That sounds to me like a
fair ol' "something" in the general scheme of dogs;  its very easy to write
off as unimportant something one is not involved with oneself, but you
have to look at these things objectively sometimes.  Across all levels
and all breeds, it is probably one of the biggest leisure activities for dogs
these days.

are you all PMS'ing women?  It is popular, it's very fun, I have friends that compete in it.  I do not however.  I certainly see all the value they gain from it.  I have nothing against it.  You're making my point for me.  It is a wildly poplular leisure activity.  I could go into any shelter in the US and could probably do flyball with 90% or more of the dogs in there.  In the grand scheme of things it doesn't tell you very much about a dog.  I'm sorry you're defensive and hurt by that statement, but seriously, they run out turn around and come back.  

Wow I thought the MCP PMS'ing comments about women went fell out of vogue in the 50's. And you're an MD, Zdog? You must have a unique bedside manner assuming you even treat females in your practice. You're feeling off today? Take a Midol and call me in the morning.

I'll bet I could go to a shelter and find a dog that could do French Ring.

Do you guys even do flyball? LOL

It's like any other sport, it is what YOU make of it.  Yes, you can do flyball with pretty much any dog that doesn't chase other dogs.  I've seen flyball dogs that do 9 second runs and I've seen flyball dogs that do 3.5 second runs.  I've competed alongside the world record holders and some of the slowest teams in our region.  You can do flyball to have fun with your pet dog and take 2 years to train your 5.5 second dog and compete only twice a year, or you and do flyball like your life depends on it and compete every weekend with the best teams in the world.  Why are you guys even arguing about this?  What's it to you why people do the sports that they do and what their levels of commitment are?  If you want to compete in Div 1 at Nationals and have a shot at a world record you are most certainly not just dabbling in flyball for fun with your random pet but for 90% of the people that do flyball, that's not the case.  Same is true for agility, rally, obedience, probably even IPO/SchH at least in my experience...  big whup.

I already made it clear i don't, by saying I don't :)

Why I'm arguing?  I don't know, bored.  I made a comment about finding it silly that GSD's can't handle flyball because of structure.  and people sitting around looking for a reason to be offended got hurt by me saying flyball doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things.  Meaning it's hardly something a dog breeder should be "striving" for in their breeding program.  It wasn't a statement about handlers, commitment, level of fun, amount of work, time, blood, sweat, or tears that go into it.  I tried to clarify, but i'm mostly done.  IS that ok?

Sure it's OK. Let's just chalk it off to one of those monthly testosterone overloads.

Well, you're wrong if you think that GSDs can be just as good as other breeds at flyball and that structure doesn't matter, but I completely agree that it's not a breed assessment and even for someone like myself that has done it with GSDs, I don't in any way consider it a breed assessment. Do not say a GSD's conformation is detrimental because they aren't the top choice for a sport that doesn't really matter to the breed and its purpose.

If someone wants to be super competitive in flyball they'll need a dog whose structure is conducive to the sport, period.  Same reason why you don't see Yorkies doing SchH.  Beyond the obvious, they have physical limitations.  GSDs can compete respectably well in flyball so if that's all one aspires to, no biggy.  The vast majority of people doing flyball will fall into that category, they're not obsessed with running sub-15 team and 3.5 second dogs. 

Don't be putting words in my mouth.  They should be able to compete just fine.  Of course, any larger dog will be at a slight disadvantage in smaller spaces.  If your goal is to win a nationals, you'll probably have better luck with a different breed, but to say their conformation will prohibit them from competing??

Post-menopausal, me - so that's a ridiculous value judgement in my
case.  Not at all 'hurt and offended' ... just right !  

If there were absolutely no differences between individual dogs in their
ability to catch the ball from the machine;  hurdle;  do it at phenomenal
speed, and so on,  then zdog you could have a point.  But those differences
do exist, and some people who are into Flyball in a big way set quite a lot
of store by them.  And I'm sure their breeding plans reflect that (as well as
size).

It matters not at all to me, I have not the physique or inclination to participate
in Flyball, and although I'll enjoy watching a bit of a competition, I get bored
fairly easily. But that is just my preference.  No one, of course, ever does e.g.
IPO just for its leisure time, fun, entertainment value, doing something WITH their
dogs ...  absolutely everyone who does it is striving to get the highest points, win
big, be on their national teams, put Titles on their dogs and increase their breeding
income potential ???  I want to add a very rude word here (meaning two round things)
but I'd better not.