WL Structure Critique - Page 1

I'm fairly new to German Shepherds, so I would appreciate a critque of my boy Rob's structure.  He is 2.5 years old.  We are working on his Schutzhund titles, and I thought it would be fun after his SchH1 to get a show rating and breed survey.  But I don't want to be laughed out of the ring if his structure is just awful.  My current club works mostly with Mals and Rotts.  My old club thought structure critique was the devil's work.

It would appear to me that Rob has a roach back.  I have included my best attempt to stack him (age 2), a free pose (age 2.5) and a video of him (age 2.5).

Additionally, he has a curly tail.  I noticed it after his tail tip injury at age 1, which I had to keep wrapped to prevent the wound from openning.  I don't remeber if his tail was curly before the injury.  So I'm curious to know if the tails can curl later in life or if it is genetic.

Thank you.

www.youtube.com/watch

I don't think his tail is overly curly, nor does he looked roached to me. Pending correct dentition, looks like an SG dog to me, easily. Why not survey him? And structure is vital for the longevity and ability of all working dogs, so I say go for it!

Your dog is substantially better than most top competitive working line profung GSDs.  Overall he is masculine and attractive.  His expression is excellent. His head is very nice.  Color is good.  How does he vary from the standard?  That is the question.  Remember almost every single GSD even the top VA sholwines vary from the standard at some point.  Few are perfect.  You can takle a side photo of your dog and make a tracing on tiisue paper and compare it to the standard by overlaying it. 

This dog is very nice looking and anyone should be proud to own it.  He is not going to be competitive in the show ring, but so what.  Assuming his hips and elbows are good, he is built well enough to work all day and live out a normal life.  He has a nice front and enough rear angulation to move adequately. 

Would I take him into the show ring to compete if I were you.  No, because he wouldn't place high enough for my satisfaction.  If you want a working line GSD that can win in the show ring there are some older puppies out of top European studs that can do so, but we are talking about very, very big money to acquire on and you would probably have to have a very experineced agent, breed warden or breeder assisting you.

FWIW, I like your dog and think the structure is very good

Rik

Agree with others,he should get SG without any problems.

I think it would be well worth getting a show card on him and a breed survey. Very nice dog indeed. What is his pedigree?

Rob's (registered name is Foss) pedigree:
www.pedigreedatabase.com/german_shepherd_dog/pedigree/561181.html

So the fact that his spine curves upwards and then back down mid back is okay?  Or am I just seeing things?  The video I thought showed this.

Thanks for the replies so far.  It sounds like he is decent enough that it would be worth it to get a show rating and breed survey.

 Looks to have a pretty typical back to me. A lot of GSDs have the slight roundness to the back. The breed standard calls for slightly sloping. Personally, I would prefer a straighter back but that does not mean he is flawed because he has the typical slightly rounder back. JMHO

I also agree he could get an SG. He has a decent back, laid back shoulders, could use more angulation in the rear (but its not bad), his pasterns are okay, his tail set looks to be good (hard to see for sure), and he has a nice expressive head with a correct ear set.

As for the tail, my WL bitch has a straight tail when she wants it to be, but it will also curl a bit half the time. A lot of them do this, so don't worry about it.

Your dog's back is not roached. Instead, he has a "hinged back" about at the T-L junction (thoracolumbar junction) which is the weakest part of a dog's back and the area most likely to suffer sports injury (because the thoracic spine is fairly rigid and the lumbar spine is more mobile) and is responsible for most low back pain in the canine and the human patient. I suffered a compression fracture (with no intervertbral herniation) of L-1 when thrown from a bicycle while roadworking a dog. Later on, I experienced epsodes of severe sciatica which required epidural injections to correct.

Especially, consider damage that may be done to this region when the dog is caught by the helper and spun in the air like a helicopter. T-L junction pathhology is unlikely to affect the dog's breed survey unless the condition is pronounced.

http://www.dachshund-dca.org/discbook.html

Also, consider the damage to his self respect, when he finds you've entered him in the presence of showline competitors, playing the game by their rules.  Might ruin the handler bond or any confidence he has in you once he figures out what you've done.  There could be profound detrimental effects on his self esteem, as there would be of any showline that came to play on his field.  :-)