Are we on the right path? - Page 1

I read with joy the article that Her Walter Hoffman has on his website about the evolution of the German Shepherd. He supports his opinions with facts and graphs on the change in the breed in the past 50 years. He is a man of eminent qualification to make this assessment and I think that he allows facts to shape his opinions and recommendations. What a refreshing concept instead of emotion and kennelblindness. I think if you google www.hoffman-walter.de you can pull up the site and read for yourself. I want to thank Nia for opening my eyes to the article from another list, and just say that I think Herr Hoffman echoes my view of the breed for the near forty years I have been active.

I am so glad that someone from the list DID read the article. I hope that more will do so and we can open a productive dialogue regarding the breed in this country.

Here is the link to the article: http://www.hoffmann-walter.de/e_weg_vortrag.htm

Excellent article! Thank you so much for the link!

One thing that really stood out was this:

SchH3 tracks with acute turns and cross track in change of terrain without any visible pattern,
Obedience with a 2 meter high wall (high demand placed on the structure)
Protection helpers with adventurous protection materials.

This often really hard work on the dogs is unthinkable in today’s age.

Despite the high demands placed on talent, drive and stress-tolerance these dogs not only withstood the stress, but also were healthier and lived longer.


Now, as we know with the showlines of today:

Especially in the area of show lines one concentrated more on closer in-breeding and paid less attention to bloodlines, especially such lines as Canto, Quanto Wiernerau, Mutz Peltztierfarm.

What is left today is the Canto – Quanto lineage with nearly 80% of these dogs presented at the Sieger Show. 

Anyone else thinking 'inbreeding depression' just might be to blame for the shorter lifespan and health issues of the modern dogs? 

It would be interesting to do a study comparing the showlines with the working lines as far as longevity goes. The working lines have a much broader genetic base, as anyone will see when looking at their pedigrees.

Can someone explain what is meant by 'Protection helpers with adventurous protection materials'?  Somehow I'm picturing modern wrestlers who like to hide nasty 'foreign objects' in their wrestling gear....  .... and I don't much care for the image!

I liked the idea of, 'giving other qualities of the GSD an assigned value as are done with hip scores, to assist smaller breeders in making suitable breed partner choices', I'm paraphrasing, but that was the general idea. Good ideas. But when he stresses uniformity, is he suggesting uniformity in all aspects of the breed? Color, coat, conformation, temperment, stress tolerance....all good---but with more uniformity, will our breed lose it's versatiliy, or heighten it? jackie harris ( my keyboard is working marginally, please forgive the typos, thanx)

My take is that he wants to eliminate the split in the breed between working lines/showlines, and have one universal breed test that will judge both conformation and working ability, with equal stress being given to both areas. I don't see this as requiring uniformity, only that both the showlines and working lines will have to improve on their weak areas. The show lines will have to do better on the courage test and the working lines will need to improve their conformation. I can't really see this as being a bad thing.

But maybe i'm being overly optimistic...

 

Thanks to  Mystere and Gustav, for linking us to this article. 

Kalibeck, it just so happens, the Malinios Korung was being discussed on another board, here is a link to a site that describes the grading system:

 http://www.malinut.com/ref/library/wertmessziffern/

It is my understanding, the test is not standard, it changes, so it is perhaps a better test of the dog than it's training.  I have also heard that the test is fluid in that if the organization determines there is a trend of any particular flaw, the test is modified to identify those particular lines in order for the breeders to take steps to correct the issue.  I wonder if the GSD would be better served by modifying the breed survey along similar lines?

it was an interesting read.

only those breeders who WANT to make a difference will.   the rest will keep doing what they have, or worse try and make something new.   king, shiloh, white, etc.

from what i have seen, too many people have their own idea of what an ideal german shepherd is, and far too many of them ignore the fact that it is a working breed ( i know someone is going to tell me they are herding dogs, but  lets be real, they do more than that.)

personally i dont see any type of movement that would result in change.  money, personal agenda's, etc.  will far out weigh the benefit of the breed.  besides,  who is going to govern any type of change?  that will be the real tricky one.

john