standard of our German Shepherd - Page 1

The german shepherd standard has been there for a longtime.And as we know thru time living things changes like human beings we become taller,bigger because of the food intake we have.Why is the SV not changing there standard?Can you please comment.

The SV has already changed the standard once. The original GSD used to be 2 inches smaller. The breeding goal should be to maintain the standard, not to adjust the standard to every current fad and whim. The right food will not make the GSD larger. On the contrary. A good high quality premium food that provides just the right amounts of balanced nutrients ensures a slower, more steady growth rate. If you feed food that is too rich, you may get rapid growth spurts, which are not good for a growing pup. Things like neutering before growth plates are closed also affects growth. Hormones in the food supply certainly do their part too, just like in humans. Not just the extra calories that are responsible for more size. There are always dogs on both sides of the height spectrum. That is why you have the standard, to make sure the ideal is met, not extremes. Sometimes, when considering the whole dog, a discrepancy in size is an acceptable 'fault' if everything else is excellent. Though some of the prominent dogs are on the large side, lots of smaller GSD are still produced. The current trend is to return to the ideal medium size. Larger is not always better. Neither is too small. Hence 'ideal medium size'.

I think the current standard is ideal for a working dog. Police are working with Malinois which are generally not as large as a GSD so I do not see a point to going even larger. Too many are already bred to be larger than the standard and I think it hurts the breeds working ability most of the time. JMO, Robin

Hi DH, I agree with everything you said. But only one thing : " Die großen Ochsen, mit den großen Köppen laufen vorn, und die richtige Größe weiter hinten !" Gruß Ulli

Ulli, manche lernen halt nie dass die ganz grossen Ochsen besser im Stall bleiben sollten ;o).

Don't know how many times I have had people tell me that my females are not very "big" compared to some other GSD. All I tell them is thanks! She is a perfect middle size and most males have nothing on her. Human nature likes to have bigger sized dogs and their is a good pet market for them. Problem with bigger also is that their is also a tendency for the dog to get a longer back which creates more problems including less athletic ability.

In my experience, the bigger the dog, the less endurance. Asking an oversize GSD to herd sheep is like asking a weight lifter to complete the Boston Marathon. The dog's final size is determined by it's genes, not the amount or quality of food it is eating. You can't "make" a dog bigger by feeding it more calories and the only way to "make" a dog smaller is to cause a state of malnutrition by starvation. If breeding the ideal size GSD were easy everyone would be doing it.

I dunno guys, I have a very "big" male, not big by mass but tall. Oversized I guess, long back a very lanky not so good looking you could say but as healthy and athletic as you can get. This guy runs fast and jumps high. Also he could go all day long. Jogging and walking with him doesn't cut it and he doesn't play ball. The only way I have found to exersize him at his ability is to take him out in the country and let him out of the car. He runs in the fields next to the car for 2-6 miles depending on conditions and how much time I have. We do this every day or he gets to be too much. He was built for speed and loves to run. One of these days I will have to take my camera and record my guys and post a link on her for you all to see.

Herding all day might put a lot more demand on him than the work he's getting now, I don't know. Then again there is always the exception to every rule, he may be the exception.

Well he is 7 and never seen a sheep, so I dunno how I could work that in...lol. He might like tasting the sheeps as appossed to hearding it.