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by JWALKER on 25 April 2011 - 00:04
by Peaslee on 25 April 2011 - 01:04
The Martin Shepherd, Dog of the Future ?
Jim Engel, October 2010
In the advent of our American working dog awakening we looked to Europe for dogs, leadership, knowledge and the helping hand up; and this was right and good for it was in central Europe — Belgium, Germany, France, the Netherlands — where the transformation of a millennium of evolving herding dog service and culture into our protective heritage breeds had taken place. It is because of the foresight and leadership of men such as Konrad Most and Max von Stephanitz in Germany and Earnest van Wesemael and Adolphe Reul in Belgium that we have the police, service and military dog culture of today, which has taken the canine partnership with mankind to new levels.
Little did we know in the seventies and eighties as our idealistic quest gathered momentum that the new generation of leadership had feet of clay, that even then betrayal was lurking in high places of the Verein für Deutsche Schäferhunde (SV), the mother club of the German Shepherd. These heirs of von Stephanitz, these Germans on our pedestal, were abandoning his credo "form must follow function" in favor of their own new credo: "beauty is what we say it is and good enough rather than excellence is to be the motto for work." And, of course, should good enough get to be a problem they could always further water down the Schutzhund trial, for they held the keys of the kingdom for good or for evil.
The result of all of this was the gradual but incessant and now far advanced division of the German Shepherds of the mother land into show lines and the working lines. Cavalry Captain von Stephanitz would without doubt roll over in his grave.
Thus during the later half of the twentieth century the world of the SV, the German Shepherd, was increasingly dominated and transformed by a cabal of new men focused on the form, structure and external appearance of the German Shepherd with a concurrent, gradual, incessant loss of focus on the working origins of the breed.
Perhaps the penultimate instance of this were the Martin brothers, Walter of the von der Wienerau kennel and Herman whose kennel was vom Arminius. Walter was the guiding light, the architect of the new German Shepherd, and Herman was SV president from 1984 until 1994, only two years before the passing of both brothers within weeks in the fall of 1996.
by Peaslee on 25 April 2011 - 01:04
by martinusta1980 on 25 April 2011 - 03:04
by SitasMom on 25 April 2011 - 03:04
by Peaslee on 25 April 2011 - 10:04
by Gustav on 25 April 2011 - 11:04
by Abby Normal on 25 April 2011 - 12:04
Gustav, I would agree with you if I thought that these dogs were comfortable in their skins. I would simply think 'well they wouldn't be my choice, but carry on'. Much as I look at certain breeds of dog and think I wouldn't want one. But some show GSDs I have seen so often don't, and that includes some high profile dogs.
How can you possibly defend breeding an animal that has an inability to move properly?? We are talking the most basic anatomy and movemement. We are talking about a living creature and not a handbag. If you wanted to produce a handbage that looked mis-shapen, didn't do the job, and fell apart within a year or two, I'm with you, go right ahead. However a dog is a living thing and it has to live in the body SOMEONE 'created' for it for the rest of it's life to me that is wrong and I won't cannot defend anyone's right to do it. Yes, it makes me angry, bloody angry to see people calling this a German Shepherd dog.
By the way, it's not 'bashing' it challenging and questioning whether this is what should be happening. People hide behind the term 'bashing' to make them seem like the victims.
What we hear from the showline breeder is that these videos were shot in 'the wrong place', 'from the wrong angle' etc and very few dogs are this bad. Well, to all those I would say take a video of your dog's movement, in slow motion and let us see what progress we are making to get away from these problems.
Gustav, do you know that in Germany some breeders are now x-raying GSD's spines prior to breeding? Want to hazard a guess as to why?
by Peaslee on 25 April 2011 - 13:04
My only hope is that some people will look at the information, remove the blinders and leave the showlines in the dust. To the person who is genuinely considering a showline only because SL breeders have fed them what they want to hear and they've seen the big black and tans, consider them a "German Shepherd".....I'd say do the resesarch.
Don't just talk to SL breeders! Call people who are active in the sport, people who have worked many, many dogs over the years and ask their opinion. Talk to some experienced helpers! They'll give you an earful!
by Abby Normal on 25 April 2011 - 14:04
I admit to being a little mystified. Have you not been insistent that a GSD should have working ability in the past? Or.....were you showing just a little bit of sarcasm
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