the evolution of the german shepherd?? - Page 1

why has the shepherd evolved not so greatly..............i mean great looks but physically a pale imitation of what it once was............

they look nice but knwoing their shortcomings of the way they were it takes from their beauty........

Eddy, I don´t want to disappoint you, but I´m pretty sure you haven´t seen the dysplastic dogs of the "good old times".
Only the best of the best were able to absolve training for a longer period.
People only remember the best, but they forget the rest...

For good or bad, what has transformed the breed over the past 100
years isn't 'evolving' (i.e.  is not Evolution).   Changes have occurred because
people  have chosen which dogs get mated ;  which dogs are 'succesful'
in any field ; what medical treatments to apply;  what to feed.  Nothing very
natural about that process ...

hundmutter.... kinda the same thing isnt it? How about "evolution by design"

Its difficult to say better in assessing then and now....but they were different.....of course you had to have worked a representative amount at both times to really know or see the differences.

the more i look at the history of the german shepherd and look at pictures i start to get the impression that the shepherd is a "mutt"............i mean if u look closely they come in so many colours, coats. sizes..........

the more they stray from that "mutt" looking dog and breed for conformation not sure its a good thing....................although the ideal would be to combine great looks with great working ability........

Vomeisenhaus   LOL.  No.

evolution is normally the effect of nature/environment/other things that exclude human intervention............choosing what to breed to what is man playing "GOD", taking the natural elements out of it.....................for the dog to evolve we would have to take 1000 GSD's put them on an island ans stay away for 1000 yrs then come back and grab the remaining alpha and start from their.............they would probably undomesticate, and turn into wild attack beast........



even if u did this it wouldnt last cause like most other thing especially in america.....some rich person with the money/means, and possible little knowledge would start to breed a bunch of them like they wanted then others would follow and reruin the 1000 yrs of hard work

Some thoughts. Mutts? that word has the ring of no respect for the breed. I am happy and content to be involved with the GSD breed. There is a wealth of ability and knowledge if you look for it. This is one source but you need to glean the pearls from the oyster guts.                                                                                                                                                                    1000 GSDs on a deserted island will not make ''wild attack  beasts'' but will bring on a homogenized specimen which will look more dingo than GSD. Observe any group of breeding ferile dogs on any continent and they look alike. There has been educational TV programs which demonstrated this point. Without human intervention the ''wild '' pack become very similar genotype and phenotype no matter where you go. These dogs will hang out on the fringe of a town and not have much to do with humans other than eat our  waste                                                                                                                                           One hundred and ten years ago von Stepenitz began the breed using ''the best sheep herding dogs'' he could find in Germany. He used intence line and even in-breeding to move towards our mordern GSD. Over the years HIGH LINES and Working lines went  almost seperate ways leaving todays enthustist with what can appear to be two different breeds. I hear talk of enforcing the breed standard but at this time each GSD person must educate yourself to which lines you feel adhere to a very well written and  well thought out breed standard. The architects were good, but some times the builders look like the 3 stoogies. Sometimes the builders look like Einstein. Choose wisely

In 1899 is when it all started.....by 1925 von Stepenitz and others created uniformity.