German Shepherds

40 odd years ago you routinely checked pups in a litter for rear dew claws, and any present were removed at a couple of days old. I don't remember seeing rear dew claws on a pup for many years though, which is good and certainly not seen them on an adult. Most breeders will remove them from pups as it is a far bigger procedure in the older dog.
 
Pr1nce said:
photo.php


https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=110859295579&set=a.109168600579.196748.901380579&type=3

This is Toby who is now 15 and a bit wobbly! Nicest natured dog I've ever had!
Click to expand...

Here are Toby's photos for Pr1nce. What a lovely boy.

3132mpl.jpg


No idea, how to turn this photo the right way (I did try, sorry).

23ur9jo.jpg
 
Lovely dogs :)
I've done a bit of everything with mine over the years, I was born into it and there's no other breed for me, GSDs are a way of life!
I think it is important to show, work and health test, to showcase the complete animal and to contribute to research, record-keeping and the gene pool for the future.

As regards hips, if you research your lines and go for those proven to have genetically good hips and elbows over many generations, you'd be extremely unlucky to have one with problems. To me elbows are just as important.
The German system has passing and failing scores over which you cannot breed, show or work at high level, and an advanced database which makes it much easier to check back.
Under the BVA scheme, while there is no consequence from breeding from high hips and no 'breeding ban', it is recommended that for 'responsible breeding', only animals with results under the mean score for the breed should be bred from (Hips total 11, elbows total 0).
The BVA hip scoring scheme has been in place in the UK since the 70s and the SV system has also available to use for many years, there really is no excuse for anyone to be breeding from untested or high scoring animals.
What a lot of people think is bad hips ('going down at the rear end') is actually CDRM, a neurological condition which weakens the back legs and then travels back up the spine.
There is now a DNA test for this condition so that people can avoid breeding from carriers if they so choose.

Also never seen a dog with rear dewclaws for a loooong time.
 
WorkingGSD said:
Here are Toby's photos for Pr1nce. What a lovely boy.

3132mpl.jpg


No idea, how to turn this photo the right way (I did try, sorry).

23ur9jo.jpg
Click to expand...

Thank You so much WGSD, no idea how i managed to take the sideways one yesterday!
He is starting look every bit of his 15 years but apart from the grizzled look and the wobbly back legs he is still as full of life as he ever was and loves his toys, especially the squeaky ball in the pic (he is giving Jack BC a dirty look as he was getting ready to swipe it!)
 
Pr1nce said:
Thank You so much WGSD, no idea how i managed to take the sideways one yesterday!
He is starting look every bit of his 15 years but apart from the grizzled look and the wobbly back legs he is still as full of life as he ever was and loves his toys, especially the squeaky ball in the pic (he is giving Jack BC a dirty look as he was getting ready to swipe it!)
Click to expand...

Bless him! He looks good for 15 years. Treasure your time with him. Here was my old lady at 14 and not long before I had to say goodbye to her for the last time.

30jn0x0.jpg
 
what a lovely wise face :)

I know he's very much on borrowed time so we are just plodding along and taking each day as it comes (15 seems to be my magic number with dogs so i feel like i'm on a count down this year :( )
 
Too add to the previous discussion, there was no real split between show and working types up until the 80s and it was a concerted promotion of a certain type, by a small number of revered individuals which caused it.
All the dogs in the show ring and in working trials on the continent were of the same lines until then.
The reason continental working lines had to be imported to the UK, was because of that split.
 
Thanks for this thread. Was thinking of posting similar a while ago, asking for people's photos! The guy I buy my eggs from has around 6 long haired GSDs that guard his property. They are jolly scary when there is no person around and they all run at the gate barking, but as soon as one of their owners is around they are soft as anything. He recently acquired a puppy, it looked exactly like Yogi's puppy photo and I admit I fell in love after a previous phobia! I am glad to hear they can be family dogs as I don't hear that often and have a small child (and cats and ponies) to consider when we do get a dog eventually.
 
My mother wrote a very strongly worded letter to the canine press about the removal of rear dewclaws as a teenager, I must look it up, I can't remember whether she was for or against, but she definitely had a bee in her bonnet either way :p
A female I had ripped her fronts and that was bad enough.

Absolutely family dogs, I had one at my side every day when I grew up :)
 
Lots of lovely dogs. Zak is my favourite HHO dog out of all of them though. He is so handsome and sounds like a fab dog to have around. I am very tempted by a working type GSD next time around. Our collie is just over one now and has been brilliant so when the lurcher goes (who is only 7 now, so probably will have a while to wait!) the decision will be between another collie and a GSD.
 
texas said:
Thanks for this thread. Was thinking of posting similar a while ago, asking for people's photos! The guy I buy my eggs from has around 6 long haired GSDs that guard his property. They are jolly scary when there is no person around and they all run at the gate barking, but as soon as one of their owners is around they are soft as anything. He recently acquired a puppy, it looked exactly like Yogi's puppy photo and I admit I fell in love after a previous phobia! I am glad to hear they can be family dogs as I don't hear that often and have a small child (and cats and ponies) to consider when we do get a dog eventually.
Click to expand...

They can be the BEST family dogs. My younger son has an amazing relationship with Zak in particular. It is obviously important to choose your breeder carefully and look for one who is breeding for excellent temperament as well as health. Kids also need to be taught to respect the dog and vice versa - as with any breed.

One of my fave photos of Zak and Ben (and I have many more). Zak is also really safe around Ben's friends who come to play too.

2edp3pt.jpg
 
Sprig said:
Lots of lovely dogs. Zak is my favourite HHO dog out of all of them though. He is so handsome and sounds like a fab dog to have around. I am very tempted by a working type GSD next time around. Our collie is just over one now and has been brilliant so when the lurcher goes (who is only 7 now, so probably will have a while to wait!) the decision will be between another collie and a GSD.
Click to expand...

Aw thanks Sprig. He really is a great dog. Collies and GSDs do compliment each other well too ;)
 
WorkingGSD said:
They can be the BEST family dogs. My younger son has an amazing relationship with Zak in particular. It is obviously important to choose your breeder carefully and look for one who is breeding for excellent temperament as well as health. Kids also need to be taught to respect the dog and vice versa - as with any breed.

One of my fave photos of Zak and Ben (and I have many more). Zak is also really safe around Ben's friends who come to play too.

2edp3pt.jpg
Click to expand...

This is a brilliant photo!
 
WorkingGSD said:
They can be the BEST family dogs. My younger son has an amazing relationship with Zak in particular. It is obviously important to choose your breeder carefully and look for one who is breeding for excellent temperament as well as health. Kids also need to be taught to respect the dog and vice versa - as with any breed.

One of my fave photos of Zak and Ben (and I have many more). Zak is also really safe around Ben's friends who come to play too.

2edp3pt.jpg
Click to expand...

Beautiful picture
 
WorkingGSD said:
GSDs in the UK have certainly changed over the past 30 odd years.
Click to expand...

The dogs I saw when I was growing up in the 1970s and 1980s were in England, and I suppose a number of them might have been retired police dogs as well as active working dogs.

Those I see today are in France.

I hadn't thought that there could well be a preference for a different body shape over here, just because it's a different country, as well as the breed having changed over time...
 
WorkingGSD said:
They can be the BEST family dogs. My younger son has an amazing relationship with Zak in particular. It is obviously important to choose your breeder carefully and look for one who is breeding for excellent temperament as well as health. Kids also need to be taught to respect the dog and vice versa - as with any breed.

One of my fave photos of Zak and Ben (and I have many more). Zak is also really safe around Ben's friends who come to play too.

2edp3pt.jpg
Click to expand...

Lovely photo. It'll be a couple of years before we are ready to add a dog to the mix and I expect I'll be posting for advise here, hopefully you'll still be around :) I'm certainly doing my best to teach my child to respect the animals in the mean time!
 
Keith_Beef said:
The dogs I saw when I was growing up in the 1970s and 1980s were in England, and I suppose a number of them might have been retired police dogs as well as active working dogs.

Those I see today are in France.

I hadn't thought that there could well be a preference for a different body shape over here, just because it's a different country, as well as the breed having changed over time...
Click to expand...

In France I've seen dogs I've never seen walking down a street in any other country (Beauceron, Komondor) but no German Shepherds out and about.
A French dog won the world breed show a few years back (and he is now in most show pedigrees) and they do send a team to the working world championships every year.
The latter has been held in France a few times, most recently four years back, but in the part of France which used to be in Germany ;)
French Ring is a slightly similar but more popular sport there (for obvious reasons :p) than IPO or Schutzhund, which is the original breed selection mechanism/sport for the German Shepherd Dog.
As with any country, there will be show lines, working lines, pet lines and everything else in between!
 
CorvusCorax said:
In France I've seen dogs I've never seen walking down a street in any other country
Click to expand...

I meet a few dogs in my town, but not really all that many. I've caught a few loose ones, though; a Weimeraner, Golden retriever, a couple of mongrels, either in the school playground (as kids are arriving in the morning, the dog sees kids playing with a ball and dashes in when a gate opens to let parents in or out) or running around in traffic.

I live in a small town, and work in Paris; a lot of people live in small flats, so they tend to have yappy little dogs that I dislike intensely: chihuahuas, French bulldogs, pugs.
 
Keith_Beef said:
The dogs I saw when I was growing up in the 1970s and 1980s were in England, and I suppose a number of them might have been retired police dogs as well as active working dogs.

Those I see today are in France.

I hadn't thought that there could well be a preference for a different body shape over here, just because it's a different country, as well as the breed having changed over time...
Click to expand...

You get the working lines and the West German show types in France as you do here in the UK. French Ring does tend to be the sport of choice for the working lines in France though and they have some absolutely super dogs. A friend imported one a few years back and he is a cracking dog. I would definitely consider a French working line dog in future. They tend to be smaller and more agile.

This dog is superb imo.
http://deslegendesdhirjasko.chiens-...e,jaguar-de-la-coquellerie,52327,1040800.html

And this is the father of my friend's dog. He was another great dog.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mdg2lnOrwW0

And here is a random French WGSL kennel , which I am assuming are the type of shepherds you have seen.
http://www.collinesduboischaut.com/pages/nos-bergers-allemands-etalons/

In the 70s/80s in the UK we ha the more "Alsatian" type. It is quite amazing how many different types of one breed there are!

And some fantastic old footage of 1960s "Alsatian"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EysUF-kkQAw

And 1961 War Dogs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Lnmg984pns

I love all these old films!
 
texas said:
Lovely photo. It'll be a couple of years before we are ready to add a dog to the mix and I expect I'll be posting for advise here, hopefully you'll still be around :) I'm certainly doing my best to teach my child to respect the animals in the mean time!
Click to expand...

Happy to help if I can :)
 
Thank you she did her homework before she got him. She spends a lot of time on him. He is very clever maybe too clever lol
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top