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CANINE STRUCTURE AND MOVEMENTby Gordon Garrett, B.A., CKC Judge (All-Breed), GSD Authority
How The German Shepherd Dog Breed Standard Affects Soundness
I am not sure how thoroughly the judge checked teeth but every dog was gone over including flipping of tails. That seems to be a usual practice of All-Rounders who have read the Standard. I thought the judge was bewildered--they all looked capable of winning--he did all but scratch his head as he moved dogs back and forth in the lineup, then around. His problem was that they were all excellent.
The rears were most revealing, showing over-angulation either from steep croups or long rear leg bones, causing dogs to buckle up the rear on driving forward, curling and dragging back toes as they moved the hind leg forward.
I have written before about the AKC standard for the German Shepherd and how there is a built in formula for faulty structure and movement in it. The standard was rewritten a number of years ago and as time has moved on old judges have passed on and breeders have become judges by being familiar with the standard. New breeders have come along and when an old timer like me points out that such structure is wrong, they just point to the standard and there is the proof, that I am wrong.
In a discussion I had with a friend we went back and forth on the German Shepherd Dog breed standard. One comment during the discussion suggested that the hind leg was not fully extended because even though the front leg was fully extended, the hind leg was at a different stage of its cycle.
That is nature's way, that the front and rear alternate legs move in sync as they trot. The fact is that when the rear angulation of the German Shepherd is increased by steepening the croup the hind leg cannot get untracked. It is a fault that is more than serious.
This is why we have dogs that drag the tops of their rear toes, but that is not all. They also cannot push forward correctly.
In an example from a human point of view, I found when I walk my knee does not straighten fully but when I go up stairs I literally have to straighten my knee each time I push myself up each stair.
We seem to be breeding more rear angulation with the mentioned problem and shorter upper arms that is causing the dogs on the front reach to either push their front legs out or lift them.
We can't blame the judges, whether they are specialty or all breed judges. I know when I was judging I would take the best of what was shown under me and sometimes I felt insulted by what was shown but I never ever took the option of dismissing any dogs even though from time to time felt that I should.
Maybe I was wrong not to.
I see these people displaying their winners on Facebook, standing with dog’s front legs bridged beneath their ears and the hind legs stretched too far into a distorted position, and I feel embarrassment for the judge. Why don't they just let the dog stand naturally? It did not win because of the way it was shown. Because you win does not mean your dog is as it should be; it is just the best there (that day) in that judges opinion.
Editor’s Note: see extraordinary illustrations of the “flying trot” in All-Breed Judge Lanting’s Myth Of The Flying Trot
Related Information Video and Gordon Garrett Article (offsite opens in window) Best Moving Shepherd Ever Video ~ German Shepherd Toplines TheJudgesPlace.com EST 2005 © Oct 2018 http://www.thejudgesplace.com/Judging/canine-structure-and-movement-g18g10.asp
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