WHY ARE OUR SHOW GSDs. BANANA BACKED. - Page 3

Had snow once already this year,just enough to be annoying,did not even bother to shovel the walkways,just let it melt away.......But it is not far,I HATE WINTER....lol.

Vader - unfortunately your statement is very commonly thought as correct, however it is very untrue: ***EVERY GSD*** that is allowed to reproduce under SV rules conforms to the breed standard as at least a good representative. GOOD in other words a G rating is the minimum requirement. SG means the specimen is a very good representative and V means it is an excellent representative. People keep forgetting that it is the WHOLE dog, not just parts of it that play a role in reproduction. Though most breeders tend to focus on a very few obvious strengths present in each dog. Bottom line is - a good conformation will always be good enough, and nothing in the standard says anywhere that it needs to be perfect! The standard is a guideline and should be achieved as closely as possible. It can never be a total exact match, not for all body parts anyways. Otherwise we'd need to start producing clones of popular VA dogs only. And yes, the GSD has been subject to trends over the years as well. Starting with the fact that the original standard was 2 inches less than what it is today. That some of the original dogs included white and cream coloured dogs! That very early GSD looked very much like the Malinois looks today... It has been a long way. Ultimately in our modern times, overall health, soundness and temperament will determine where the breed is headed. And new scientific findings will bring some incluence as well. As it did with HD screening, ED screening will eventually become mandatory. Other health issues surely will follow that trend later as well. At some time breeders will have to find out that by consistently eliminating some problems as per selective breeding, other problems will then manifest themselves ("the level of disease in a population will always remain the same" forgot who said it, but someone important from way back when). There will always be some sort of evolution of a breed over time. Trend, health, popular choices...

Charlie, Know nice property not far from here - fishing superb! Perfect for you! What you do to Pineridge, you rascal? The best.

Peter my friend.Day like today,don't tempt me.....I just might end up your neighbor. Started off bad and only got worse.....lol. Glad I don't have to many days like that.........What type large fish do you have there?

And how is my favorite GSD Lady this evening? Well I hope?

Charles - depends where and when - Black Fish and Tuna pretty good now.

Damn..........Yellow fin? blue fin? big eye?

Hi guys guys... winter = blach, yuk, shiver. Three days of snow is perfect. On the first day you get all excited: snow! You stick your tongue out towards the sky and wait for a big flake to fall right into your mouth and taste the sweet taste of winter. The air smells nice and clean. You can hardly wait until there is 'nuff of it on the ground so that you can actually do something with it. On the second day you wake up happy, everything looks so pretty. You head out early (after you have called into work that you are snowed in or sick) go out and make snow angles, go bob sledding, maybe skying and the like. Have a snow ball fight and get a kick out of your dogs as they thrash through it and just have a super time. Then you get home, tired and happy, start a fire, have a hot bath or shower, have some good food and settle down for the evening with some mulled wine, and hopefully some good friends. Just one will do too ;o). On the third day, you ache all over because you overdid it the day before. Your head is not so good either because someone slipped some extra rum in the mulled wine. And you never realized just how much of it you were taking in while you were dunking those spiced spekulaas cookies in it. Everything still looks pretty though, so another walk will be fine. Today its not that much fun anymore, rather laborous. The snow is hard to walk in because the top layer has thawed then frozen again slightly making for a rough surface. Now you start to realize that your doggies doodoos are frozen to the snow and nearly impossible to get rid of. Not so pretty any more, the white dotted with the odd brown patches, worse are the yellow slurpies on ground level. Your driveway is impassable and your best buddy just sold his 4x4 that was used to be there for just such moments. After you have opened the fridge for the 43rd time you finally admit to yourself that you just ate the last of your favorite food. So back to the wine and then there is not much left to do than go back to sleep. Because over her we can always hope that the next day everything has thawed again and the nice rainy weather has returned for the rest of the winter, with at least one window of sunshine once a day. Cheers :).

Anand. I'm adressing you as things here got a little bit out of hand. There has been a trend for many years now, a trend based on misunderstanding, that "more is always better". Even top german judges can claim "the dog has very good rear angulation" when it is clear that the same dog have to much. Overangulation (both front and rear) can in many cases cause a "banana-back". Overangulation and "banana-back" is neither healty nor functional for a GSD. The optimal GSD is the one who has normal angulation that gives just enough room for a healty movement. The Reivision movie with Dingo v. Haus Gero (GSD in movement) can give a good clue in what to look for. So the answer to your question (as I see it) is: - judges have for to long allowed overangulation.

Pretty funny D ..lol. but very true.