german shepherd is a working dog showline people must find another breed!! - Page 11

Blitzen I have been in Florida for about 30 years now, and I'm glad there are a few things I haven't learned yet.  That was one of them. LOL

Never heard of dog pecker flies ?

Can I ask a question or two?(without being shot down in flames  )  How did the 'difference' start?  When was it decided and by whom, that there was a show line and a working line?  From what I have seen, there are good and bad examples in both types of dog but I think people are getting too het up about it - I mean, you get chocolate labradors, golden labradors, black labradors and no-one says that the black ones are true working line and the goldens show. Is there really and truly a difference in our gsd's apart from colour and good breeding?

changes came some40 -50 years ago when money became more importent then the breed itself,  fact is more money got involved in dogshows and certain breeders saw an opportunity to make a lot of money they were wellplaced in SV so they could rewrite the breedstandard as they were infact breedclub of country of origin
workingtrials became less important and once titled ipo3/shh3 these dogs never saw a trainningfield again, the loss of temprement suited their moneymaking cause because that way they even could sell "working dogs" to people who wanted a house pet.
due to selecting dogs more on their looks for show/titles/studservices etc. reasons like health and working abillitty's became secundary objectives certainly in the early days money was the nr1 goal (upon to this day for certain people it still is)
breeders these day's may it be showline or workingline who truelly love the breed have to deal with that legacy before the "separation" unhealthy dogs didn't make it true their ssh careers so they rarley were asked as a stud, when those big influencial "breeders/boardmembers/moneydiggers" started the change towards wat their breeding produced less healthy dogs were used quite common because people just didn't know there was a problem,
so breeders today are faced with the gigantic task to try to turn things around. sad part of it all is that upon today boardmembers of several breedclubs minimise the problems

Runag - but there is a difference between Working Gundog lines
of Labrador Retrievers, and purely Showdog / companion ones.
Working strains are mainly Blacks or Yellows, but increasingly
the fad for Chocolate has crossed between the two communities.
Show gundogs are generally heavier and stockier, Working dogs
a bit taller and more 'rangy' in build.  I don't think anyone (in the
UK at least) is talking about separating those into two varieties OR
breeds;  but you might like to speak with some Labrador owners
about whether there are ever mutterings in that direction.  L.

The changes happened when the breed standard was developed way back after the turn of last century - the founder made note of this in his writings. He felt that both form and function were equally important. Without form as it isn't a gsd and without work it still isn't a gsd.

Some people though it was more important to breed to the conformation standard and others bred to the working standard.

Either side did just enough to gain breed surveys, but otherwise, they did their own thing and resented each other for destroying the breed.

Some passions don't change.

Hi
thanks for the background info. and it is very obvious that passions are involved here.  I just feel for the dogs.

like a dog gnaat i keep coming back just to make sure that all is not honky dory as u all think..................

thats what i and the gnats are here to remind all of us of.................man is not superior to nature

I thought the changes happened with the Martin brothers?  

Jim it did.