changing the stacking pose of the german shepherd?? - Page 1

why dont  we pose the german shepherd in its natural pose?

Uh...we do?

Traditionally the breed has always been set up to accentuate the correct sloping topline. Many AKC judges ask that a GSD is allowed to walk into a natural "stack" as part of their judging protocal. I don't know if SV judges ever do that or not.

When I walk my dog into a stack (that's how I stack him for UKC and SV, he doesn't free stack on command and I don't usually hand place him) he stands the same way GSDs are hand-stacked.  I've actually photographed him stacked square just for my own curiosity and comparison and it does not really change the topline or slop of his back (actually in the one pic I'm looking at it might make a slight bit *more* slope/angle down of the topline stacked square, not less).  One foot under is just better balance and easier to take off running, lol.  The GSD is rectangular, longer than tall.

I remember years back when I was first teaching him the stand-in-motion for Schutzhund obedience I noticed he would stop himself in nice natural stacks so I tried it again with the camera off to the side and this is how he stops in a stand (pictured at 1 year), no hand placement (he also stands this way when alerting to something in the yard or at the window):


IMO some GSDs are just plain extreme, it is not the stack that makes them that way but they have so much rear and angulation I wonder if they would fall over stacked square.  The problem with these dogs is not the stacking but their conformation.

yes, completely natural, with the foot blocks to teaching a "stack" and the feet behind the dogs feet, and manually placing them and holding them there with our own body parts with a person off camera holding a toy, all completely natural :)

Handlers do that with *all* breeds.  You can even buy these weird boards with magnetic cans that the dog stands on.  IMO if you can train your dog to hold still/stand-stay then ther is your "stack".

I can only speak for myself but I don't train my dogs to stack.  I walk them forward and tell them to stop and what the judge sees is what he gets.  A lot of hand placement just makes the dog look more and more unnatural, IMO.  If I don't like the dog's natural conformation then I wouldn't show him.  You can't make a dog look like something he's not.

When they are running around playing and stop, or alert to things, they don't typically stand square.  Even my angulation-less working line dogs.

I'm glad you do it that way, and I don't mean it sarcastically.  it's how it is supposed to be done.  But go to an SV conformation show, when everyone stops going 'round the ring, they stop and bend over and place their dogs feet in all sorts of positions to get them stacked.  Half the pictures of stacked dogs have someone in the picture still holding the dog in that position somehow with feet or hands holding the foot position, and the other half probably have someone edited out in photoshop or they just left the pictre for a second to snap the photo.  I have seen people build elevated blocks to teach a "stack", just little wooden squares and raise them.

I agree the pose is "natural" to GSD's, mine stop and stand similar all the time.  The problem is, hardly anybody lets them stand naturally.

Are my GSDs unnatural then in that they will more often stand four square than in a natural 'stack' as above ??  Just when they are slobbing about you know LOL.

VKGSD - do you mean 'wobble boards' designed to help dogs understand balance, foot placement awareness and co-ordination? or is this something else I haven't heard of.....the 'magnetic cans' don't ring a bell.

Oh, I understood the OP's "natural pose" means no stack at all. Natural pose as when hind legs are beside each other at same line. I duess I was mistaken since the majority got it differently, lol