Ch Saterhaus McKinley
Frozen
Semen Sales
from McKinley and a Ch Son of Andretti
Breeding Policy updated 4-26-04
My Book 3rd chapter
News Alert For
Breeders of American German Shepherds
Holly and I have just returned from the World Dog Shows in Mexico City, Mexico. We were
there because we entered one of Holly's dogs, an American bred German Shepherd in the Open
Bitch Class. She is a quality dog, well bred, with good hips and elbows, and capable of
winning anywhere. What happened to us at the World Shows was surprising, significant to
American Breeders, and clearly worth publicizing to the breeders of this country.
Those of you who do not show in other countries cannot be aware of the extent to which
open hatred and hostility is directed at the American bred German Shepherd. This is not
just a mere change in the Standard that will have little effect on your breeding program,
your work, and what you have created. This is a move to completely destroy our dogs. This
will not only affect our dogs that we breed and compete with here in our own country, but
also it affects the American dog on a world wide basis. There is a demand for American
dogs from breeders from other countries and this market will be gone forever if the
Germans have their way. This is about the continuation of our version of the original
German Shepherd as envisioned by Capt. Max Von Stephanitz, which I submit is much closer
to what he wanted than the German version of the dog today.
The American Dog is under attack from the Germans on a world-wide scope. It is the intent
of the Germans to iradicate the American German Shepherd from the face of the earth. Open
hostility was demonstrated at these shows towards American type dogs, not only by some of
the Germans in attendance, but also most clearly by the Judges who have been trained in
Germany by the Germans themselves. In every class, any dog that showed any traces of
American breeding was immediately placed at the end of the line, and, just the opposite
was done with dogs of German breeding. This happened under all four judges, all four days.
Let's talk basic dog for a moment. Everything you have learned about your basic dog is
turned on it's head in these type of shows. Basic dog knowledge would dictate that all
dogs have good feet and straight legs to allow the animal to move about and forage,
adequate depth of body to allow room for the vital organs, and a back to hold it all
together, as well as a head with enough jaw length to adequately hold the teeth and allow
for a scissors bite. This very basic structure holds true in nearly all breeds, except the
very specialized ones that were created to carry out a unique function, which may ask for
change in feet and legs as in some of the dogs that go to ground, or in the back, as in
some of the hounds requiring great speed, and so on. The German dog is so far removed from
our ideas of basic dog that when they are shown at an all breed show they are invariably
placed at the end of the line in the Group Judging. We talked to Group Judges at the World
Show, and we got questions like, "What are the Germans doing?", and "What
am I expected to do with these banana backs?". And, "Is this what you
want?"
One the first day, upon entering the ring with my American Bred dog, a German stepped over
the ring rope and strode across the ring and accosted me. This was at the very beginning
of the Open Bitch Class. He told me that I had the dog set up all wrong, and that this
judge would hate that. He said that the Americans have no idea of what a good German
Shepherd is, and that my dog was not a good dog and shouldn't be shown. He said my dog was
a stretch machine, and that the Americans were crazy. The judge did nothing about this,
and waited until he left before he started judging. As noted before, all the American dogs
went to the end of the line. Just as the judge was going through the dogs for the last
time, he stopped before my dog, asked to see my armband number, looked in his judges book,
and deftly drew a line through my dogs name, wheeled on his foot and strode to the front
of the line, asking the ring steward to excuse the back half of the class.
I was not the only one reserved for this sort of treatment. Carlos Navarro, who judges
world wide, and who has and likes American dogs got the same treatment from this same man
from Germany. Only, this time he picked on someone who could fight back. Carlos had him
escorted out of the ring. As the shows progressed through the four days, this same man
stood inside the ring to take videos during the judging. He would enter the ring after
each
class and critique the judging with the judge, congratulating him on putting up German
bred dogs he favored. He would critique dogs at ringside in a loud voice, and verbally
attacked American bred dogs incessantly. On the fourth day he was once again standing
inside the ring videoing when one of the ring stewards asked him to do it from outside the
ring. He refused to do so. Eventually, an official from the club was called, and it turned
out to be Carlos Navarro. After much arguing and threatening, he finally left, gesturing
all the way. I talked with Carlos afterwards, and the gist of what was said was that the
German Shepherd breeders of Mexico were promised half of the judges would be favorable to
American dogs, which many of them prefer, and half would be favorable to German dogs.
After this, however, somehow it ended up with all the judges favoring German dogs. Many of
the Mexicans were upset by this, and by the fourth day, no dogs were shown except German
bred dogs. It became a German Show.
Now let me describe what a German Show is like, clearly how this one was. First of all,
the same dogs won everyday. Bear in mind, there was an entry of 145 dogs. The same dog
went winners bitch all four days in a row. We have photos of this dog, and I hope we can
get her on our web-site. If you think this dog has beauty, long flowing lines, type, and
style, then we are talking different language, and never the twain will meet. In a word,
she was pathetic. Such similarity of judging would make you think the judges had discussed
among themselves who should win. The arrogance of the Judges was noteworthy. They would
deliberately try to spook dogs that looked American, and yet ignore German dogs that stood
in the ring with their tail tucked. When an American type dog was coming and going, the
judges actually refused to even look at them, but would write in their book instead, or
look out at the crowd. They would make a point of pulling American dogs out of the line
and walk them down to the end of the line and replace them.
The handling by the exhibitors of the German dogs was astounding. None of the basics of
moving a dog, posing a dog, and running with a dog were followed. It merely became a
pulling contest, which could go on for sometime. The dog that pulled the longest and
hardest would gravitate to the top. These dogs are all very dog aggressive, and so when
they moved around the ring they were all chasing the dog in front of them, attempting to
bite the tail of that dog. That's all they did. They were rarely stacked. (incidentally,
if any of you have ever tried to stack a German dog with a roach, you will be surprised to
find out how difficult it is). They were allowed to pace at all times, they galloped
frequently, and some times, albeit infrequently, they would trot. None of this seemed to
matter. In the working class, the dogs are required to run around the ring at least once,
off leash. What a joke. Dogs rarely could do this, which would seem to be a rather simple
task, and when they left their handler, indeed, left the ring, it never mattered, as they
were returned to their places. If that's the way it is, why bother. The pulling was so
hard that the front feet would barely touch the ground, thereby making it impossible to
judge side-gait. There was excessive running with no changes in the placing. In posing the
dog, such simple things as correcting front feet that were east/west was ignored. When all
a dog knows how to do is pull on the leash, attempting to move a dog out and back so that
coming and going can be judged is impossible. I stood behind the judge at these times and
it was a laughable how untrained and impossible to judge these dogs were. With such a
roach, the dogs generally run with their heads down, simply pulling. Even the collars used
were a mile long and poorly fitted. In essence, the show was simply a running game, with
handlers wearing jogging suits, the dogs pulling, handlers stumbling over their dogs and
each other.
What about the vaunted German dog? The German dog that will put our American dogs to
shame. Give me a break. I have tried to like German dogs, I really have. To begin with
they are incredibly ugly. Some of the males have strong heads, but then so do some of
ours. Some of them have good pigment, but by no means all of them, as they would like to
have you believe. And, whatever happened to the good feet the German dogs were known for.
I saw poor and splayed feet throughout. So many stood horribly east/west, lacking in depth
of body. We all know about the famous roach of the German dogs, but how many Americans who
do not show against German dogs know how gross it is? These backs are so roached that the
dogs look crippled, arthritic, stiff, and unathletic. It is horrible to see these
animals with such roaches that the croup is nonexistent, the pelvis is all tilted and set
under. The roach is ridicules, and non-functional. The lack of angulation, both front and
rear, is beyond belief. The rear is so unangulated that if the dog covers six inches with
one stride it would be amazing. Judging side gait is impossible, because as mentioned, all
they ever do is pull. Front reach is equally restricted. Not only do these dogs lack
depth, but they are so narrow bodied its like the front feet come out of one hole. There
is rampant hip dysplasia in these dogs. Again, if you can see our photos of the Winner's
Bitch it is obvious. That dog was not more that two or three inches across the loin,
that's how narrow bodied she is.
We in America have created a better dog than that. We should be proud of our product. We
must not knuckle under to the German's demands that we change our Standard. They are the
ones who already have changed their Standard. They no longer have a highly intelligent,
trainable, dog that can function in many ways, not the least of which is
herding. They have created a people control dog, an aggressive dog, a dog that can and
will bite at all times and for no reason. In the ring, the dogs are biting at each other
constantly. This dog is good at attacking people, and useful to control large groups of
people. The German are trying to sell us a bill of goods. Their dogs are not better than
our dogs, and if we give into them all the years and all the work we have done will be
irreparable lost. We must not loose our breed.
We suggest, as a solution, that we each go our separate ways. Let the Germans go ahead and
have their aggressive people control dogs. We have a beautiful, trainable, loyal, and
showable dog. If we have shortcomings in our dogs, then we can work on it and correct it.
We could have dogs with more courage, and that is doable, but let's not throw away the
whole breed to correct one thing. We are way ahead of the Germans on hip dysplasia,
loyalty, and discriminating intelligence. Our dogs are beautiful, their are so ugly words
don't serve to describe them. Let them go to the Working Group with their dogs, we can
stay in the Herding Group. We don't need their version of ugly dogs.
Post Script
The German dog and the American dog diverged irreconcilably when Walter Martin emphasized
the roach in the German bloodlines. With this chosen direction by the Germans a new breed
was created. If you take the roach away from the German dog you simply have a poor quality
American dog; one without angles, which is intolerable to the American breeders. With the
roach you have a whole new breed, one that cannot successfully be blended with the
American dog. Which are you going to have, a roached back dog, or a level backed dog? You
can't have it both ways, and you can't judge both kinds of dogs in the ring at the same
time. Either you have to put up all roaches or no roaches, but you can't intermingle the
two.
How does it work then? We have a dog with no angles, front or rear, and yet we continually
hear how the vaunted German dog would side gait our dogs into extinction. Well, first of
all, the German dogs are high drive, or if you have to live with them your more likely to
say hyperactive. We have them, you know, the ones who bounce off the walls, and make a
total mess out of their kennel runs. Secondly, the stiff, unathletic, arthritic back does
not allow for wheeling, turning, and agility so much as it does for a straight forward
pulling motion. And third, and most importantly, when the back is so roached the pelvis is
tilted forward, thereby allowing the hindquarter to get better under reach which
translates into better rear drive than they would normally have with such short rear
angulation.
We have gone down different roads the American breeders gained length of stride by
lengthening the bones, most notably the upper arm and the stifle. The German breeders
tilted the pelvis forward by roaching the back to gain rear drive without increasing
angulation. Then the Germans gave their dogs a Pit Bull mentality, and we kept a more
workable, loyal dog that is less likely to bite without just cause.
An article appeared in the review pleading to incorporate the German dog into our
bloodlines with numerous photos of German dogs. I submit to you that this is misleading.
It's misleading because each of these photos were of dogs bred years ago by the Germans.
These are not the German dogs of today. Today the roach is far more accentuated and the
angulation far more restricted. If you believe this is the kind of dog the Germans are
showing on a world scale, I invite you to attend the shows. Just as our dog has evolved
over the years into a beautiful, breath taking, ground covering machine, yet still
maintaining strong secondary sex characteristics, so has the top German dog evolved away
from the photos in
that article. It is the American breeder who has remained true to the original version of
the German Shepherd Dog. We must not let the mad rush for World dominance, and therefore
world sales, constituting millions of dollars for the Germans, eventuate in the extinction
of our dog which so many breeder have devoted their lives to.
Robert Scholes
These are pictures taken of the winners bitch at the World show in Mexico City, June 1999
Is this your idea of a beautiful dog?
Notice on the top photo the east west front feet, the shallow body, roached back, lack of croup and rear angulation. This photo is quite complimentary to this bitches pigment it was actually faded. It is surprising how short bodied the German dogs are today. Whatever happened to the requirement for the breed to be longer than tall?
Notice on the bottom photo the same bitch, how she stands cow hocked. Most likely because of the protruding femur heads on her hip sockets, her loin across the back was not more than several inches with the hips protruding outward in excessive manner, leading one to believe while watching her bunny hop and pace around the ring that she is very dysplastic. Notice the lack of muscle development in the lower thigh also a sign of extreme dysplasia. This was winners bitch four days in a row, out of an entry of l45 dogs, at the World Show, meaning there was an entry of dogs literally from all over the world.
This bitch is one of many dogs and bitches we saw of German decent that looked and moved in a manner constant to a very dysplastic dog. Many more were even worse than this bitch showing the signs of complete crippling.
PPS
The two pertinent points of my article were that the roach back makes any thought of blending the two strains impossible, and that the temperment is overly aggressive. It is rewarding to me to see that their has been widespread and general agreement with these two points. It is these two things that separate our dogs more than anything else.
If we want a roach back which the Germans do, then showing dogs in the same ring with level backs is precluded. One must decide, which is it to be, you can't have it both ways. All successful American breeders are offended by the lack of eye appeal of a roached back dog, not to mention that it grossly violates the American Standard, and if I understand it right, the SV standard too. When one watches these dogs they appear stiff, arthritic, and unathletic, much like an old man. Now, through an excellent article from England, we learn that the Germans themselves, have been warned by their own veterinarians of the physical dangers in such a defect of structure. Secondly, the aggressive temperaments of the German dogs results in a dangerous animal. They are dangerous in and outside of the ring, dangerous to their kennel mates, and dangerous to all other domestic animals. So whatever happened to the word "shepherd" in German Shepherd? The high drive, high energy, aggressive temperament these dogs have results in killers of other dogs, and domestic farm animals. Is this what we MUST have because SOME of our dogs are spooks? Look how far we've come towards eliminating hip dysplasia in our breed. Might it not seem reasonable that we can and will correct some of our dogs that happen to have weak temperament? And can't we do this without having to accept a roach back, and lack of angulation, in otherwords the destruction of our breed? We have mentally sound dogs in America, we simply have to look for them.
Now having said all this for the second time, I'd like to address the question why do some people want this. Well in a word, "Its the money." Most American breeders are oblivious to the vast world market out there, being content to sell their dogs to each other for peanuts. The Germans have always dominated world sales. Twenty and thirty years ago they were selling dogs to the Japanese for a quarter of a million dollars. Today there is a German dog in Wisconsin that was sold for $350,000. While these are mind boggling figures, we all know that if you buy a German dog you simply pay more for it than if you buy an American dog, right here in River City. This is big business, and the Germans do not want competition, and yet they have it without Americans really trying. There are people around the world that appreciate the immense beauty of our dogs, and the highly intelligent, tractable, and trainable nature of our dogs. From the German's view this must be iradicated.
It is not a question of which dog is better. That's like two drunks sitting in a bar arguing whether a ford or a Chevy is a better pickup. While the rednecks argue over what's better intelligent people are behind the scenes securing the markets. German dogs are low eye appeal, roached backed, people control dogs. American dogs are high eye appeal trainable herding dogs. Is it any question why the world market is fast growing in favor of the American dog? Is this making sense now why the Germans want the American breeders to completely change their standard.
It is unfortunate we have gone our separate ways, but we have. Attempts to blend the two, which have been thought of by nearly everyone who breeds dogs, simply don't work. Again, I ask, "Which are you going to have: level back or roach back, no angles or angulated, pullers or long striders, attack dogs or level headed approachable dogs? "What do you want?
It is appalling that some who are in the leadership positions of the GSDCA have so little passion and love for our dogs that we have created, that they are willing to consider following the any of the demands of the SV without so much as a whimper. They foolishly run ads that state that their German stud dog corrects masculinity, character, movement, phenotype and genotype when bred to American bitches. Corrects to what, one might ask, beauty to common, a long ground covering stride to a choppy pull hard stride, and masculinity and character to something we supposedly don't have? Think of what they are telling us when they say their German dog will correct phenotype! That is a clear statement which says our type of dog will be corrected to German type. Excuse me, but you are changing our breed.
Sure we need to continue to improve, but we do that by breeding to dogs that are free
of the faults we don't want and correct on the characteristics we are trying to correct.
Will the
German dog do that for us?
The most disturbing news I've heard recently is that Herr Messler of the SV has informed the GSDCA that the American Standard must become "exactly" as the SV, and that no compromise will be accepted. Well, that makes it clear, does it not? If there is no compromise, if this is true, then the ball game is over. Either save our breed, or breed German dogs.
It is also my understanding that the SV has been schmoozing some of our GSDCA leadership, thereby paving the way for the change. When we have our leadership showing German dogs, the very people that we elected to protect, and enhance our dogs, then I think we are in grave danger. We need to be delivered from the shackles of German tyranny. Who will step up and protect our breed by maintaining and developing the vision?
The following is an artical written by John R Walker. It concerns the health problems of the German dog. The dangers of breeding dogs with such structural deformaties.
"SV Changes the Standard.
John R Walker
It is reported in the July -August 1997 edition of the canine journal WUFF
that the SV, now under Herr Peter Mebler, has changed the 1993 version of
the breed standard so that a straight back is now specified. !
This follows hard on the heels of what must be one of the most scathing
attacks ever by an SV insider. In the previous edition when Dr Helmut
Raiser described the currently fashionable GSD conformation as being
" A dog at the front and a frog at the back".
I couldn't have put it better myself......
The new wording is as follows with the relevant change highlighted in bold
type:
Die Oberlinie verlauft vom Halsansatz uber den homen langen Widerrest und
uber den GERADEN RUCKEN bis zur leicht abfallendenKruppe ohne sichtbare
Unterbrechung. Der Rucken ist maBig lang, fest,kraftig und gut bemuskelt.
(Please excuse the non German text but you will know what it means).
The important change from the 1993 version is that the Standard now demands
a straight back rather than a gently sloping back.
Under the new heading of the Pathological Geometry the article puts forward
the veterninary viewpoint that the currently fashionable conformation
represents an unnatural physiological structure around the region of the hip
joints, and in the lumbar-sacral region of the spine around the loin and
croup. From this comes exostosis (bony outgrowths) which narrow the spinal
canal causing damage to the spinal canal and the nerve within which is
chronic and can be correspondingly painful to the animal.
The article then goes on to say that the change in the Standard shows, this
time, what farsighted functionaries at the highest level in the SV have
again been saying.
A Little of the recent History
Some prominent members of the German veterinary profession have been
campaigning for some time to return to a straight backline following
increasing evidence that the currently fashionable convex hinged backline
is responsible , in whole or in part, for the many skeletal ills which
currently impact upon breed health, movement , and fitness for work.
Professor Wegner, geneticist of the Hanover Veterinary School has led a
campaign over many years to return to a more traditional and more
bio-mechanically optimised shape.. In various articles and in his book ,
Kleine Kynologie, he has made repeated attacks on the SV for allowing the
breed to stray from the Physical and mental prowess which made the GSD the
World's leading utility dog.
In Germany 1996 was designated the year of the dog by the BTK
(Bundestierarztekammer- The German equivalent of the British Veterinary
Association) and the GSD figured prominently amongst the breeds said to be
causing widespread concern over the general health status. The BTK papers
included contributions from a number of leading German Veterinary
professionals up to Professor level, including the BTK President Professor
Gunter Pschorn.
Under the sub heading of diseases which two breeds have been susceptible to
for decades the GSD, was itemised as follows:
.HD (Huftgelenksdysplasie)
Myasthenia gravis ( Erkrankung an Neerven/Muskeln)
Bandscheibenvorfall (Schaferhundelahme)
Harnsteinbildung
Magendrehung.
Item one is self explanatory- it is hip dysplasia. Item two ie degenerative
wasting of nerve and muscle tissue. Item three is prolapse of the
vertebrae, which is one logical outcome from the current unnatural spine
angulation resulting in (literally) "SHEPHERD DOG LAMENESS" . The most
likely translation for item four seems to be urinary calculas/retention.
Item five is GASTRIC TORSION.
The SV has just offered you a partial solution. "
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