GSD's, sloping and HD

[Zoom]

My mentor has an American showline GSD, 45 degree slope and nearly flat hocks. We tend to disagree quite a bit as to what makes "The Perfect Shepherd". She says that when she was looking for a GSD, all the "straight backed lines" had tons of HD running rampent, while the sloped lines she researched had very little. She had "straight" GSD's in the past and they all ended up with HD; meanwhile her current on is 7 years old and has great hips.

Is this just sheer coincidence or is there some bizarre tidbit of fact? I would think it would completely the opposite and maybe she was just looking at unsound straight-backed lines.

 

[elegy]

i believe that, despite the penchant for those (hideous, imo) dramatically sloped toplines, gsd breeders have been more careful lately about HD and have improved their numbers. i'm sure there are still plenty of dysplastic shepherds of both style.

why must everything about our domestic dogs be overdone?

trends in OFA hip stats by breed

 

[Doberluv]

I had two beautiful, big boned GSDs with fairly straight backs and croups....a little slope, but nothing like you see today. These dogs were sturdy, strong and went everywhere with me with my horses, miles and miles at a time. Both had great hips. I dislike a lot of what I see these days in many Shepherds, not only the extreme angulation, but just the general, weak, spindly look to them.....I prefer the "old fashion" Rin Tin Tin GSDs. That's partly why I got a Doberman because I was sure thinking GSD when making a choice. I like what I see in Dobermans these days, personally. (in general)

Don't get me wrong. They have to have some slope in order to cover more ground with less effort. They're trotting dogs. That's the idea behind the angulation, to create good reach, but I think they've over done it big time.

 

[cometsmama]

The sloped GSDs look like they would have more trouble with HD, but I guess appearances can be deceiving... I would imagine responsible breeders are doing what they can to minimize that problem in future generations.

We like the way Comet looks without the slope. But then he's most likely not a pure GSD. Although one guy swore he looked just like his purebred red-and-tan shepherd and another one said a Czech shepherd. Comet's not telling.

 

[~Jessie~]

There are so many GSDs that I have seen lately with such dramatic roach backs... I would think that they would be more prone to HD than GSDs with straight backs.

 

[Jynx]

the sloping is actually 'angulation'..I have had GSD's my whole life, american showlines, german, ddr, czech..

I personally, do not like extreme angulation. Some angulation is needed as Doberluv says, for 'forward' motion.

As for HD more prevailant in the more angulated dogs, this is an old myth.
Angulation however extreme, has nothing to do with hip status. More to do
with genetics and breeding. You can have a square dog with rotten hips and an extreme dog with excellent hips.

Unfortunately alot of people don't understand this, and while they can be referred by some as "cripples" in fact they probably are not.

So you can blame that extreme angulation on the breeders who want it.

We all know what GSD's were bred for, overall structure will dictate whether a dog can work all day or not as he was intended to do. Extreme or square
if the dog isn't in good condition to begin with, he's not going to get the job done.

Diane

 

[RedHotDobe]

I took my roommate and her boyfriend/my friend to a show last year, and in the ring next to the Akitas were GSDs. He just asked "Why don't they let them walk normally?" I said they were bred like that. And his response was just a simple "Eww, they're ugly." I think GSDs are gorgeous dogs, but I am not a fan of the overdone, sloping topline, roach-backed dogs you see today. I'm picky though. I'm not a fan of many Dobermans either.

 

[IliamnasQuest]

The slope has nothing to do with hips, so the thought that less slope equals better hips is a misconception.

The slope is caused by angulation in the hind leg. In all honesty, shepherds have a lot more serious problems in the breed than hip dysplasia. Unless the HD in your Mom's previous dogs was diagnosed by x-ray and confirmation by a qualified veterinarian, it is likely that what she is passing off as HD was actually Degenerative Myelopathy or Cauda Equina (both of which result in weakness in the haunches). My Mom's GSD staggers all over the place and crosses his hind legs and is kind of hunched in the rump area and his hips are fine. He has cauda equina.

I was just looking at OFA statistics yesterday. According to www.offa.org, the GSD's tested are running 19% dysplastic (and 19.5% with elbow dysplasia). In my other breed - chows - the frequency of HD is at 19.6% but elbow dysplasia is at a whopping 47.4%! (Chows are ranked #1 in elbow dysplasia, unfortunately).

I would be much more concerned with weakness in the hocks on a GSD with a large amount of slope. I've seen too many that break down young due to exaggerated angulation. I won't ever buy a highly angulated GSD. None of my shepherds have had a lot of angulation (compared to show lines anyway) and none of them have had any problems with hips. Trick is nearly 11 now.

Melanie and the gang in Alaska