Q7 - thanks - the structure was one of the reasons I fell in love with my breed - my father and I had always held a reasonable amount of dislike for true hock walkers. Though - I am in the group that considers our dogs seperate from the GSD - so for the most part we do not breed GSDs - and especially extreme GSDs - into our lines because our standard is very specific about the desire for moderation in our breed.
The WGSD folks do tend to bring in showlines and are therefore less moderate in angulation - but as I said - their goals arent seperation - their goals are to try and gain acceptance back into the GSD standard.
Shep - I was wondering why you call them 'so called' White Shepherds and why you consider them a mess? How many White Shepherds have you actually seen? I've seen many - both in Europe and in the US - I'm a member of a European club and the two Stateside clubs - which also tends to give me a good idea of the state of affairs in the breed - things are convoluted in terms of the politics of the breed - but they are certainly not a mess - especially in terms of the breed and how it is being maintained with health and structure.
No - we cannot show in the AKC - but there are well over 100 breeds recognized by the FCI that cannot be shown in the AKC as well...are they any less important as breeds just because the AKC wont recognize the breed when the majority of the world will? Our biggest problem is that the GSDCA will not remove the white from the standard thus preventing us from seperating. So in the mean time we work with European Breeders, we show in the UKC and we hold our own shows and nationals and perf. events...and for some of us we may travel to Europe for show or breeding.
Actually, for the most part the European dogs have the steep croup - but it hasnt hurt their performance abilities. Most of the American Dogs tend to have a better croup. Neither of my dogs are 'all ears' and while I have seen dogs with large ears it certainly isnt the predominance.
Again - here's a couple of pictures of my dogs (since I am Shameless) :
Ruby : European Lines (12+ Generations White)
Leo : Ambred Lines (9 Generations White)
BTW - I
did write all of the above...the pictures dont belong to me...but the writing was based of some very basic research.
This is sort of a fun quote from a GSD book published in 1947 called
The Complete German Shepherd written by Milo Delinger :
"...The standard says that albinos (that is, white dogs with pink eyes and flesh colored noses) are to be "discarded" which is merely an euphemistic manner of saying that they shall be "disqualified". This disqualification has nothing to do with normal white dogs with dark eyes and noses. White is not even a fading color as the term is employed in the standard.
It is to be admitted that white dogs are seldom to be found with the requisite length, angulation, and structural excellence that defines a first rate specimen. But, if they are penalized, it must be for their color or lack of it. some judges are contemptuous of white dogs and deny them the consideration which they merit. It is difficult to get a white dog to a championship, but there is no reason to deny it to him because of his color alone.
"Fading color" is a term cooked up by the Germans to designate dogs of the lighter colors with the allegation that such fading colors are signs of degeneracy. The standard declares that "while the permissible range of color is extremely wide, the white and very pale and washed out colors are not deemed "desireable". This is clearly an evasion of the issue. Pale colors are either acceptable or they are not. That they are indicative of degeneration is pure nonsense. It is a theory as strange as it is inconsistent, coming from the blond Aryan "master race". It would be an overcautious judge indeed who in American would undertake to penalize a good dog of light color for that reason alone.
Color is a matter not to be worried about."
I'm a major history book buff - I like to read about the history of my breed, which of coarse coincides with that of the GSD...one of the silly things that you hear today against the whites is that they hurt the pigment of the GSD. While this doesnt apply to the WS any more as most dont breed to GSDs thus the resulting color doesnt matter - it is sometimes fun to see how arguments that are given today were known to be wrong back then (the actual cause of the tan/red pigment is the intensity locus - which like other loci - is maked by Extension White)...lol - I'm a Gene Junkie too
~Cate
