"Dingo vom Haus Gero, The Best Mover - Poetry in Motion"
There is no doubt the breed has changed - improved in some ways, but sadly exaggeration has crept in in many lines and done so much damage. "Dingo was a great dog of beautiful proportions, character, balance and working ability. While many of us over the years have admired images of Dingo in full gait with his impressive forward reach, we currently see too many prancing ponies with upright heads, high backs and bent high knees receiving praise." Now there is no doubt Dingo was not the finished item, to get closer to perfection there was a way to go, but he was the German Sieger of 1983 and it's still this video of him that is used by the SV to demonstrate correct movement. Whilst looking at what we have today we must never forget the dogs of the past that got us here, Uran, Quando and of course their beautiful mother Palme to name just the tip of the iceberg.
Perfection of course is not possible, there simply isn't the perfect dog. Kennel blindness and exaggeration is what's killing the breed. We must see the faults as well as the virtues in our own dogs. When judging the dogs are compared against a breed standard, a blueprint and not each other. It's the dog that best fits this standard that should be the winners. Of course personal interpretation of a standard can vary in some areas, but not when measurements and angles are there in black and white in front of you. For example the breed should be longer than tall by a proportion of 10 to 9-8.5, the length of leg should be greater than the depth of chest, ideally being 55% - 45% and the angle of the croup should be 23 degrees. Where personal interpretation comes into it is when 2 excellent dogs with different faults go against each other, then the judge must determine which fault is detrimentally greater to the dog/breed. Say for instance that you had two dogs who were on a parr, but one had flat feet and one had light eyes, 2 different judges would consider these faults differently and place the dogs according to their preference.
SV German Shepherd judges are the top in the world, they have been passed by the SV (the governing body of the breed in it country of origin) as worthy of judging to the highest level. There are but a few in the UK that have qualified to that level, Heather of Conbhairean being one of them, but even to judge at a KC Champ Shows in the UK a judge has had to do the homework. They have to attended seminars and courses and judged sufficient dogs at open show level before being considered worthy of judging any breed. Of course not all of them get it right and some of them leave us speechless, but you support with your feet, and don't give them a second chance to get it wrong!
