Pet owners often tell us they "don't want any GSD with those "sloping
rears".....and I smile and tell them THAT is not a problem. Their pet puppy
will NOT have a "sloping rear"........<G> ( Typically ) we all place those
not closest to our vision of the Standard as pets. With every fault ( that
every dog has ) ...whatever the fault is.... IN BALANCE to the actual quality
of the dog according to the Standard... we all must make a calculated decision
to go ahead and show them....or NOT.
Some of those pets do go to Service Dog situations, Search and Rescue or
whatever 'work' situation some homes have. Not many go into police work
anymore...but it is the choice of the Police Depts. in my opinion. GSD's are
not the "vogue" dog for them at this time. For years it was Doberman's and
German Shepherd Dogs....then Rottweiler's....and a few GSD's...and now it is
almost 75% or MORE... Malinois. Here in our area one year they spent a lot of
money importing a bunch of Belgian Shepherds for the Sacramento Sheriff's
Depts. and NONE worked out. They came to us looking for a GSD and we had a
young bitch that would have been EXCELLENT at it...but their Captain over
Canine would not allow them to use bitches???? So they tested a 6 mo. old
male we had and he passed...but they wanted us to raise him till he was over a
year and THEN let them take him. We agreed to disagree on that. <G> I
don't know why they switched from GSD's...but I assume a few dogs fail and
their method is to "switch Breeds" instead of making sure it is not a training
problem or an individual dog problem. They assume it is a Breed problem
Guide Dogs in San Rafael successfully used Donated German Shepherd Dogs from
breeders for years and years. We had several that were used in their service.
Then they changed some positions with that Institution and the 'new brain
trust' decided to breed their own Guide Dogs. When we visited there a short
few years later the facility was loaded with poor quality GSDs and most were
not sound IMO. Now they use Golden's only.....NO GSDs. Really too bad.
Carolyn marhaven@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
www.marhaven.com
From: edwinx@xxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:edwinx@xxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, June 25, 2015 10:17 AM
To: cherpa@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx; 'DaList'; edangsd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; Carolyn Martello;
adonispersian@xxxxxxx
Subject: Re: : utility and Coats
Carolyn we agree 100% on this one! And shame on me for Mis-interpreting your
post! Long hairs are way more labor intense! A big pain in the ass! But now I
have a question.. Why is it that most search and rescue, police, tracking
cadaver , guide dog German Shepherd dogs don't look like the dogs in our show
ring? They most certainly are working GSDs! Ed
Sent from Xfinity Connect Mobile App
------ Original Message ------
From: Carolyn Martello
To: edwinx@xxxxxxxxxxx, Celeste, freelist, edangsd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
adonispersian@xxxxxxx
Sent: June 25, 2015 at 10:00 AM
Subject: Re: : utility and Coats
My point was NEVER that a long coat is incapable of any work.....EVER....and if
it sounded that way I apologize for my inability
to articulate correctly. What I am SAYING is that a long coat causes MUCH
LABOR AFTER THE ACTUAL WORK!. Maybe you have to actually WORK to get the ice
balls off a coat ( hours )..before it will actually dry off...the stickers,
the dirt and debri and ragged tearing that a long coat suffers doing any work
in any of those conditions to really understand what I am saying.
When we throw the Standard out BECAUSE we personally do not herd, or do Search
and Rescue or Avalanche work orTtracking or need a Guide Dog with our
GSD....then we lose the Breed as it is meant to be. Our show dogs SHOULD BE
HELD TO THAT
STANDARD....mentally, physicallty and appearance-wise...whether WE do the work
with them or not.
Why would we even bother exhibiting dogs in competition against the Standard if
it doesn't matter because we don't use our
particular show dog for the actual work it is bred to do. The Standard is to
protect those qualities and characteristics......?
This discussion is NOT AGAINST ANY COAT that was or was not 'put up'....but IMO
more about our working Breed. Also
IMO we have a great Standard...easy to understand...the reasons are easy to
understand and the Breed is AWESOME
because of our Standard.
Again....show me someone looking for a great herding dog, search and rescue
dog, protection dog, avalanche dog that
says they will TAKE THE COAT BECAUSE IT HAS MORE FRONT REACH.....and be willing
to spend the hours after
the actual work ....working again....trying to clean and groom the dog..... and
I will call it a day on this subject.
( There is a lot I cannot explain about Puli's or Beardies or Komidors.....<G>
I don't own one by choice.
Carolyn marhaven@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
www.marhaven.com
On Behalf Of edwinx@xxxxxxxxxxx
Three points here: 1.none of the dogs in the ring are "working" 2. It is an
incorrect assumption that a coat because of its hair length has a utility
disadvantage ( working ability has more to do with stamina and mental drive
than anything else... Look at the Komidor with all those dread-locks! And 3.
Putting up a coat at a show does NOT mean the quality of the other dogs was
poor! It means the coat in that judges mind was superior!... I know we aren't
supposed to talk about individual dogs on the list but Tracy Radigan has a coat
that just blows me away! I have no issue losing to that bitch and I think my
bitch ( Liz's bitch)is very nice! Ed
Sent from Xfinity Connect Mobile App
------ Original Message ------
From: Carolyn Martello
To: edwinx@xxxxxxxxxxx, Celeste, freelist, edangsd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
adonispersian@xxxxxxx
Sent: June 25, 2015 at 8:55 AM
Subject: Re: : simple utility and Coats
I absolutely agree with that 100%!!!
However I have not yet seen the quality of the dogs ( SO FAR ) at the shows be
so poor as to deserve to lose to a coat....simply because a missing tooth or an
even bite or whatever you want to list does not affect the actual utility and
upkeep
of the dog like a coat can in actual work. That's all I'm sayin'..........
This is not condemnation of one particular fault.....but consideration of the
actual
working attributes of any dog.
Carolyn marhaven@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
www.marhaven.com
From: edwinx@xxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:edwinx@xxxxxxxxxxx]
Long coat fault and ribs!.... The GSD standard says that the long coat is a
fault as are other attributes such as missing tooth, even bite etc etc.......
If that coated dog is better in every way than all the other dogs in the class
with the exception of coat, then that dog should win! There is no perfect
dog !
