Our GV Color Guard earned his Herding titles so easily and was awesome and light on his feet around the sheep...as was our AM.CAN. Select CH. Southern Byrne. Our CH. Cowboy has his HSAs. ALL are big...BIG German Shepherd Dogs. None had any problems stopping, turning, accelerating or any changes in speed or direction..... ever. All can / could easily out-maneuver and keep up with the sheep and stand and leap up on a picnic table from a standing position. NO problems. I'm not advocating over-size...as I admit they WOULD have trouble leaping easily through a car window......but I agree with one post that mentions the actual conformation of the dogs...the proportions of height and length have a lot to do with the athleticism and agility of the dog....not to mention power and breadth of thighs and strength of back. I do believe we need to worry about the length of our dogs and the lack of strength in the backs we are seeing now...and the lack of real power in the rear... THEN worry about the size..... Carolyn marhaven@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx www.marhaven.com -----Original Message----- From: showgsd-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:showgsd-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Redacted sender "Pinehillgsds@xxxxxxx" for DMARC Sent: Monday, August 25, 2014 9:40 AM To: dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; Showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [ SHOWGSD-L ] Re: Height of GSDs I need to get back to herding, I really miss it. My observations though were that a correctly sized GSD was much more agile on sheep than a larger one (and I had some that were correct and some a bit over). The correctly sized ones were more efficient, could turn on a dime, didn't expend as much energy. The oversized ones had to work a lot harder. Again, just my observations, talking about dogs I owned and no one else's. Kathy, member GSDCA, DVGSDC Celebrating generations of Dual Titled TC'd Champions visit http://www.pinehillgsds.com/ In a message dated 8/25/2014 11:31:11 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes: If you want to talk about big dogs that can move, I remember Dragon Slayer and Dakota, who moved as well as any I can remember. As for size, the movement of Patriot was amazing, and certainly he was not a small or even standard sized dog. It seems to me, (I know, saying "it seems to me" or "in my opinion" is redundant, or I wouldn't say it), that a large German shepherd, if balanced and structured properly is able to do anything a smaller dog can do except fit in a 500 crate. Size is something we set as our standard. Maybe it is time to reconsider. People used to be under six feet tall, except for an unusual event. Now the norm is much taller. It might be time to think about how we have and can improve our breed, and even consider, (gasp), think about changing our standard. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Evan In a message dated 8/24/2014 6:37:42 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes: I think you are probably thinking about Bihari's Droll......he was a Canadian GV. Yes, incredible mover. ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2014. All material remains the property of the original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Each Author is responsible for the content of his/her post. This group and its administrators are not responsible for the comments or opinions expressed in any post. ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE PROSECUTED. For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxx VISIT OUR WEBSITE - http://showgsd.org SUBSCRIPTION: http://showgsd.org/mail.html NATIONAL BLOG - http://gsdnational.blogspot.com/ ============================================================================ ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2014. All material remains the property of the original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Each Author is responsible for the content of his/her post. This group and its administrators are not responsible for the comments or opinions expressed in any post. ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE PROSECUTED. For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxx VISIT OUR WEBSITE - http://showgsd.org SUBSCRIPTION: http://showgsd.org/mail.html NATIONAL BLOG - http://gsdnational.blogspot.com/ ============================================================================ ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2014. All material remains the property of the original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Each Author is responsible for the content of his/her post. This group and its administrators are not responsible for the comments or opinions expressed in any post. ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE PROSECUTED. For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxx VISIT OUR WEBSITE - http://showgsd.org SUBSCRIPTION: http://showgsd.org/mail.html NATIONAL BLOG - http://gsdnational.blogspot.com/ ============================================================================