As Breeders and Exhibitors we are ALL around this Breed more than ANY Vet <SNIP> I totally disagree with this assessment of the Breed by this Vet!! Some of us may have seen one of these problems over the years or at most two; but to experience these as ongoing consistent problems...I DON'T THINK SO! Otherwise most of us would not last long at all in this Breed. No one could stomach that..... It is unfortunate that someone like this comes off as an expert. Carolyn marhaven@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx www.marhaven.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The big picture does not necessarily fall inline with our individual experiences. Carolyn is absolutely right, as usual, in seeing the bigger picture. There are two kinds of evidence: Empirical evidence (Scientific), and Allegorical evidence (Our experiences). Most of us tend to create our world view from our experiences, yet, others with different experiences form a different world view from contrasting experiences. That's why we have courts and lawyers and such in our world. To discover the truth, we have to have a means of measuring enough of everyone's experiences and studying them under the critical eye of empirical studies to find, not a mean average, but the truth. Take HD for an example. I saw it mentioned in one of the posts. I hear about it every time we have a litter, from well meaning people who have all 'had a German Shepherd when I was a child.' Our breed is known for it (allegorical evidence). When I wrote the book for Barron's, Barron's Dog Bible, German Shepherd Dogs, I researched the OFA statistics and I believe we were #27 of all breeds in incidence of HD. That is a far cry from our former positions 30+ years ago or # 1-3. But this morning I looked again, and we are now #40 in incidents of HD. OK, stand up and shout! This is great news! Now we can argue with the OFA statistics: People do not send in bad x-rays, people send in false x-rays, etc., but that would also be true for other breeds. It is however, empirical evidence. I never had an incidence of DM until a few years back. Does that mean it is on the rise? I don't know. I do know that we now have a scientific track working that is going to help us breed away from this. Arguably, it is still being worked on and may be imperfect. But, again, the claims of imperfection in the scientific data is from allegorical sources. The scientific community has already become believers. So, is the glass half full or half empty? Everyone has to decide for themselves, but I challenge you to be careful to not allow your experiences and the stories you hear, be the only foundation on which you form a view of the breed. Maybe I am wrong. Maybe I lack objectivity. Maybe my love for the breed influences my positive view of our breeding progress and of our future. But I am not discouraged in the least! Do we have issues to deal with? Of course. While HD is no longer a major issue, bloat, torsion, toxic gut, cancer and other items seem to have taken front stage. Are they worse now than ever before? I do not know that to be a fact. I do know that communications systems have improved exponentially, and we now have instant access to both rumors, stories and scientific input. So let's put these things to the test! Let's let our scientific community work on them and let us know with hard data, the condition of our breed. My personal opinion is only as accurate as my objectivity and my accommodation of the big picture. So don't listen to me! Dave ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2012. 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/ ============================================================================