*I really doubt that the public looks at the standard and says oops, the US dogs don't have level backs which are parallel to the ground; therefore I must buy a german dog.* That's not what I said at all. When people read the standard or I quote them the standard, and then see my American dog stacked up, they ask me why my dog's back isn't straight when I just quoted to them that the standard calls for a straight back. They're not equating straight to the way our dogs look in stack. They're equating it to the dogs 20-40 years ago that had toplines that didn't drop at all when set up. They don't know the difference between German and American until somebody tells them, but they do know they don't like the topline sloping as it does. -- Jackie & Jonathan Nguyen Marcato German Shepherds <http://www.sparkly-lion.net/marcatogsd> S Konzert vom Drachenberg, RN, CD, CGC "Strauss" Devine's Gunpowder N Lead "Mirada" ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2010. 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 NATIONAL BLOG - http://gsdnational.blogspot.com/ ============================================================================