I believe this is a very serious issue. We have an awful public image - perhaps because of the popularity of the breed in past years which created some irresponsible matings and flooded the market with poor quality animals. Or perhaps because we have, over the years, deviated from the standard and created extremes that were never meant to be there. But our breed has survived all of these vicissitudes and we do have sound beautiful animals that can, successfully, engage in a variety of roles. I agree that we need to be more proactive and educate the general public. However, I think it is also most important to educate the veterinarians who are out there giving awful advice and passing on horribly ignorant comments about our breed. I can't believe the number of vets that have no idea what is panosteitis and recommend drastic treatments; or try to fix soft pasterns with a splint; or who think that a four month angulated puppy is severely dysplastic. And, remember, vets are a most influential factor in creating the image the general public has of our breed. We need to, somehow, educate these vets while they are still in vet school - before they go out into the world and foster their ignorance of our breed on the many people that come to them for advice and guidance. Would it be possible for us to partner with AKC in providing vet schools with educational material? It seems that GSDs are not the only breed who suffer from this imagine issue - I think that, in general, pure bred dogs do not fare well with vets. This is why it is so important that we stop all the unnecessary political bickering and concentrate in addressing these important issues. I'd like to see our club create a committee, as Bill Pfeiffer describes, and develop a plan to educate the general public and veterinarians at large. Great subject, Sherri. Thanks. Dania In a message dated 7/2/2009 3:18:46 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, f.fasano@xxxxxxx writes: I remember having a doctor visit looking at our dogs- he said too bad about their hips- I said what do you mean. He pointed out the sloping top lines on our dogs and referenced the female he had purchased elsewhere, as level as a table. I explained that the sloping top line had nbothing to do with hips being dysplatic. He called back a few months later to ask if his level bitch should be making a clicking noise going up and down steps. Sent him to the vet who confirmed severe hip dysplsia- but we do need to better educate the public about the structure of our dogs-Kris [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] **************It's raining cats and dogs -- Come to PawNation, a place where pets rule! 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