the english type tend to be shown by their owners, not pro handlers as is the way with the germanics with the owners calling their dogs from outside the ring

Let me clarify my own point of view.  Yes, some GSDs are unsound, yes some have health problems, both 'sides' of the breed.  However, the average lay person seems to think that the English side are just like the old straight backed type when they're not.  I own two german line GSDs, when they are stacked, they can be made to look exaggerated. When they're running round the park or the beach, they do not look exaggerated at all (though they have their faults).

I hate all the politics that the kc are forcing on us, I hate that some breeders are shouting about being able to leave the kc.  I hate that, for whatever reason, the kc are trying to say that my beloved breed are cr*p and trying to persuade other people the same!

I have said this before, I do not breed, I do not exhibit, but this is because, despite being brought up around gsds I have much more research to do into lines before I even consider it. I am on the committee of a breed club, I steward at their shows, I help a bit with the training and I take the money and do the brews!  I do this because I am passionate about the breed, I love nothing more than to see a ring full of beautiful GSDs, and I have to admit that I saw few of them at Crufts imo. 

People still seem to have this rose-tinted nostalgia about the old 'type' of gsd, which had terrible hip displacia, and other diseases where the Germanic breeders have brought in tests over the years to breed to avoid these problems.  The English type breeders refuse to accept that they have any problems in their lines at all. 

I agree that roach backed dogs look terrible, that hocks that you could knit with are awful, but sometimes the camera does lie.  Sometimes handlers do stack dogs badly, and if I were to try to handle one of my dogs their ears would go back and they'd end up on their back for their tummy to be tickled!

The problem re the UK standard is that the KC of every other European country uses, I believe, the WUSV standard for GSDs.  What makes the UKKC the expert on a German dog.  The Germans and Germanic type people in the UK generally work their dogs, and title them as well as have them surveyed.  Are all these dogs with working titles unfit for purpose?  Do the KC have x-ray vision which enables them to see that a dog has bad hips or elbows, despite the dog having SCH3??

Right, I'll get off my soapbox now :-D.

i see a lot of dogs in and out the show ring that are to heavy. there seems to be a trend for big stocky dogs and a lot of breeds are afected . i have seen rotts stafs bulldogs and labs as well as mastiffs that are heavy and short leged. breeding heavy to heavy is only going to make fat round looking dogs and i think that can happend if people take a liking to the heaver type.

Massive movements are underfoot in Germany from people who are sick of the sloped back GSD.

In my own breed, I was surprised to see so many fluffy ones, they are certainly not fit for function as they would drown.

Fit for function was lost a long time ago for Bassets. Many look if they are struggling to get round the ring.

Well I have to say Crufts was really good for the Papillon this year.  It highlighted the Phalene as our BOB was one and without looking up the catalogue from an entry of over 270 + dogs the Phalene entry was between 20 to 30 dogs.  Great to see so many people sitting up, taking notice and actually talking about them.

agree about the Bassett Hound - now that is one car crash of a breed !!- I fail to see why the KC are focussing on the GSD and allowing the Bassett to exhibit in it's present state at Crufts

...and if you want a free moving - naturally shaped ...sound shepherd dog ..get a BSD !!

Yvonne

Just a quick point, I agree with Jeangenie the back should be straight (not level) from withers to croup, but then there should be a slope, the standard states that flat croups are highly undesirable and I think this is where the dogs bred purporting to be "straight backed English types" fall down as many appear IMHO to be literally flat to tailset.  

> And OMG the female presenter has just questioned the German shepherds breeding and back and said that it needs to be straighter,That would NEVER have happened on BBC!!!!!

Can't say I remember much with other dogs, but from personal experience of our own, I can say that BBC commentators have certainly made  unfavourable comments on BOBs in the group ring - going back about 12 years during the group judging it the "expert" commentator replied to a query from one of the presenters about excercising American Cockers and keeping the coat pristine with the comment that  "Gadsby would have a fit if the dog played in mud and got dirty" - it wasn't true, as Dexter was walked in fields and on the beach, then simply bathed and dried.  However after they show there were quite a few column inches in the dog press suggesting that they breed had to be kept in cages and Xpens between shows, didn't do any real damage, we just had to contact the columnists and get retractions published.  It was said in excietment and in the heat of the moment.  A few years later Peter Purves, commenting when Wiggle entered the group ring, said that she was "a very small example of the breed", again, completely untrue, but I doubt if mnay people picked up on it other than us.

It seems unlikely that we are the only kennel to have had such throw away comments aired in national TV, but I think most others simply went in 1 ear and out the other apart from with those connected to the dog in question.  OF course, with the GSD I understand it was more than a quick comment so has registered with many more viewers.