Through the years I have known many, many people that Show or have Shown their dogs in the Conformational Show Ring. Most, that I know, were good and honest people showing nice dogs.

There is so much to this Dog Sport I could not scratch the surface to tell you how to participate. You do not just show up with a "pretty" dog one day and join in the Show Ring. The folks in the Show Ring are not just running their dogs around in a circle and the prettiest one wins. There is far more to it than that. You have to know how to train the dog, work the dog in the ring, how to stand the dog and how to groom the dog....many times to the advantage of hiding faults in the dog.

There are some really nice folks that show their dogs. If you are interested in Conformational Showing of your dog, you need to buy your dog from someone that is WINNING in the Ring. Just because someone "Shows Their Dogs" does not mean they are winning or even doing well at the Sport. When people tell you that they took a ribbon at a Conformational Show, ask them, "Out of how many dogs in the class?".

I have not shown my dogs in the Conformational Show Ring, I do enjoy watching, I know a lot of folks, I have a lot of friends that Show and I enjoy hearing all about the Sport. I will tell you that to participate you need to have the type of dog build the Judges like and Judges are "putting up". In my opinion, I do not like the backs or the back hips of the hyperextented German Shepherd Dogs (GSD or GSDs) in the show rings today. I think this has a very large part in the Hip Displacia we see in GSDs today.

Each breed of dog has what is called a "Standard for the Breed". It is a written description of what the dog should look like full grown. Reading the description, and visualizing the best dogs that look like that written description, leaves a lot to or for, many times, the imagination.

KEEP IN MIND! THERE ARE NO PERFECT DOGS. THERE ARE NO DOGS THAT HIT THE MARK OF EACH AND EVERY PART OF THE WRITTEN STANDARD FOR ANY BREED. SOME HOWEVER COME CLOSER THAN OTHERS! THOSE DOGS ARE NOT NECESSARILY THE ONES WINNING IN THE SHOW RING.

If you are going to Show your dog in the Show Ring, you need to memorize the Standard for the Breed, AND you need to have "thick skin", because the Judge might not think your dog is as nice as you do, also, you will probably be overlooked for dogs that in YOUR eyes are not as nice as your dogs. The key here is "in your eyes". Beauty IS in the eyes of the beholder, and sometimes when Conformational Show Dogs win, it is no more than who is at the other end of the leash. Dogs win and loose in the Conformational Show Ring based on the Judge's Opinion that day. Albeit an educated opinion.

I am glad to see that Conformational Judges have been moving away from placing the Hyper-extended GSD. Personally I think Sloped Backs and Hyper-extended GSD are very unattractive and far from the Standard for the Breed. They were bred to be a working dog, this malformation, to me, takes away from the working form of the original body design and purpose. Many times the over exagerated "Show Stance" of GSD makes the dog look like, to me, that it is either broken, is very constipated, or is trying to "pass a stone". The stance that many Show People put their dogs down into is very unnatural and unattractive.

Keep in mind, there is a phenomenon in people called "Kennel Blindness". This is when a Kennel of dogs have obvious faults, maybe slanted or roached backs, maybe really prominent roman noses, or maybe light colored noses, or bad legs, light colored eyes, diluted color, and the list goes on and on and one. The phenomenon is: The dogs owner can not see it. To that owner, those/their dogs are the most beautiful and perfect in the whole of the world! And that is, for the most part, how it should be. We should think our spouse, our children, our animals are the best....however, there are limits to this. You have to use a critical eye on your own dogs if you are going to do well in the Conformational Show Ring....or at least have the dogs that the Judges these days are looking for in that Breed of Dogs they are Judging.

This Sport is fun and exciting for millions of people, but it is not for everyone. Before you head off to show your dogs, visit a few shows and really pay attention to the rings and the whats and hows and whys of the sport. For me? I would rather enter a timed event or one that is measured by the task finished rather than on one person's opinion.....even if it is suppose to be a Trained or Educated Opinion.

photos coming soon

These words and phrases should not "be a thing" connected to the German Shepherd Dog Breed. If the Conformational Show Ring Judges would have continued to only 'put up' dogs that conformed to the STANDARD OF THE BREED you would not be seeing GSD with exaggerated angulation and roach backs. Some of these poor dogs are just pitiful and deformed looking. This also brought on all the Hip Dysplasia found in so many lines.

more coming soon

Have you noticed that there are more and more Sable, Black and Bi-Colored GSD out and about today? Do you know why that is true?

For years the Conformational Show Ring dogs ruined the breed. That is, what Judges were looking for inside the Show Ring. Those extended and roached backs, back legs spread out so far back the hips took a hit with Hip Displasia. I say again, THANK GOD THAT THE JUSDGES WERE RE EDUCATED ABOUT THE STANDARD FOR THE BREED!

So where would one begin to fix that genetic mess they created? Using Working GSD of course. The White GSD and the Working Lines did NOT go for the dogs that had these problems. They stayed closer to the Standard for the Breed.

Working Lines of GSD tend to have more Sables, Blacks and Bi-Colored Dogs. Those colors are also very rich. By using these dogs to improve the Breed as a whole, the colors came with it.

Judging dogs and the rights to breed dogs is very different in Germany than it is here in the USA. I love the Judging Aspect, but as an American, I DO NOT like the Breed Wardens and have seen first hand how this can go.

much more to come

photos coming

-- The Working German Shepherd Dogs Team
Tue, 30 Jul 2013 13:58:49 -0400