The dog or the stance ...? Controversial

With all the talk about Gsd's ...
I was reading up and i saw this pic ..
I know the back shape debate has been done to death in the past but i just wondered if this example is the dog itself or the stance its in >>>

Hmm well I would prefer to see it moving
But
There is a curve to the back of the dog from almost at the shoulders which afaik is wrong
and I would say the dog is overangulated rather than just over stretched in the stack
Couple of reasons I say that
Althogh better than lots of dogs I have seen the backside does not look as muscled as I would expect from the front

also if in your mind you try and raise the dog up a bit and bring the back foot forward a little the hock to floor angle would be unlikely to be 90 degrees to the floor with the foot much further forward (OK it is slightly overstertched as the angle is a little more than 90 degrees)
I would say - from that foto - the dogs back is too curved and its pelvis is a little too tilted even for what is wanted for a GSD

very plane, to me, that it is thepoor dog and the stance only makes it worse. it doesn't look like it is being "yanked up" at the kneck either, which makes it even worse. ps: you know some show person is gonna say it's fine though!!!!

im not keen on seeing any dog put in what appears (imo only) to be an unnatural stance.

The show world, trials blah blah etc etc that require this stance are of no interest to me.

also Dolce, the whole breeding programme is geard to develop this shape too! It is a shame.

I got the photo from a stud advert ...

Eeewww - don't like that stance at all! I would like to see the dog on the move too.

However, even with such a body shape, he will no doubt be fully health tested, so is fine ;-) (Couldn't resist that!).

When I scrolled down to see the whole photo I was expecting to see a dog in a sit!

I still don't get WHY they want the dog to stand like that?!? What's the point in it?

naughty!! ;-)

I've seen posts before where comments have been made that the dog can stand like that themselves. Maybe they do, but that one appears to be getting "pushed" onto the owners foot.

The dog has been stacked, the left back leg is over extended & the right is pushed to far forward.

GSDs do naturally when alert stand with one leg back, I've got a non stacked non digital photo of one of mine standing on his own no lead etc. Unfortunately it has been professional framed so I don't want to remove it as I wouldn't be able to get it back exactly the same.

The photo I have of Echo that I post a link to from time to time is him free standing off lead naturally.

As for being fully health tested perhaps you prefer this dog



Has been only hip scored(0:0=0) & his only hip/elbow scored offspring has a higher score & ED of 1

I dont think anyone is arguing with the idea of a dog having one leg a little further back than the other
GSD's with their tilted pelvises need to do that else their hocks kinda stick out behind the line where their paws are
The issue is when the dogs are so overangulated that is is natural for their inside leg hock to actually be touching the floor (and to do that when they are walking normally too) and for their backs to be so curved as well
All this leads to less developed muscles in the back end of the dog and as someone said on here makes the dog pretty much look like it is sitting down while standing up
Takes the dogs from a lovely noble breed to strange looking deformed frogs

How many GSDs have you owned BTW to have such an indepth knowledge of their"tilted"pelvis. Do you mean their angled pelvis ? All dogs have a pelvis that is at an angle

How do you know that the GSD doesn't have well developed hind muscles ? Without going over the dog you cannot possibly know

The dog is overstretched & being stacked. It isn't over angulated, if it was it would be able to stand without being held. An over angulated dog like this

stands without assistance

My WL often stands in a stacked pose, my showline tends to stand with his feet together.



Thankfully neither of them look like the original stacked picture posted.

What does owning gsds have to do with anything? Gee sorry if I don't use the same terms as you, and I never said anything about indepth knowledge, but there have been enough threads on here to make me look into it
So the dogs can do the Gaiting that fanciers believe is correct for the breed the pelvis is tilted slightly so the back feet reach forward more than in normal dogs
This means when the dog is standing in a normal stance there isn't a straight line from hicks to feet, the hocks stick out the back slightly
So one foot is put further back to get a nice stance with the hock to foot at 90 degrees to the floor
The more the pelvis is tilted then the further the foot will have to go back for the straight line, also the further forward the back paw can go naturally when the dog is moving until we have dogs who walk on their hocks

If you want to prove me wrong then why not stack a different breed Luke that, then over stretch them and try and get them looking the same
If its all in the stack then that should be possible

Scout, your dog looks lovely

Beautiful dog! What a contrast between your gorgeous doggy and the one in the OP!

One leg in front of the other is one thing...... but looking like, to quote one dogsey member, 'a bitch squatting to pee' is another thing altogether and expert or not I cannot begin to conceive how anyone can imagine it looks good!

Surely a "tilted" pelvis must have some angle of tilt, i.e. also be an "angled" pelvis :? ?

This dog looks to me to be standing in an attractive, alert, natural pose, as if he has just paused to look at the camera while strolling past .

Nothing like the, to me, contrived and
unattractive pose/posture of the dog in the opening post

Just out of interest here are a few pics taken of my dog at a show. I did not realise at the time the GSD's were in the ring behind us, but they are the reason I am posting these pics. One of a dog standing in the background and one moving. I do not know if they are the same dog.

wow that dog has a lumpy back when moving!!!
and I often hear the argument that the dogs have to be like the way they are so when they are moving they drop forwards and otherwise it would be like they are running downhill which apparently would use more energy to move

Photos like yours show what rubbish that is - these dogs now walk with their backsides 1/2 way to the floor

Your dog is lovely Abby