"IS YOU ARE OR IS YOU NOT" A BOY DOG?

Secondary sex characteristics……….just what the heck does that mean? Quite simply put it means that a boy dog looks like a boy dog and a girl dog looks like a girl dog. How important is it for our breed to exhibit these characteristics? It’s very important for a noble breed like the German Shepherd. Nothing is more displeasing to the eye especially when looking at a male with a bitchy head with thin, spindly bone.

In my last litter, I only had two bitches. Both of them are big girls because the mother is a good sized bitch and the father is a very big boy. However, one of the girls although she is big has a beautiful bitch head. Her sister on the other hand looks like a male. Her head would be the envy of some males that lack in this area. She has huge bone. I can not tell you how many times when she lay in the whelping box I lifted her leg to make sure I didn’t make a mistake by calling her a bitch. I kid you not I probably lifted her leg more times then she probably was comfortable with……..it was like I was waiting for something to grow “down there!” It never did…….she remained a female!

It is unfortunate sometimes when I open the pages of the German Shepherd Dog Review and I’ll admire a good looking dog that is being advertised. I look at his name and I know it’s a male name, but I take a double look because I’m thinking to myself, “Wow, what a nice looking bitch this is,” and Wow it isn’t a bitch, it’s a male!

A male should have a noble head, oval shaped bone, and should exude masculinity so there’s no mistaking him for a male. He shouldn’t have that flat look on his nose leading down from his eyes. There should be some sort of a “stop” or what I used to call the “Roman nose.” This gives the dog a look of character with depth rather than that most unattractive flat faced look. You can see this look especially when viewed from the side of the face. His chest should be well filled in if he’s an adult and should not be lacking in prosternum. I’m sorry but I just find some of the pushed up fronts with a lack of prosternum not very attractive at all. It has seemed of late that this has become the “fashion trend” of the moment. But like most trends, they run their course and return to the “norm.”

The bitch on the other hand should look feminine while she too has the oval shaped bone noted for this breed. She is smaller than the male and if she were to stand next to him there would be no mistaking her for a bitch. Her movement because of her size seems more effortless than the male.

I don’t know where the loss of masculinity comes from. Sometimes you might find this to be true in pedigrees that are heavily inbred or line bred on the same lines. Sometimes it just happens that the best male in the litter has the smallest head while his lesser quality brothers have the larger heads. It’s just the luck of the draw when it comes to genetics. But to intentionally breed to dogs that lack important secondary sex characteristics does nothing for the breed. We saw this trend when some of the inbred dogs back in the late 70’s – early 80’s were being used. While these inbred dogs produced some gorgeous bitches, it wasn’t always the case with the males that they produced.

There is nothing more rewarding than walking your male on the show grounds and heads turn because he’s drop dead gorgeous and there’s no mistaking his sex. Can there be anything more exiting than a small/medium beautiful female that just floats across the ground because it’s easy for her to do so?

Because the German Shepherd is considered a large dog, there’s a certain picture people have in their mind when they think of this breed. When this breed doesn’t exhibit good secondary sex characteristics then they look weak and fragile. This is a strong, working/herding breed. Who wants a spindly, fine boned German Shepherd male?

Show me a good looking head on a dog with beautiful bone rather than his smaller good moving brother. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a “movement nut!” I believe that a dog that can move correctly is structured correctly and of course in order for the German Shepherd Dog to do the work that he was bred to do, he must be able to move correctly to do it. He doesn’t need to be beautiful looking to do this work (herding sheep, police work, therapy work, search & rescue, etc.). However, that being said, when you enter a dog in a conformation ring, he is being judged on his movement AND breed type. When a judge awards a dog his championship title, crowns him Grand Victor, or Best in Show, he is saying to the audience this is the best representative according to this breeds standard. So that must include BOTH structure for moving/working AND beauty. Ideally our dogs should have both. And this would mean that the male looks like a male and the female looks like a female. The difference is striking and it should be!

My rating: Masculine heads on males: (4), Feminine heads on females: (4), judging to the breed’s standard: (4)

SHOULD A GRAND VICTOR BE CROWNED A GRAND VICTOR AGAIN?

The fun of showing a dog and winning at a National Specialty show is that your dog just competed against the top dogs in the country and won! Besides the thrill of the victory, some of the top breeders and exhibitors just saw your dog do it! The applause is deafening, the excitement contagious and long after the clapping dies down, you will revisit that day over and over again in your mind.

Looking over the history of the past German Shepherd Dogs on the reviewed site of the German Shepherd Dog Club of America I counted nine dogs (I may be off a smidgen) that were Grand Victor more than once. The first dog was Ch. Cito Bergerslust, SchH and the last dog to do it was the beautiful Ch. Marquin’s Extra Extra. The dog that won more Grand Victor titles than any other was Ch. Arko v Sadowaberg of Jessford CD who achieved those titles back in the 1930’s. He was awarded this honor four times! I don’t know what the entries were back then or if there is even a record of it, but I’m assuming it was smaller than in the years that followed. For comparison, I only counted three Grand Victrix’s that ever were crowned more than once and all of them were in the beginning of the recorded breed’s history.

As anyone can tell you who has competed on the National level, it’s a whole other ball game than showing at a local club’s specialty. Those shows are just a stepping stone to the ultimate platform to showcase ones dog. These dogs are not just taken out of a crate and thrown into the arena. They have been conditioned, exercised and trained for this day. This is what their breeder/owners have been planning since the puppy was born. It takes a very special dog to win a very special title at the National. Win, place or show, it’s such an honor to step foot in that ring!

Because the cream of the crop and the best of the best are paraded for all to see the competition is tougher than at any other American dog show in the country. The judge examines, he watches, he touches, he thinks, he compares and then when the audience can’t stand it for a second more, he points to his winner. A new Grand Victor and Victrix now reigns supreme over the German Shepherd land of champions! The owners are elated, the handlers are exhausted but proud of their win, and the spectators stomp their feet and clap their hands in approval of the judge’s choice.

The hoopla and good wishes will continue for weeks following the show. It’s a win that for all those connected to this very special dog won’t ever forget. But what about all the other entries whose dog was just as good and perhaps under another judge would have been crowned the new Grand Victor? So like many will do, they’ll plan to show again at next years National and hope that they too will experience the thrill of victory.

The next year comes and with the same enthusiasm and dreams of grandeur, some of the same dogs that were shown the previous year are shown again this year. The dogs exhibiting number is picked up by the owner and given to the handler. The ring steward checks the numbers of the dogs as they enter the ring. Lot’s of familiar dogs and new ones too trot into the ring. Along with this year’s entries, last years or the years before Grand Victor proudly gaits into the ring as well. How do you feel about this? If he wins again, how does this make you feel? Do you think it’s fair?

I talked to people on both sides of the fence about this subject. Some feel that the dog has already won. Let a new Grand Victor be crowned. They feel that the breed should have a new and different Grand Victor each year. Other’s feel that it’s a sport and they can show the dog as many years as they want. It is after all, a competition. Also it’s a different judge who will judge the dogs but why take the chance of seeing the Grand Victor lose? They feel if you want to show the dog again for people to see how beautifully he’s matured; put him in the Honor Parade!

When you look at competitive sports, time and time again you will see past champions and winners compete the following year or in following events. Boxers win the title and then they fight defending it. Baseball teams, football teams, basketball team, etc. win the title one year and come out and compete the following year to defend it. Then the argument I hear is they are franchises and owned by people and get paid big advertising dollars. At a dog show, a Grand Victor doesn’t have to defend his title. No one can take it away. No one is paying the owner advertising money. To show a Grand Victor again is a choice that the owner makes. They don’t have to do it.

Okay then so that is the discussion that was put to me and I thought I’d share it and see what others think about it.

My rating: I can understand both points of view, so……retire the GV from competition on the National level: (4), on the other side……it’s a sport & he should still be able to compete: (4)