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American
Lines vs. European Lines
Disclaimer: Before reading the following note
that we are providing only anecdotal evidence that we have witnessed with our
eyes. In addition, nobody at Keystone GSD believes that all imports have
bad temperaments - far from it - we find that many better bred imports have
solid temperaments.
We at Keystone German Shepherd dogs provide boarding for all breed dogs as well
as obedience and conformation training. Throughout
the years, we have observed that the biggest cowards and least trainable dogs
consistently are the so-called import German shepherd dogs.
For example, when the owner brings their import out for boarding, the
import will have its hackle up and be extremely aggressive towards staff, even
to the point of snapping at our staff. This
aggression is unfounded, and these shepherds are extreme liabilities for their
owners. However, after the owner
leaves, these same dogs become cowards. They
consistently refuse to socialize with other dogs or staff and coward in the
corners of their kennels. This type
of temperament would not protect their owners if a real threat materialized.
For example, while these dogs are being aggressive towards staff, a quick
step towards the aggressor will send them cowering behind their owners.
This is not correct shepherd temperament.
Keystone shepherds are not aggressive towards strangers and do not coward
from threats. Our dogs are aloof
towards stranger until they learn that they are friendly, in which time they
will readily accept the stranger as a family friend.
Likewise, if the stranger proves to be a threat to family members or
property, generally our shepherds mayl provide a warning growl and bark, allowing the
threatening person to exit the situation. If
the bad actor does not leave but continues with their aggressive behavior, they
may be met with a bite. At this
time, the perpetrator will again be allowed to exit; however, additional
aggressive acts mayl be met with increasing aggression by our shepherds.
This is the correct protective temperament of the German shepherd dogs.
This type of natural, innate behavior by our dogs is not learned or
trained, and it will keep you from being sued.
The correct shepherd temperament is discerning and controlled.
The European or import shepherd generally is bred to be high strung and restless.
They breed these dogs to be high energy (translated as high maintenance)
for the very demanding sport of schutzhund and police work.
This is a very legitimate pursuit, and necessary for the production of
police and military dogs. However,
let us be realistic, for every puppy produced that would excel at this sport or
as a working dog, these breeders produce several cull dogs for which they have to
find homes. These breeders dump
these cull dogs on the unsuspecting public.
Usually they will sell these dogs for a price to
families that are ill equipped to deal with a nervous, high-strung, fear biter.
These are the very same dogs that we see time again being boarded at or
kennels.
Our shepherds while capable at excelling at schutzhand and police work are
even tempered. They are bred to be
relaxed and calm. Our shepherds are
happy to lie down next to you while you watch television or if called upon to herd
livestock or play fetch. They are
keyed on you and your activities. They
are up when you are up and they are down when you are down.
This is what we believe is correct shepherd temperament that is a real joy
to live with.
We had a European breeder come out to our kennels to try to show us how
superior his European lines were to our American lines.
He brought out his prize stud. This
dog was released from his crate and took off running around our property.
After 30-minutes of this man trying catch his prize import to demonstrate
him to us, we told him that we had to get back to work.
The man finally caught his dog and left.
We never saw him again.
Our dogs never run off from us. Our
dogs are true shepherds and as such they are herding dogs.
They herd us by observing us, they love us, and we are their sole purpose
in life. For example, while at dog shows, we
exercise our dogs off leash several times a day.
We usually find a big open field so that they can run and play.
Once a competitors asked us why we took the chance of losing one
of our expensive show dogs. I
responded that we are not taking any risks because if our dogs wander too far,
all we have to do is call their name and they come to us at a full run.
Our competitors exercise their dogs in pens because their dogs will run
off and not return.
We had another schutzhund trainer come out to purchase one of our puppies.
He had seen one of our dogs at a schutzhund event and he was quite
impressed with the working abilities of our dogs.
However, because of years of propaganda about how inept American lines
are, he could not bring himself to purchase one our puppies.
He left our place muttering that these dogs cannot be this good.
The poor man wanted one of our puppies so bad, but he could not let go of
his incorrect biases. I also suspect
that the man was afraid of the grief that he would receive from his schutzhund
buddies if she up with an American shepherd.
We had another misguided import breeder challenge our dogs and their
temperaments. He asked to come out
and perform temperament tests on our puppies.
We obliged him. He ran
through all his tests with our puppies passing all of his tests.
Perplexed and frustrated, the man picked up a large stainless steel bowl
and threw it down as hard as he could on concrete in the middle of the
six-week-old puppies. The litter
reacted as any normal living thing would by running a few steps from the loud
noise and then turning to investigate. The
man yelled with glee, “Did you see that, they were scared; your dogs have
terrible temperaments”. How
foolish, the only animal including human beings that would not have reacted to
that noise would have been deaf or comatose.
Structurally many shepherds have been bred to be deficient.
Both European and American lines have their specific problems.
Many American lines have been bred to have an unsound slope to their
back, forcing these dogs to run on their hocks or to flip their hocks in and out
like a paddlewheel to provide leg clearance while trotting.
This can be readily viewed by watching a dog trot away from you.
The correct motion of the rear legs and hocks is straight back and in
while in a trot. While watching a
correct dog trot away from you, the movement should resemble two pistons going
up and down. We breed our dogs to be
structurally correct, and thus movement is fluid without wasted motion or
energy. Our shepherd’s top lines
are level, and the correct back slope is an illusion that is formed when the
back left leg is placed behind the right rear leg, thus dropping the pelvis
below the shoulder.
Many imports have been bred to have over developed chest and shoulder with
weak and under developed rear legs. These
dogs are two-wheel drive only. You
can see this best when they are on lead and digging in and driving with their
front legs almost dragging their rear legs and their owners.
This has been taken to the extreme with some of the lines, which can be
best seen with what is termed as a roached back.
This roached back results in a downward tilt of the pelvis and structurally
weakens the rear legs and their effectiveness in a trot.
Most all modern imports and European dogs have very short and choppy
strides. This short and choppy
stride results in very inefficient movement.
These dogs would be poor herding dogs and would tire much quicker than
shepherds with correct and efficient movement.
Take note of the heads of the many of the modern European and import shepherds.
Their skulls caps are bulbous and unrefined grading into truncated shorter
snouts, whereas our Heidelberg's have the classic Roman nose.
Due to the shorter snout the jaw of many imports was forced to be wider because
teeth have not changed in size or number (It is very
difficult genetically to change teeth) the jaws and head of imports have to be
wider to accommodate all the teeth. This
in my opinion is structurally incorrect and may weaken the bite of the animal.
Notice also the lack of leg bone thickness on many of the European
shepherds. Many of these dogs have a
petite bone structure, which is undesirable for a herding or working dogs. The
bones need to be substantial and strong to avoid breakage in the field or while
bringing down a criminal. A dog with
a broken leg cannot perform its job.
Nature does not make mistakes over the long-term.
Compare the structures (body and heads) of the timber wolf to the many of
the modern import dogs and our American Heidelberg’s lines.
Compare shapes and angles by examining several pictures of the wolf
compared to the import and our dogs. Then
examine and compare pictures of our dogs vs. the import.
Do not buy into the propaganda; imports are not inherently superior to all
American lines. If examined and
investigated with an open and intelligent mind, you will come to the conclusion
that our Heidelberg’s are superior in temperament, structure, and natural
beauty than most all other lines and types of shepherds whether European,
imported, or American.
a more
detailed and exclent comparison of American shepherds vs. European
/
import
shepherds click here:
What is beautiful?
Researchers have attempted to define beauty as perceived by the human
mind. The overwhelming consensus in
defining what is beautiful and aesthetically pleasing to the eye was found to be
in the form and function, balance, and symmetry of the object considered.
The Heidelberg shepherd meets these definitions of beauty.
Few scenes in life are as invigorating and stimulating as watching a
Heidelberg German Shepherd running in a flying trot across an open grassy field. | 
