Information on working terriers, dogs, natural history, hunting, and the environment, with occasional political commentary as I see fit. This web log is associated with the Terrierman.com web site.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
This is the Shame of Westminster
Look at those hocks! Flat on the ground. This is the best America has to offer? Pathetic! Watch the video here. .
I watched this earlier today. At the Euro Winner show last summer, the BOB, BP etc GSDs (Germanic type) were actually worse than this and made these dogs look almost normal, if you can believe that. The wobble in the rear was frightening. Your reaction is just the same as mine was at the time - was this REALLY the best in Europe?!!
I suppose one could argue that from the angle of the back when they're stacked, they're darn near sitting on the forward leg. And one expects the hock to be flat on the ground when sitting.... Shoot, the movement isn't even pretty anymore. In the good old days some of the dogs moved smoothly enough for the proverbial glass of water on the back. Now the glass would fall off side to side.
The front pasterns and fetlocks look pretty awful as well. I've noticed, too, that many of these grotesquely conformed dogs often have stressed/painful looking expressions, not to mention their obvious lameness when they move. God awful stuff.
I talk with my sister everyday, and she is just the average dog lover, not "into" any specific breed, doesn't own one at the moment, never showed or bred one.
She doesn't know about your blog and we were talking about Westminster and she immediately said to me, "Did you see that poor German Shepherd"? "I really haven't paid much attention to them the past 20 years but I can't believe what they look like now, all wobbly and walks like a duck." This is someone with an untrained eye that has no problem pointing out the wreckage that is now the GSD. She even mentioned that she would pick a Belgian Malinois over a GSD, as "their back ends look normal." I told her at least for now ...
I told her about your blog on this very subject. It's not just "dog people" noticing what has happened to this breed. Sad, very sad.
Agree with Seahorse - there were a lot of floppy-pasterned dogs limp-wristing their way round the ring in that video. The soundest dog definitely didn't win, though none were ideal of course. Almost all the dogs were cringing to the touch of the judge too, did you notice? Bad temperament, pain, or both? Who knows...
There were several of those dogs who couldn't stand up straight on their hindquarters too. Natural posture was "standing under". That's to say nothing of the disgraceful handler who was actually holding up her charge's hock! It actually couldn't stand without her holding its rear leg. Not that the stack pose she was using helped - the rear leg was pulled so far behind it was in the next town... :-S
A friend of mine from Berlin has expressed her shock to me at what her country's most recognisable breed has become. She couldn't believe what has happened to these dogs since she was a child - and she's not an old woman either! She was positively embarrassed when I told her about the damage her own countrymen have done to their own breed.
Augh! This was horrible! Some of those dogs were nearly dragging their hind ends. And this is in the herding category? I've seen some local GSDs at our herding venues and they move like real dogs, even though they don't have the entirely upright stance of the older examples of the breed.
For curiosity's sake, I took a look at the Border Collie (helpfully on the same page) and was just as shocked! I think the closed system for this breed is such a shame. I watched a link to Westminster a few years ago and the difference between then and now is incredibly apparent. The dogs are larger, squarer, with broader chests and have heavier coats reminiscent of a show sheltie or aussie. Faces seem longer a'la the Collie too. It's so strange to see!
I nearly applauded that one dog who pranced all over the place, as if to say: ARE YOU KIDDING?!
8 comments:
I watched this earlier today. At the Euro Winner show last summer, the BOB, BP etc GSDs (Germanic type) were actually worse than this and made these dogs look almost normal, if you can believe that. The wobble in the rear was frightening. Your reaction is just the same as mine was at the time - was this REALLY the best in Europe?!!
I suppose one could argue that from the angle of the back when they're stacked, they're darn near sitting on the forward leg. And one expects the hock to be flat on the ground when sitting.... Shoot, the movement isn't even pretty anymore. In the good old days some of the dogs moved smoothly enough for the proverbial glass of water on the back. Now the glass would fall off side to side.
The front pasterns and fetlocks look pretty awful as well. I've noticed, too, that many of these grotesquely conformed dogs often have stressed/painful looking expressions, not to mention their obvious lameness when they move. God awful stuff.
Seahorse
Disgusting. I feel for the poor dogs.
No, not at all. The best that American has is out doing its job.
I'm beginning to agree with Eadaoin that the Euro high-line "shepherds" are even more physically freakish than the American show-slinkies.
These dogs are more moderate in their exaggeration and disability than Ambreds were ten years ago.
That said, Jimmy "Puppymill Quisling" Moses' winning bitch was one of the two most exaggerated and deformed dogs in the ring.
I talk with my sister everyday, and she is just the average dog lover, not "into" any specific breed, doesn't own one at the moment, never showed or bred one.
She doesn't know about your blog and we were talking about Westminster and she immediately said to me, "Did you see that poor German Shepherd"? "I really haven't paid much attention to them the past 20 years but I can't believe what they look like now, all wobbly and walks like a duck." This is someone with an untrained eye that has no problem pointing out the wreckage that is now the GSD. She even mentioned that she would pick a Belgian Malinois over a GSD, as "their back ends look normal." I told her at least for now ...
I told her about your blog on this very subject. It's not just "dog people" noticing what has happened to this breed. Sad, very sad.
Agree with Seahorse - there were a lot of floppy-pasterned dogs limp-wristing their way round the ring in that video. The soundest dog definitely didn't win, though none were ideal of course. Almost all the dogs were cringing to the touch of the judge too, did you notice? Bad temperament, pain, or both? Who knows...
There were several of those dogs who couldn't stand up straight on their hindquarters too. Natural posture was "standing under". That's to say nothing of the disgraceful handler who was actually holding up her charge's hock! It actually couldn't stand without her holding its rear leg. Not that the stack pose she was using helped - the rear leg was pulled so far behind it was in the next town... :-S
A friend of mine from Berlin has expressed her shock to me at what her country's most recognisable breed has become. She couldn't believe what has happened to these dogs since she was a child - and she's not an old woman either! She was positively embarrassed when I told her about the damage her own countrymen have done to their own breed.
Augh! This was horrible! Some of those dogs were nearly dragging their hind ends. And this is in the herding category? I've seen some local GSDs at our herding venues and they move like real dogs, even though they don't have the entirely upright stance of the older examples of the breed.
For curiosity's sake, I took a look at the Border Collie (helpfully on the same page) and was just as shocked! I think the closed system for this breed is such a shame. I watched a link to Westminster a few years ago and the difference between then and now is incredibly apparent. The dogs are larger, squarer, with broader chests and have heavier coats reminiscent of a show sheltie or aussie. Faces seem longer a'la the Collie too. It's so strange to see!
I nearly applauded that one dog who pranced all over the place, as if to say: ARE YOU KIDDING?!
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