GSD isn’t my breed. But a stack is always for the purpose of comparing dogs.
And things go in and out of style, as well. If a handler has a specific way of showing a dog, others may copy. That may be where the GSD stack came from, by some handlers using it to show off their dogs and others copied. But it’s kind of how showing dogs goes.
I agree that judges are still judging against the breed standard,
Not sure where you heard that nonsense BS or why you’d even bother repeating such ridiculousness.
For those actually interested, this is a good resource
https://gsd-living.com/conformation/
Sure it is how it works lol. Professional researchers get paid for doing research. So do librarians, only they get paid by the municipality or other body governing their library. So yeah, you want me to do your research for you, but you don’t think it’s worth paying for? That’s not how this works. lol
BTW I did do some research on this earlier, just out of my own curiosity. I did not find the quote I was looking for, and for all I know I read/heard that in some dog-people discussion in the days before the Internet.
So, since you don’t seem to believe that pay-for-services is how this works, I suggest you visit your local public/academic library and look it up yourself. With the help of the reference librarian.
That’s how it works.
Lol sonwe should all make ridiculous claims that we supposedly read on the internet, refuse to cite them and act indignant if anyone asks?
Right, but if they were all required to be set up a different way, they would all still be an apples to apples comparison.
To me it’s a bit like the way halter Arabians are set up to show the flat croup/one less vertebrae, but if you set them up like they would be set up in a sport horse breeding, it’s not like you couldn’t still discern those traits, they just wouldn’t be as pronounced.
The GSD is obvs set up to exaggerate certain attributes, just as it’s equally obvious breeders have been breeding for more extreme versions of those attributes. It’s not just GSDs of course, that’s the curse of breeders. If some is good then more must be better. But it’s a lot more obvious in certain breeds. To the average lay person some breeds look mostly the same over the generations, while others certainly look more extreme. GSDs are on the lite end of the more obvious changes but this thread is a testament to the fact that the lay person noticed the change.
That’s a different discussion than is the change unhealthy.
Birds aren’t real. Don’t believe me? Do your own research.
(See, I can also make inane claims, provide no backup, and put the onus on you to prove or disprove it.)
(This behavior is actually a type of troll. Congrats!)
I disagree actually. The lay person watches one dog show a year (or, maybe two), on TV, which is always a bad angle to evaluate conformation, and then makes claims that the dogs have changed dramatically in the last 50 years (or, s
“since I was a kid”) and are crippled and have “crooked backs and bad hips.”
Which is why the then go and pull random photos of other GSDs from years back, which may or may not have been shown in conformation or bred for anything in particular.
If they saw the same dog walking down their street (which, maybe actually even happens) they probably wouldn’t have thought that the breed has changed very much, or made claims about their general health as a breed.
Has the conformation of the GSD changed much in comparison to other breeds? I don’t know. I think you would have to ask someone who has been active in the breed that question. Because I don’t think the lay person, or even someone that is active in another breed can tell based on a few random internet samples.
I had always heard that the GSD show stack was developed because the dog’s relatively long back and high degree of angulation behind sometimes made it more difficult for the dog to maintain balance when asked to hold a stance for more than a few seconds. And some handler realized that the dog was better balanced with one hind leg advanced more under its center of gravity, PLUS it accentuated the hind end angulation and sloping topline more. Also, I believe (from what I remember showing dogs way, way back when) that originally the off hind leg was advanced very slightly and not nearly to the radical amount now in fashion.
Unfortunately, dogs shown that way began winning a lot - and no doubt they were high-quality specimens with top handlers - and breeders than began breeding for even more extreme angulation and a more radically sloped topline.
The photos below show the difference. (Caveat, these are random photos from Google images. I have no idea who these dogs are, or even if they were “show bred” - the photos were chosen merely to demonstrate how the GSD has changed in the past 50 years or so.)
Is one supposed to be current and the other from 50 years ago?
Even if so, you can’t just take two random dogs and compare them. One might meet the breed standard and the other may not.
I’ve posted dogs before from my own breed - both purebred, one a field champion and one a show champion. And they look nothing alike.
An old friend of my mother’s called me out of the blue today. She wants me to groom her son’s toy Poodle because her groomer says she doesn’t have room anymore. And she wants me to do it because, “The other groomers that had openings charge too much money!” So yeah, I’m really thrilled at the prospect 
Then she proceeds to tell me she is going to pick up two medium or large Goldendoodles that someone in another town can’t keep for some reason and she really thinks she might just keep one instead of passing them both on to the next home. Already I can see where this is headed, and there’s NO WAY I’m grooming their Poodle for a pittance, let alone AN ADDITIONAL GOLDENDOODLE OF ILL REPUTE!
Just shoot me.
I feel your pain, but just have to say that I think “Goldendoodle of Ill Repute” is going to be my new screenname! 
I mean honestly 
She literally knows nothing of them besides that they need new homes and she thinks she wants one? Am I the only one that’s a bit suspicious of $10,000 worth of free dog? Sheesh…
I just can’t even with people anymore. The groomers charge roughly $40 for a small dog. To do a Poodle I really need a HV dryer as well as my clippers and combs etc. If you can’t pay $40 to a professional that has all the tools needed, you want me to do it for less, during my time off from my 45hr a week job, while you hang around and WAIT? It would take me a solid two hours, and I bet she’d want to pay me $20 (I’m being generous). No thanks, Karen. Yes, her name is actually Karen
So how did you respond?
I said I sure wouldn’t want me a doodle and I’d have to get back to her on the grooming.
She called rather than messaged so that it would be harder to say no, Imma message her my regrets
Message her with your price! Make it worth your while if you do it. LOL
Sorry, i wasn’t clear. I meant to say the photos show the difference in the stances. Back when I was showing dogs, the stance was more like the first pic - off hind leg slightly advanced, whilst the fashion today is more like the second one.
I agree it’s not the best example, because the conformation of the dogs is different (one has much more hind end angulation), but again, the dog in the first pic is a closer representation of what I remember from seeing GSDs at shows way back when. It is also more like the GSDs I saw used for sentry work on military bases when I was growing up (we actually had one for a neighbor when we lived in Japan - cool dog!).
For some reason I randomly wandered over here while bored and I had to do a double-take at the first pic b/c it looked like the guy’s head was on the dog’s body the way he was kneeling right next to the dog.
The way a GSD is stacked in the show ring gives them the angle. I remember a couple of years ago when the GSD won Westminster. Her OFA score was actually good, but the cries of “CRIPPLE” refused to acknowledge that.
There is little/no correlation between the angle of the back when stacked and hip health.
Sheilah
My lovely, healthy Toy Poodle thanks you!
Sheilah
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