Until relatively recently, I had decided to keep my online presence as so-called “dog expert” as limited as possible. Over the years, I had grown tired of the online dog scene. Almost everyone I used to cooperatively blog with had either decided I was a “fawkin’ eejit” or had moved onto better things.
In the meantime, it became fashionable for people who thought they knew something about real dogs to use what little remaining lives they have to trash people, to shame people, and to act as the most self-righteous asses possible.
Twice, I’ve tried to have a Facebook group associated with this blog, and twice, I’ve given it up. The first time was when my larger group, which had been in existence for several years, became infiltrated with a bunch of self-righteous Millennials, some of whom are nothing more than dog show wannabes and the rest wannabe “dog whisperers,” who probably shudder that I place them in the same category as Cesar Millan.
The second time comes from the simple fact that I’ve changed my life and changed my mind about a certain prick-eared breed.
It is true that I now co-own a top of the line American show-bred German shepherd. I don’t think he’s crippled, and I don’t think any objective veterinarian would say so either. I like this dog a lot, even though his primary human is my partner. He is a good dog, and if you hate him, I’m sorry. He has nothing to prove to you.
It has been difficult for me to admit that I was wrong about this breed and to accept that I was wrong about what most breeders in the US are trying to accomplish with their show strains of this breed. Not everyone wants that extreme extra angulation in the rear, but just having that angulation is not indicative of a dog that dog is suffering.
But the problem is that I have spent a decade building up a bloody lynch mob about purebred dogs. My views on extreme brachycephalics remain relatively the same. But I am not going to write long screeds about how German shepherds consist solely of structural train wrecks. I do prefer the really good working line dog of this breed, but I do not hate the show ones. And there is room for both types in a breed this useful and loved. There absolutely are dogs that do have problems, but this is not a universal in the breed.
But I have helped build this lynch mob, and for this, I do feel a great deal of guilt. I cannot walk it back it, and if I try to walk it back, I am fairly certain that I will just become someone to throw into the flames.
I have, however, decided that I do need to be public. If you agreed with me about dogs before but disagree now, that’s fine. Maybe you like all the other things I write here and will stay with me.
But I am not participating or feeding into this toxic dog snob culture. I don’t care from which angle the snobbery comes. It just isn’t good for me. I don’t think it’s good for dogs, and I don’t think it’s helping in any way, except stroking egos.
And we all love to have our egos stroked. I certainly do.
But you know what we have to do to grow as human beings? We have to keep open minds. We have to accept that a big chunk of what we believe at any given moment will be shown to be wrong.
When I was in my 20s, I was much more obtuse and obstinate. I thought I knew a lot more than I actually did, and deep down, I knew it. And thus, I compensated for my lack of any kind of knowledge by being an insufferable angry young man.
Like this:
At some point, though, the angry young man winds up taken aback. His crusade is revealed not just be folly but totally in error, and when he realizes that he can keep being angry all the time or he can allow himself to make adjustments.
My life in the past couple of years has been about making adjustments. I am re-calibrating what I am and what I should waste precious brain cells into fighting over.
So dogs will be part of this blog to be sure, but this will not be yet another one of those “burn down the AKC” blogs. Those blogs already exist. If you want to read them, go ahead. I certainly do read them.
But my own creative and intellectual energies are over trying to produce that content here.
I am going to focus much more on my actual writing craft. As you may have noticed, I am doing much more experimental forms of writing here than I was before. You may not like my “arting around,” but I am doing it anyway.
I have a profound connection with a dog right now, one that I have not experienced in a very long time. She will be a major focus of this work, and I do think that the “retriever” aspect of this blog will be greatly lacking, probably from now on out.
If I could change my blog name, I certainly would. I have disliked it ever since I realized I had named it without creativity. I was seeking approval and notoriety from someone I did admire at the time, but we’ve long since had a falling out. (I’m sure he would appreciate it if my blog had a different addy and if I went by a different username, for exactly the same reasons).
Right now, I’ve learned that you just have to have your life happen to you, and sometimes, if you want to be really happy, you have to admit error and move on.
And if you want to grow, you have to admit that you’re wrong. At the very least, admitting you’re wrong is the first step to being right.
And love to be right.
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There is already a “German Shepherd Man,” if you’re suggesting I change to that name. He has a great Youtube channel and has very nice West German working lines.
I’ll always be around reading your stuff, no matter what breed you’re blogging about. ;)
I’m not a fan of the show-line shepherds, or the larger, blockier, heavier build shepherds in general nowadays seem to be bred for (my personal preference is for a lighter, more agile dog) but that’s neither here nor there. I’m not an expert on this breed or any other breed for that matter. Can you explain *why* the extreme angulation, “roach backs” etc in the show lines are even considered desirable in the first place and how they got to be so? I’ve never understood the appeal. I’ve heard it has something to do with this “flying trot” gait the breed is supposed to exhibit in the show ring. However looking at photos makes me suspect it has more to do with facilitating the dogs’ being able to strike an exaggeratedly “noble” pose (Head and shoulders high, chest out, rear legs back) meant to evoke Rin-Tin-Tin perched on a hillside or something, but that’s just speculation on my part. What’s the real story on the “why” behind the conformation of show line shepherds?
There are two main types of show line, “West German” and “AKC.” West German ones are the ones that typically have that hyena back that I personally don’t like. The AKC type has a sloping topline, and although they do have ones with extreme rears, they usually don’t have that weird hump back. Now, I do have the Rin-Tin-Tin type, too. I will say she’s much more agile and functional than the show dogs of either type. But there are good lines of AKC show type that have rock solid temperaments, maybe a hair soft for working GSD people. But they are good dogs and make good pets. And if they are just to be pets, I’m not losing sleep over it. The working type exists for a reason, but I don’t think anyone who isn’t going to play ball and train the dog for several hours a day should own one. Trust me I love the working type so much, but I don’t see the show people as the enemy.
Yeah I’m not even really trying to denigrate the show line breeders here (I’m not a fan of a lot of purebred dog breeding practices but that’s not the purpose of my post) I’m just trying to figure when and why the sloped and humped back shepherds became popular. Essentially: who decided that this was how show-line shepherds should look, and why? You gotta bear with me here as like I said, I’m not a dog breed expert, but most dog breeds that have become hyper-bred for aesthetics seem to be selected for some traditionally saliant trait of the breed (Short faces on pugs, long faces on collies, short legs on dachshunds) basically taking traits the breeds had historically and just really exaggerating them for the show ring. With shepherds, the different back conformations of the show lines don’t seem to be an exaggeration of any trait present in the earliest historical examples of the breed. So what “vision” for the GSD were show breeders attempting to achieve with their dogs when they decided to start selectively breeding shepherds to look this way, or was it just a case of “Hey, this looks neat, let’s select for this from now on”?
I always hoped that one day you’d have the opportunity to really know how absolutely wonderful a good GSD can be, Scottie. I love them all, because inside those variously-shaped bodies are some of the most intelligent, capable, loving, loyal dogs on earth. As Jessica Rabbit would say, “They can’t help it if they’ve been drawn [bred] that way”. Some of my best dogs have been ASL showline dogs; some of my best have been German imports. (So have some of the worst I’ve owned – but even my “worst” had their redeeming qualities.)
Many of the finest GSDs I’ve ever owned – physically as well as mentally – have been someone else’s castoff; either given to me because their owners tired of them; picked up starving or mangy where they’d been abandoned along the highway; or acquired from my local shelter.
Some have been problem dogs for sure; problematic at first, anyway, from being raised “wild in the yard” & having to be taught puppy manners as adults. That was a lot easier in my 20s, 30s, and 40s that it is in my 60s!
German shepherd dogs are so popular worldwide for many reasons, and one of those reasons is that they can be wonderful pets. Since when did “I want him/her for a pet” become something at which to sneer? Most dogs worldwide, of most breeds, are pets.
The fact that they are also still probably the most widely used working dogs on the planet, even with so many other working police/SAR/MWD & guide dogs of other breeds also in service, is testament to their intelligence and versatility.
No individual dog is perfect for every situation, and yes, there are problems deeply integrated into the GSDs genetics that may be difficult ever to fully resolve; but are there any purebred dogs, especially those breeds like sheps and labs that surely exist in the millions, that don’t have the stamp of former misguided breeding methods upon them?
I’m so glad you are still blogging. I’m not ready to go back into the facebook fray. Not yet. I had to change my email address for your blog to continue to use my kittenz handle, because I have a private blog now that uses my other address & it won’t let me post as kittenz using my other address.
Yeah, I like the breed and don’t think they’re “cripples” (but to be fair I always took it as an hyperbole to make a point) but they also don’t have such conformation for functional reasons. Like you, I also prefer the performance/working line dogs (though even there some more moderation would be welcomed) and as a reader of your blog it’s great to see this new and positive interest for the breed.
Like the phrase goes, keep up the good work.