How could they have let this happen?

Since you claim to support show breeders, you have no room to complain. This is what show breeders do, this is what they care about, this is how they have destroyed every breed they have put their hands on, this is the future of all breeds that can do bite work and its disgusting.

These gross abominations is what is left of some of the best working dogs ever and the judges could give two *****. The words of Greek and Dutch ring true...dont they?

This condition?You mean their down-leaning backs and i know it's not natural.A big percentage of GSDs owner does that in order to ascribe their dogs' high jumpimg power:they provide their GSDs with a special enzyme through certain vaccination and give them that shape in their bodies--normally it's brutal but judges accept it due to ensuring success for the GSDs' in the competitions! It probably brings success but makes them suffer from arthritis in the very young age of 6 years old!

Unfortunately some breeds are ruined in how they look. You get a few dogs more extreme then the judges put them up, and in turn breeders start breeding for that style.

Its gradual over time. Same thing happens to cats in the show ring - the style of the Persian and Siamese are very different then those shown 50-60 yrs ago. Breeders take animals to the extreme.

Personnally I like the look in the b/w pictures of how a Shepherd should look, not the bottom.

Many of the working lines have just as bad conformation: http://cdn.pedigreedatabase.com/pictures/437550.jp... the roach back is pretty bad, do you know if that dog is actually a champion of record or it is a red herring? Here is the BOB at Westminster last year: http://www.westminsterkennelclub.org/2013/photos/b... he looks like he would be a lovely dog if stacked sensibly... and the old photos look like poorly bred Malinois to me, not GSD at all, they lack coat and any substance to speak of, the necks and croups looked hacked on and the angulation, what little I can see, makes me shudder.

There are plenty of crappy "show" dogs out there, and plenty of crappy "working" dogs, too. In sporting breeds most of the field dogs run (if they can run very much at all) on heart, because their shoulders are straight and their rears are high or something else that just isn't put together very well. Too many Labradors that look like Greyhound or Mastiff mixes in the field, too many overweight dogs without brains in the ring. Both make me upset. There once was a time when people wanted beauty and type and soundness and functionality all at once, and they bred for it, then, too...

Jeez... The bottom set of pictures really make me cringe. That's not how any dog should look & I really don't know how people can consider that to be desirable - it's just uncomfortable to look at. Those dogs do not look like they could work even half as well as the traditional/working GSDs could.

A lot of people at our local park have German Shepherds and the majority of them are straight-backed. They're still pedigree & registered, but they're healthy and can walk properly. There is one GSD that looks just like those in the bottom set of pictures, and he's very antisocial and doesn't like to be around the other dogs and doesn't like to play - he almost looks like a completely different breed from the other GSDs & he looks like he's constantly in pain, it's dreadful to see.

The top set of pictures - those dogs look very healthy, lean & fit for working, which is exactly what the GSD was bred for, to be a versatile working dog. Those bottom dogs really don't look like they'd do well as a working dog. Their structures look completely deformed & impractical for ANY form of work. It actually makes me really sad to see that.

I love the German Shepherd breed - but the working-type GSDs, I much prefer... And I have NEVER seen a working police dog here in the UK that is quite as deformed as that. Most of them look much more like the top set of pictures - and no wonder why. Nobody is going to even attempt to use those bottom dogs for working.

Ugh, it really does upset me.

Skip to 0:30 seconds on this YouTube video - it's an extract from a BBC documentary 'Pedigree dogs exposed' - German Shepherds: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV7elIy_Aoo

Just look at how the show Shepherd walks....

Oh my gosh, I knew the slanted backs were getting bad but I never thought they'd get That bad! How does anyone think that's ok?! It looks like a spinal defect and like it'd be very painful! I definitely prefer working line GSDs bred for function, that's for sure. That's just disgusting. Makes me angry.

How do you know those dogs were put up, I don't see any win photo's of the dogs that are built like that.

I think, their just photo's you found on the internet. Just because a dog is entered in a show, doesn't mean their show quality or that they are going to win.

I think, those photo's were just put up to start an anti breeding conversation.

It boggles the mind. I have no idea how anyone could think it's okay to breed or award a dog with a roached back and crippled back legs. It saddens me because I love the breed.