Supply and demand
Discover our latest podcast
Today, German shepherds are no longer working nor endurance dogs and they wouldn’t be able to do so in any case.
While only a few enthusiasts continue to breed ‘alte deutsche schäferhund,’ the original breed which is smaller, more solid and stocky and therefore also more rustic in character, most German shepherd owners are nowadays sedentary and no longer have any interest in having real working dogs.
Now there only remains the need to ‘have’ a dog with the reputation of being aggressive or able to work but who have retained only his unfailing loyalty after decades of selective breeding.
In addition, there are the criteria surrounding dog shows, which are also evolving and are now based on aesthetic criteria that are totally disconnected from the breed's natural physiology. The juries are particularly fond of dogs who have hindquarters which are (too) low.
A breed which has become crippled
In order to meet all these criteria, breeders have created a crippled dog, a breed increasingly affected by hip dysplasia. This is very visible when the dog is in profile; it is an abnormal development of the hip joints, which is generally a genetic aspect... which in turn is based on this unnatural selection of selective breeding.
In this case, a therapeutic arsenal is available to temporarily manage pain associated with hip joints, and then surgery often becomes necessary. If breeding continues in this direction, then its future might be in doubt.
A few more generations and no one will want these increasingly infirm dogs anymore, and this pseudo-breed will die out because domestic animals follow the law of the market with its demands and nothing else... So, what does the future hold? Two-legged German shepherds by 2050?
