April 12 1996
Farmer's Weekly
April 12 1996
A little more than a year ago a battle of words raged in Farmer's Weekly. It began when Susan Spencer pointed out why she considers her Olderhill dogs better. The reaction as it always is with dog breeding - was fierce. Ms Spencer then decided to do research on the arguments used against her. Here are the results.
The Olderhill German Shepherd dog article in Farmer's Weekly January 27,1995 issue) was fat in the fire. It sparked a fierce debate with phone calls from the public and an article (Farmer's Weekly, April 28) in support of it, while the "SA German Shepherd dog fraternity" was up in arms about this issue in Farmer's Weekly issues of March 17 and June 9, 1995.
What did the initial article say? It simply voiced the worldwide concern that breeding dogs with exaggerated features for the showring has led to many breeds suffering crippling defects and that a re turn to breeding more natural shapes is necessary for the well-being of these dogs. The German Shepherd dog fraternity denies that its dogs have any problems, claims that their man-made sloped shape is more efficient than nature and is aggressive about any criticism of the dogs that it sells so well. Standing accused of being subjective and lying about the Olderhills, I would like to reply with authoritative references.
Examples of what we're talking about include:
* Bulldogs' respiratory problems because of their squashed faces;
* Dachshunds' hind-quarter paralysis due to their long backs (there are four in intensive care at Onderstepoort at the time of writing this);
* Shar Peis' eyes having to be stitched open because of the wrinkles;
* Pugs' eyes popping out of their sockets because they protrude;
* German Shepherd dogs' hip dysplasia and other spine-related problems because of their sloped backs.
Even without exaggerating features, breeding for looks alone is dangerous, especially when people want to do well at dog shows at all costs. A fashionable "champion" dog will be over-used for stud regardless of its health and temperament, possibly spreading serious faults throughout the breed.
There is a movement wanting to stop dog shows altogether (1) while at the World Congress of Kennel Clubs in Ireland recently some countries recommended that 60 breeds be banned from breeding because of hereditary disorders (2). The problem is serious and widespread and that's why I and many others advocate holistic breeding - selecting for temperament, health and function before looks, just as nature does. I was lucky enough to have stumbled on a German breeder who has applied holistic breeding since 1961.
On a quest to find a line of real working German Shepherd dogs in Europe, I was directed to Ann Butler and her Olderhills in England. I was impressed. These were large, big-boned dogs with human-like intelligence and emotions. These Olderhills, stemming from old German working lines, have been selected for working ability and health since 1961 and for real police work since 1973.
"Living in" with the handlers, police dogs over there have to be good family dogs too. Like police forces in other countries, the Sussex Police have helped Ann and others with their Olderhill breeding programme by allowing their best performing Olderhill dogs to be used as stud dogs (3).
The result of this selection is that practically 100% of these dogs are "born" police dogs, magic to work with, having stable, loving natures and good health (3)+(4). I saw several between 10 and 15 years old and they looked fit. My dog's sire Police dog Olderhill Lofty ("Ben") is 10 and is so fit and strong that he's been given special permission to work beyond the retirement age of a police dog. (He won the City of London and Home Counties' trophy three times in a row - the Sussex Police have won it eight times, seven with Olderhills and not the National Police dog trials as stated in last January's issue. Another dog, Olderhill Ripper won the tracking trophy at the Nationals and was overall reserve champion twice - in 1994 losing by a mere point out of 1000. (3)+(5).
In her March 17th article, Mrs Ewart Brookes made certain statements about the Olderhills in the Sussex Police. The latter confirmed in writing last year that what she had written was incorrect - they had never obtained bitches from Ann Butler and that, out of 30 operational police dogs, 12 were 100% pure Olderhills with two more in training. With these two now trained, that makes 14/32 for 44% pure Olderhills. (3) Other success stories that I've heard of are:
After World War Two, a Swiss programme - selecting strictly for working ability as army, police and guide-dogs for the blind - raised the percentage of puppies bred that proved suitable under field conditions from 35% to 95% (6). An American guide-dog programme took 12 years to reach 70% suitability (6). Another American guide-dog programme took 14 years to reach 90% from a starting figure of 9%.(17)
Several East and West German "working lines ' have been selected purely for working ability with the result that they dominate the working Sieger (championship) show held annually by the German SV (German Shepherd Dog Federation). Like the Olderhills, they have kept the flat backs and straight hind legs of their ancestors, and in the words of a well known German Shepherd dog judge here "almost look like a different breed from today's show shepherd".
At the Sieger Show in 1993, I saw only a couple of dogs with sloped backs - the rest were these flat-backed working shepherds. What is the difference between dogs that are the product of years of selection for working ability and health and those that are the result of years of selection for shows? Show people deny any difference, but common sense and facts suggest otherwise.
Dogs can be produced after many years whose puppies are nearly 100% suitable for field-work - that is, out of a 1itter of 10 puppies all 10 will be suitable. The suitability of the well bred show dogs that these programmes started off with ranged from 9% to 35% - one to four suitable puppies in a litter of 10.
For the past two years, the SA Police have been able only to train successfully 5,5% of the 1 800 shepherds donated to them due to defective health or temperaments (8). That is fewer than six dogs out of 100 less than one puppy in a litter of 10 suit able for field-work. Sounds shocking, but probably fairly accurately reflects the decline noted in all the shepherd books I've read. The police commander says that 15 years ago the success rate was much higher (8) and this corresponds with what many working people have told me - that the dogs 10-15 years ago were much stronger in body, temperament and health than today's "modem" show shepherd. (After the fraternity's June 9th accusation that British dogs have bad temperaments, it's amusing to note that this decline corresponds with the increase in the number of German imports.) There is, therefore, a huge difference in the percentage of puppies suitable for field-work in a "working" or "show" litter.
German Shepherd dog breeders argue that dogs with working qualifications ob trained at working shows are equal to real life working dogs. This is not usually true. Many dogs perform inconsistently at shows, doing well one day and badly the next, and even those who don't might not perform in non-show situations. I've heard of a police dog that won all the working trials, but refused to get out of the van at the scene of the crime. Nearly any dog of any breed can be taught anything with patience and expertise - what is required in a working dog is that it learns quickly, co-operates keenly and performs consistently in any situation. Working qualifications give no indication of how long a dog took to gain them, how consistent he is and how he performs outside the "ring" and so is not a real test of character and, therefore, of little use in breeding programmes. (9)
The difference between a bred working dog and a show dog that's one of the small percentage suitable for real work can still be like the difference between a car and a go-cart. Both will take you from A to B, but it's so much quicker and less work with a car. With no training, our Olderhills have joined in advanced obedience classes, retrieved articles hidden away, performed perfect scent discriminations (retrieving an object with the owner's smell on from a group of other objects) and found explosives. With training, one of their puppies in George - Olderhill Fame - won her first obedience test entered (with 99,5% at six months of age). Show them something once and they do it. That's the magic of genes programmed to work. Dogs bred for the showring have sloped backs and bent hind legs. All the working lines that we know of have kept the flat backs and straight hind legs of the original shepherds.
Scientific
The slope is supposed to improve trotting efficiency, but no scientific trials have ever been attempted to prove this. The experts just know it. Onderstepoort for some reason decided against scientifically comparing sloped with flat-backed shepherds.
The only trials that I've heard of are the following: Czechoslovakian Wolf dogs (German Shepherd dog x wolf) took three to four hours to recover after a 100-km trot while German Shepherd dogs took 12 hours to recover after 50 km.(10). The dog that proved the best for speed and endurance in Scandinavian Pulka racing (one-dog sled with a musher following on skis) was the German Short hair Pointer. (11) As Mr Campbell points out (April 28), wolves and the champion endurance dogs, huskies (who run 200 km per day for 10 days in the Iditarod race in the USA), have flat backs. Any dog can complete the federation's 20km "endurance" run.
When the slope became fashionable about 15 years ago the upright scale jump (up to 11 feet high) was changed to the "A" frame ramp. Why? Was it because rigid sloped backs are more easily damaged by the jarring of landing from an upright jump? Or perhaps that they are not able to jump as well? Again, unfortunately, there is no scientific data to answer these questions on how slope affects function, but there is evidence that it is associated with hip dysplasia (HD).
In 1985, Dr Verryn scientifically proved that "excessive slope of back" and a "crouching hind quarter" were associated with increased hip dysplasia. (12), (13)
Prof Geerthsen, involved in several breeding programmes for working German Shepherd dogs in the past, says that it was noticeable how selecting against hip dysplasia resulted in dogs with shorter, flatter backs.(13)
West Germany's sloped show dogs have compared badly with East Germany's fat-backed ones in hip dysplasia statistics. In 1968, 90% West German's German Shepherd dogs had hip dysplasia compared to East Germany's 44%, and by 1975 83% compared to 12% (14)
We are not aware of any genetic faults in the Olderhills or other working lines. Not surprisingly, some of the genetic problems common in show German Shepherd dogs concern the spine. Examples are German Shepherd dog myelopathy or CDCM (paralysis of the hind quarters); immature nerve growth (inability to control muscles enough even to walk); hip dysplasia; and anal furunculosis (pus forming boils in the glands under the tail often needing tail amputation or euthanasia. The latter is thought to be due to the steepness of the tail-set required in angulated show dogs. (15)
Hip dysplasia is the abnormal development of the hip joints leading to painful arthritis, varying in degree from only noticeable in old age to having to "euthanase" a puppy. Although present in some other breeds, the German Shepherd dog is by far the worst affected by hip dysplasia The federation's own statistics from 6/11/'93 to 6/11/'95 show that only 53% of the 620 dogs x-rayed for breeding were hip dysplasia-free and these include many flat backed hip dysplasia-free dogs. (KUSA's statistics not at hand).(16)
Some breeds insist on 0-0 hips in both parents for breeding. Others allow one of the parents only to have up to 1-1. German Shepherd dogs' are allowed to breed with both parents 2-2.(17)
There is no reason why a bitch with hip dysplasia should be mated to a dog with hip dysplasia - there are many males to choose from. In my opinion, this practice is unscrupulous. The worst non-spine related hereditary problem is pancreatitis - a malfunctioning pancreas (often becoming cancerous) causing inability to digest food and a permanently thin dog. Requiring a "lean" show dog masks that dog's inability to get fat. The above shows clearly that "holistically"-bred working dogs are healthier and vastly more suitable for real-life work.
1. International Express (newspaper)
2. KUSA M.magazine Oct 1995 p 399
3. Fax from Sussex Police 25/5/95
4. Fax from K9 Protection Services
5. Letter from Sussex Police Constable Baker
6. Captain W.M. Goldbecker/Ernst H. Hart. This is the German Shepherd p 220
7. William Koehler The Koehler Method of Guard Dog Training, p 23
8. Fax from SA Police Dog School Pretoria 9/10/95
9. Dr M.B. Willis, The German Shepherd Dog p l3
9- 1/2 Certificate showing first place
10. KUSA Magazine, May 1993 p 161
11. KUSA Magazine, June 1994 p 240
12. Willis p 261
13. Letter from Prof Geerthsen 25/5/95
14. Wills pp 267 and 268
15. Willis p 237
16. Federation's HD Gradings
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