After studying the statistics I just received, regarding the German Shepherd Dog, I can clearly see WHY this breed has been referred to as "DISINTEGRATING!"

They say, "NUMBERS DON'T LIE" so if these facts are true, then why doesn't SOMEBODY do SOMETHING before it is too late?

There are plenty of organizations that promote Neuter/Spay programs for "MUTTS" but VERY FEW speaks out AGAINST the people that breed AKC registered MUTTS! People seem to be blinded by papers! If the dog is "Registered," that's ALL that counts! Are they getting a GOOD representative of the breed? NOBODY KNOWS! What IS a GOOD representative anyway? Think about it!

We all know that not every puppy born will grow up to be a show dog. Most will end up as pets, even some excellent specimens may end up in pet homes, BUT SHOULD ALL of these pets be bred?

I have chosen to study the statistics regarding the GSD because I'm closer to this breed then any other. I have totally dedicated over 30 years of my life endeavoring to produce better shepherds and MUCH of that time I felt like a cowgirl trying to rope a salmon swimming upstream! While many of the "PRO" breeders acted like a pack of PIRANHAS out on a feeding frenzy, if you even DARED to say anything "Realistically Derogatory" about their stock! Unfortunately this attitude has caused MANY a promising breeder to fall by the wayside, or worse yet join the ranks of the unscrupulous. Maybe this article will help them get back on the right track!

So let's look at some STARTLING STATISTICS concerning the German Shepherd dog!

Registered

'84  

'85 

'86 

'87

'88

'89

'90 

'91

474,579          

It is VERY easy to see HOW MANY OF THE BITCHES BORN WERE PROBABLY LATER BRED!

This should mean that we have THOUSANDS OF TOP QUALITY OFA CERTIFIED dogs in the gene pool right? WRONG!

NOW let's look at some more statistics! NO STATS were AVAILABLE for 88 & 90,
so we can only look at the following information but that should be enough to give
us a fairly accurate picture!

Please Note: We are using the number of dogs registered in '85 against the number of dogs earning degrees in '87 etc. Simply because nobody expects little pups to earn degrees. So we have to "AGE" each group by at least 2 years. We can therefore assume that the dogs born in '85 would then be old enough to compete for their degrees in '87 etc.
 

'87 TITLES AWARDED AND % LISTINGS OUT OF 57,598 G.S.D's

'89 TITLES AWARDEDAND % LISTINGS OUTOF 57,612 G.S.D.'s '

'91 TITLES AWARDED AND % LISTINGS OUTOF 58,422 G.S.D.'s

After close examination of these facts it is really AMAZING to note that out of a pool of 173,632 GSD's (between '87-'91) that would have been old enough to compete for degrees ONLY 36 earned a TDX! What happened to the other 173,596?

Even WORSE yet are the comparisons of the GSD with the REST of the Herding Group! FOR EXAMPLE: In 1987 the Herding Group finished 1,865 CHAMPIONS, 2,271 CD degrees and 18 OTCH, while out of the 57,598 2yr. old G.S.D.'s available only ONE OTCH degree was earned!

Just think of it! AT NO TIME HAS EVEN 1% of all of the G.S. dogs registered EVEN FINISHED A CHAMPIONSHIP, A-CDX, A-UD, TD, TDX, or OTCH! Not even 1% could earn any of these EASY Working titles.

Well I guess obedience degrees and Conformation titles aren't everything. So let's see how concerned these breeders are about the HIPS in their G.S.D.!

The Chart on page 16 of the OFA booklet shows that from 1/74 until 3/89 a total of 24,827 G.S. dogs were evaluated and 23.9% of these DID NOT PASS! So that leaves only 18,893 dogs that passed IN 15 YEARS!

That would average out to only 1,260 G.S.D. with received a PASSING GRADE from OFA yearly; BUT, if we look at the first chart, we can clearly see that the number of LITTERS born (and remember it takes TWO dogs to produce a litter so these numbers should actually be doubled!) well exceeds the number of OFA certified animals!
 

That's a Total of 146,763 litters born with each litter consisting of 2 Parents (POSSIBLY 293,526 GSD's.)--All this out of approximately 10,080 OFA CERTIFIED adults. That would total approximately 3.43%. Does that mean that LESS THAN 4% OF THE DOGS BRED had their hips certified or does it mean that over 96% of the dogs bred had no hip certification? If we read the OFA booklet on H.D. (and I would advise EVERY PERSON THAT PLANS TO BREED EVEN ONE LITTER TO WRITE FOR THIS BOOKLET!), you will learn some VERY interesting facts! For example: Right on page 1 this book clearly states that HIP DYSPLASIA CAN ONLY BE REDUCED BY SELECTIVELY BREEDING FOR NORMAL HIPS! SINCE IT IS NOW A FACT THAT H.D. IS CAUSED BY A POLYGENIC MODE OF INHERITANCE, IT IS THEREFORE VERY IMPORTANT TO KNOW AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE ABOUT YOUR DOG'S ENTIRE GENE POOL! JUST BREEDING INDIVIDUAL DOGS WITHOUT SPECIFIC KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THEIR ANCESTORS AND LITTERMATES IS PURE FOLLY!

At the top of page 7 you will see in BOLD outline a statement that could save the future of your Breed!

Please take the time to read these charts! The GSD is NOT the ONLY breed affected! H.D. has been found in nearly ALL Breeds. The AUSTRALIAN CATTLE DOG runs only 1% better than the G.S.D! The CHOW, GOLDEN RETRIEVER, BLOODHOUND, and STAFFORDSHIRE TERRIER are EVEN WORSE! The DOBERMAN, IRISH WOLFHOUND, (LARGE!) AFGHAN, COLLIE, BORZOI etc. run a MUCH LOWER % of H.D! Despite the foolish notion that the smaller dog the better the hips!

I have not taken the time to research exactly how many dogs were registered out of each of these breeds, verses the amount of dogs that were OFA certified, the statistics presented are taken from just the records that the OFA has provided.

Please note: Not all dogs x-rays are sent to the OFA. In most cases, when the vet informs the owner that the hips look bad, they are NOT sent in for grading!

Therefore any breeds listed were not done so to be derogatory against ANY specific breed only to show that breeds of various sizes have similar results, and that the SIZE of the dog itself should not be looked upon as a breeding guide to improve hips! The GSD is a very good example of this perspective. Even though the dogs in America have been bred SMALLER and SMALLER. There is NO proof that the hips have IMPROVED! On the contrary statistics seem to show that just the opposite effect has taken place!

We need to take HEED of a quote taken from page 24 of the OFA Booklet.

S.S.D.C.A, Inc.     
P.O.Box 309 
Silver Springs, NY 14550     

Health Survey (2000) and Ongoing Genetic Task Force Database:

Breeding Related:

HIPS:

Publications:

Litter Evaluation Program Manual

The ISSR at work, for the betterment of the Shiloh Shepherd™ Breed, since 1991.