IRC-Galleria

http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/item/2237

German Shepherd Dog (Alsatian)

Forequarters Shoulder blade and upper arms are equal in length, well muscled and firmly attached to the body. Shoulder blades [delete: long] set obliquely (approximately. 45 degrees), laid flat to body. Upper arm strong, well muscled, joining shoulder blade at approximately 90 degrees. Seen from all sides, the forearms are straight and, seen from the front, absolutely parallel. Bone oval rather than round. The elbows must turn neither in nor out while standing or moving. [Delete: Forearms straight]. Pasterns firm, supple, with a slight forward slope. An over long, weak pastern, which would affect a dogÂ’s working ability is to be heavily penalised. [Delete: from pasterns to elbows viewed from any angle, bone oval rather than round. Pasterns firm, supple and slightly angulated. Elbows neither tucked in nor turned out]. Length of foreleg slightly exceeds the [delete: exceeding] depth of chest.

Body Length measured from point of shoulder [delete: breast bone] to point of buttock [delete: rear edge of pelvis], slightly exceeding height at withers. Correct ratio 10 to 9 or 8 and a half. Undersized dogs, stunted growth, high-legged dogs, those too heavy or too light in build, over-loaded fronts, too short overall appearance, any feature detracting from reach or endurance of gait, undesirable. Chest deep (45-48 per cent) of height at shoulder, not too broad, brisket long, well developed. Ribs well formed and long; neither barrel-shaped nor too flat; allowing free movement of elbows when gaiting. Relatively short loin. Belly firm, only slightly drawn up. Back between withers and croup, straight, strongly developed, not too long. Overall length achieved by correct angle of well laid shoulders, correct length of croup and hindquarters. [Delete: Withers long, of good height and well defined, joining back in a smooth line without disrupting flowing topline, slightly sloping from front to back] The topline runs without any visible break from the set on of the neck, over the well defined withers, falling away slightly in a straight line to the gently sloping croup. The back is firm, strong and well muscled. Loin broad, strong, well muscled. Weak, soft and roach backs highly undesirable and should be [delete: rejected] heavily penalised. Croup [delete ‘long’] slightly sloping and without any break in the topline, merges imperceptibly with the set on of the tail. [Delete: curving downwards to tail without disrupting flowing topline]. Short, steep or flat croups highly undesirable.

Hindquarters Overall strong, broad and well muscled, enabling effortless forward propulsion. [Delete: of whole body]. Upper and lower thigh are approximately of equal length. [Delete: thighbone, viewed from side, sloping to slightly longer lower thighbone]. Hind angulation sufficient if imaginary line dropped from point of buttocks cuts through lower thigh just in front of hock, continuing down slightly in front of hindfeet. Angulations corresponding approximately with front angulation, without over-angulation. Seen from the rear, the hind legs are straight and parallel to each other. The hocks are strong and firm. The rear pasterns are vertical. [Delete: hock strong] Any tendency towards over-angulation of hindquarters, weak hocks, cow hocks or sickle hocks, is to be heavily penalised as this reduces firmness and endurance in movement.

Feet delete reference to dewclaw removal.

Gait/Movement Sequence of step follows diagonal pattern, moving foreleg and opposite hindleg forward simultaneously; hindfoot thrust forward to midpoint of body and having equally long reach with forefeet without any noticeable change in backline. Absolute soundness of movement essential.