German Shepherd Dog Council of Australia

THE GERMAN SHEPHERD DOG CLUB

OF AUSTRALIA

BREED IMPROVEMENTS SCHEMES.

The changing shape of the German Shepherd Dog.

A GSD of the early 1900's An Australian GSD 1990's

EAR TATTOO SCHEME

is a nation wide scheme. The breeder must submit a request for a Tattoo Prefix, this tattoo prefix will remain solely for use with that breeders ANKC breeding Prefix.

The scheme is very useful for: tracing the owner of a lost/stolen dog, for positive identification for any GSDCA breed improvement schemes that the dog is submitted to, for export purposes.

The entire litter is tattooed between the ages of 7 - 9 weeks of age, in the right ear, by a qualified club tattooist, or if they are unavailable, the breeders veterinarian.

THE HIP & ELBOW DYSPLASIA SCHEME

this is also a nationwide scheme, it involves the x-raying breeding stock over the age of 12 months. Hip dysplasia is a genetic disorder found in many of the larger and heavy boned breeds and by definition means an ill fitting hip. Various environmental factors such as weight, rate of growth, dietary aspects and amount of exercise can all affect the severity and the age at which this condition is seen.

By x-raying stock and gathering genetic information the Nation Council of the GSDCA, is assisting to lower the incidence of this problem with the breed and give breeders valuable information in selecting sires which are producing good hips.

Once the dog is over 12 months of age, the owner/breeder applies for a GSDCA x-ray form. The dog is presented for x-ray at the owners/breeders chosen veterinarian, the tattoo in the dogs right ear is checked against the form and the ANKC registration certification is also verified. Once the x-ray plates are ready they are then sent to the two GSDCA readers, which is read and scored.

Hips that have a sufficiently low score i.e.: below a maximum of 8 per hip (maximum score on a bad hip is 53), they receive the 'A' stamp. Any score above a 9 on one hip FAILS. The results are all correlated so that statistics of the breed average and that of the major sires can be calculated in an effort to improve the breed average and avoid poor hip producing line.

Elbow Dysplasia involves x-raying the dogs elbows and the same applies as for Hip x-rays. The presence of a UNITED ANCONEAL PROCESS is noted as are any arthritic changes.

The plates are graded NORMAL, GRADE 1, GRADE 2. Any elbow with more than 5 mm of arthritic change or an ununited anconeal process are failed, those dogs that pass the elbow scheme are given the 'Z' stamp.

As of April 2002, the gradings are now thus: A for a pass in hips, with the hip score and Z for a pass in elbows, with the elbow score. You will no longer see the gradings N, NN, ACC, BORDERLINE, but you will still see the grading FAIL.

THE HEMOPHILIA SCHEME

This is a bleeding disorder, where the dogs blood doesn't clot after any trauma, even a bump and can have the dog 'bleed out' This disorder is, thankfully, at its minimum now within the breed. This genetic problem has been spread within the breed mainly through the effects of one dog.

Top stud dogs are tested as they can have a widespread effect on the breed and this should prevent any new affected line from having a serious effect on our bloodlines.

THE BREED SURVEY SCHEME

has been set up to evaluate the quality of the breeding stock throughout Australia. All the presented dogs must be over 18 months of age, tattooed, x-rayed and present a four generation pedigree at the time of survey. The dogs are all weighed, measured and examined for correctness of dentition, construction and soundness of nerves (this involves a gun test and a crowd test).

Class one animals are considered well above the breed average and possess the 'A' stamped; Class two animals are considered above the average which have minor constructional or dentition faults. A Breed Survey Book is produced annually which contains the results of all dogs classified at breed survey as well as a list of the dogs which passed the 'A' and 'Z' stamp within Australia in that year

FOR FURTHER DETAILS ON THESE SCHEMES PLEASE VISIT THE National GSDC of Australia

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