[lbenes]

Me too. Since my grandmother was a child, we've always had German Shepherds in our family. When I was a kid for the first time our dogs started getting hip dysplasia. My mother and grandmother had never seen before, despite being involved in the dog training community.

I’ve had 2 purebreds in a row with major health issues, even though I searched for working line breeders. I’ve given up on purebreds, and now have a GSD mix. He’s a gorgeous animal, going on 11 without any hip issues or health issues.

The AKC in their pursuit of the perfect look and willful ignorance of genetics has destroyed the German Shepard breed.

https://www.handicappedpets.com/blog/german-shepherd-back-le....

[stevekemp]

I spent my first few summers on my grandmother's farm, where there were about five GSD (and a small poodle that mostly stayed out of the way, inside the farmhouse).

Lovely animals, one of my earliest memories is (hand) feeding them when they were taller than me. I also have a vague memory of trying to ride them, like horses, but I'm not 100% sure I trust that thinking about how old I would have had to be, and our relative sizes.

[gedy]

Same, my sibling adopted a wonderful German Shepard, and was awful to see it rapidly lose mobility and drag itself and due to the hip problems.

[2muchcoffeeman]

I started seeing this in German Shepards years ago. I’d see shepherds being walked and their hind legs just weren’t moving right. I thought it was just an old dog that developed health problems, but no, they are being bred that way. I’m not sure why you’d want an unhealthy dog.

I can get behind the whole something-poo craze since at least it might put a short pause to pure breds.