German Shepherds

Degenerative myelopathy (commonly referred to as “DM“) is a degenerative muscle disorder that can strike dogs (frequently in the German shepherd and this article is specific for the GSD version of DM). I’ve personally seen what it can do to a German shepherd – Zion Van De Hildewaerde SchH3 was worked and trained by a good friend of ours and retired to another good friend of ours where Zion stole the hearts of everyone he met. Zion was able to quickly obtain his SchH3 title (scoring SchH1 – 291, SchH2 – 294, ScnH3 – 288) as well as ranking #25 in the Schutzhund world finals October 2005 – scoring 278 points (full stats available on his site). He was received by our friend early to mid 2006. Roughly 6 months later he started to develop a little twitch in his right rear foot. DM struck him so quickly and fiercely (even UofFL agreed they’ve never seen a case attack this quickly) – he ended up being put to sleep on June 18, 2007. If you’d like to read more about DM, The University of Florida has a great and informative (even if technical) article on the disease. (more…)

Recently USA (United Schutzhund Association) made amendments to their bylaws which will ripple throughout the German shepherd world. The changes seem simple in the beginning:

Bylaw amendments for 2009
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