Why Posture Matters in Straight-Back German Shepherds

The German Shepherd dog (GSD) is one of the most popular breeds for herding, working, showing and family dogs. Not only is the breed loyal to its owner, but it is an intelligent breed, which makes it easier to train for various jobs. The GSD has two major body shapes dictated by its back.

The sloped-back shepherd, more commonly known as the American German Shepherd Dog, is the type that you see at conformation shows. Some breeders kept to the old standard of the straight-back German Shepherd dog. The different postures are fodder for strong debates between those who prefer sloped-back shepherds and those who prefer straight-back shepherds, including breeders.

However, what many do not consider is how the GSD's posture affects its health and functionality.

The Anatomy of a Straight-Back vs. Sloped-Back German Shepherd

You can visibly see the difference between a straight-back versus a sloped-back German Shepherd dog.

Straight-Back Standard

The UK Kennel Club's standard defines a straight-back German Shepherd and states that the dog's topline should not have visible breaks from the neck and over the withers and should fall away slightly in a straight line to a croup that has a gentle slope. The back should be strong and well-muscled. The back should not be roached, and the croups should have only a slight slope without a break in the topline. It should merge with the set on of the tail. The croup should not be short, flat or steep.

Sloped-Back Standard

The American Kennel Club's standard defines a sloped-back German Shepherd as having higher withers that slope into a level back. The back should not sag or roach but is relatively short, instead of the longer back of a straight-back shepherd. The AKC states that there should not be a long length between the last rib and the thigh, and the croup should be long and gradually sloping.

Biomechanical Advantages

The straight-back shepherd has the biomechanical advantage of having a more balanced weight distribution between the forelimbs and hind limbs, which improves stability and agility, making the straight-back dog more strength for working, including herding, protection and assistance work.

The Impact of Posture on Movement

A study recorded kinematic and kinetic data while dogs stood on a pressure walkway. The dogs were positioned standing straight (square) or stacked (rear leg extended). In the square stance, the paws were positioned directly below the humeral head or hip joint. Researchers took three measurements in the square position and three in the stacked position.

Kinematic data measure the joint angles, orientation of body segments, displacement of body segments and spatiotemporal gait parameters, while kinetic data measure ground reaction forces, the power and mechanical movement of the lower limb joints and kinetic and potential energy.

Standing Posture

The amount of slope in a GSD's back affects the contact area of the forelimbs. This main kinetic parameter measurement showed that dogs with straight backs had less contact area than dogs with sloped backs. Thus, the term "walking on its hocks." Additionally, the percentage of weight-bearing was also affected by the slope of the back, which affected the hindlimbs.

Dogs with a straight back had a mean retraction angle of "6.10° (SD: 2.19°) in the left and 4.68° (SD: 2.96°) in the right hindlimb and dogs with a sloped back had a greater retraction angle of 10.71° (SD: 5.26°) in the left (p = 0.003) and 10.45° (SD: 6.12°) in the right hindlimb (p = 0.002)."

Also, the study found that dogs with a sloped back had forelimbs that were closer together. Additionally, the slope of the GSD's back affects the thoracolumbar joint. Dogs with a sloped back had more flexion.

Gait Analysis

To test the gait of straight-back and sloped-back shepherds, researchers had dogs trot over a pressure walkway at the speed the dog chose. Recordings were rejected if the dog was not looking straight ahead, changed speed or tripped. Each dog in the study had 12 valid trot stride cycles.

Dogs with a sloped back had longer swing times and shorter stance times than straight-back dogs. While the difference did not result in a change in speed, the forelimbs of the sloped-back shepherds suffered more force than the straight-back shepherd. The sloped-back shepherd had a mean vertical force of 128.6 percent of the body weight compared to 106.9 percent of the body weight of a straight-back shepherd.

The flexion of the right stifle was also affected by the slope of the GSD's back. In sloped-back shepherds, the mean flexion angle was 94.1 degrees compared to 85 degrees for the straight-back shepherd.

The left hock of dogs with sloped backs was more flexed throughout the trot stride cycle at 38.6 degrees than dogs with straight backs at 33.7 degrees. The right hock in sloped back shepherds had less abduction angle at 0.5 degrees compared to 21.2 degrees for the straight back shepherds.

Health Implications of Proper Posture

Now that we know the movements of the German Shepherd dog are significantly affected by body shape let's look at how they are affected.

Joint Health

Because sloped-back German Shepherds support more weight on their forelimbs, which are closer together while standing than in a straight-back GSD, it causes unilateral (one-sided) differences in rear limb joint movements, especially in stifle flexion, hock adduction, hock flexion and external rotation.

These issues suggest more motion lop-sidedness in the sloped-back GSD. Additionally, any dog with externally rotated hocks leads to a lack of muscle balance in the rear of a dog with a spread stance. Thus, these dogs must maintain a healthy muscle mass.

Elbow Dysplasia

Even with muscles, sloped-back shepherds have a higher risk of hip and elbow dysplasia. Elbow dysplasia is a set of developmental anomalies, including:

Elbow dysplasia causes lameness in the forelimbs and pain. It causes the dog to be reluctant to extend or flex the elbow joint and significantly limits its movements.

Hip Dysplasia

Also a multifactorial condition, usually inherited, hip dysplasia is laxity of the cox-femoral joint, acetabulum and alteration of the femoral head, which causes abnormal joint wear and osteoarthritis that is not reversible. It also causes bone spurs and degenerative joint disease, which causes lameness in the rear limbs, pain and an abnormal movement pattern.

Long-Term Musculoskeletal Health

The posture of a German Shepherd affects long-term musculoskeletal health in that the motion is lopsided, and excessive external rotation and hock adduction cause a lack of muscle balance in the rear legs. Thus, dogs with sloped backs require more work to maintain healthy muscle mass in their rear limbs and can have musculoskeletal pain.

Bill King, the Chairman of the Kennel Club Charitable Trust, who invested over $12.6 million into health research in over 10 years, stated, "These studies will help us to plan further investigations and to work in an informed way with breed clubs and other experts to protect the health and welfare of this wonderful breed."

Breeding Considerations

When choosing a German Shepherd dog, if you do not plan to show for conformation, consider a straight-back dog, as there is significantly less risk for joint and musculoskeletal health issues as long as the breeder carefully tests the parents. Always ask a breeder about all of the testing done on parent dogs. At Rosehall Shepherds, we not only test for hips and elbows in our parent dogs, but we also use Embark testing to test for many other known genetic issues in GSDs.