Judy, I'm gonna take a stab at your question about the roach back. I've seen some nice showlines that are pictured in a very extreme stack, so they have that sloping back look, but are not really roach-backed. They don't look like that all the time. The ones that are really horrible, IMO, are the ones that if you look closely, are walking on their hocks half the time, and their backs themselves really are sloped or curved. These dogs' backs are really like bananas, and it makes no difference whether they're stacked or not. The way I try to judge a dog's back in an extreme stack is by looking at what part of their foot their weight is on.

I can make my dog look sorta like this in an extreme stack, but just standin' around he looks straight backed. That's the extent of my knowledge on the subject, so I'm done. My advice would be to consider yourself lucky;-)

Steve, that true, yet dismal post wasn't in this thread; it was in the one about working SchIII vs show SchIII, I think. And I'm glad you liked it;-) Would you like to have him for a sleepover???

Judy,
The thing about any titles to really know what the title really meant on your dog or grandfather and so on is to have been there to witness how he got those titles.Because all judges see different things (in show) it's about their opinion and who they know in the crowd and sometimes a good judgement.
You know we have seen the same thing in Schutz dogs , the people that buy title dogs come up to me and say ,"How did my dog get a Schutz 1 when she won't even track for food, and won't do a down in motion" who knows....
Does your dog ever stack himself? Sometimes some GSD look a bit more square in the hind but are really not "square".
And no they don't have to have a roached back to be a winner in the circle, some judges like to judge heads and forget the body and so on.Yours might just be a puppy in that litter that got the back that looks a bit more straight than others.It is so hard to say you would have to research his pedigree.He looks very nice and healthy straight back or not.

And some of us think straight backs are not only beautiful, but contribute to long-run health by being more structurally sound than either roach backs or straight but over-angulated rears, so don't worry, be happy!

 Quote: Jenni Williams

Steve, that true, yet dismal post wasn't in this thread; it was in the one about working SchIII vs show SchIII, I think. And I'm glad you liked it;-) Would you like to have him for a sleepover???

Sounds like it would be more like wrestle mania then
a sleep over HAHA but thanks for the offer.

 Quote: steve mcdonald

 Quote: Jenni Williams

Steve, that true, yet dismal post wasn't in this thread; it was in the one about working SchIII vs show SchIII, I think. And I'm glad you liked it;-) Would you like to have him for a sleepover???

Sounds like it would be more like wrestle mania then
a sleep over HAHA but thanks for the offer.

No problem. Anytime .