[Varda]

For most people, full normal is the dog doing moderate family stuff for 12-16 years. Dogs with bad conformation do this all the time. If they had better conformation would they last longer? I kind of doubt it. Most pet owners let their dogs get badly out of shape and over weight. I think that’s vastly more harmful and life shortening. There are so many other things that can go wrong as dogs get older (injuries, chronic dieases) that shortens a dogs life.

You’re right that no wild canine has this conformation but we aren’t talking wild canines. Wild canines have conformation suited to their prey, domestic canines have conformation suited to their purpose.

[Gennie]

While I agree that there are other things that can go wrong, I guess we'll have to agree to disagree that conformation such as this would impact a dog's lifestyle. Like I said my vet agrees, only because they tend to see GSD similar to that and have literally said they prefer dogs of our style.

While we are not talking about wild canines, the point is that nature did not evolve any animal to have an extreme conformation like that with anything else in the "dog" world and I believe there is a reason for this, particularly in a breed that had wolf influence 110 years ago.