When the Homily is about Immunology

A Rose by any other name...

Gerhardt und Heidi were AKC registered show champion German Sheperds. Gerhardt had the perfect shoulder height of 24 to 26 inches; and Heidi, 22 to 24 inches. Their length to height proportion were an admirable pair of 10 to 8.5's. Avoiding AKC disqualification, their noses were a rich german chocolate black, their jaws not undershot and none of their 42 teeth absent, their tails decidedly not docked, their coats showing no discoloration and no abundance of white, and their ears uncropped and never hanging. They were the perfect image of the GSD.

But as Heidi gave birth to the fourth puppy of her third litter, this is what came out:

Click HERE.

While, DNA tests confirmed - much to the relief of Gerhardt - the proper lineage, clearly something went terribly wrong in the development of this "GSD". Some particularly damaging gamma ray, or some erroneous copying and division in the process of mitosis...but regardless, despite all the proper pedigree, this dog will never be a show winning German Sheperd.

And the moral of the story is this: though the "disqualifications" may be more slight than Heidi's monstrosity, paperwork does not a German Shepherd make.