
VA Jalk vom Fohlenbrunnen -
1963 Vice Sieger
Herr Walter Martin of
Wienerau Kennels states: " Dixie in combination with Jalk Fohlenbrunnen gave me
the "L" litter Wienerau, and all the dogs
that have the colors you see today in my kennel (deep mahogany red and black) come from
Liane. Liane was Canto
Wieneraus mother."
Colonel William F. Gish
states: "JALK VOM FOHLENBRUNNEN, SchH III, AD, was the dog
which most closely represented the GSD standard. I watched
this great dog being exhibited in Germany for three years,
and we owned a daughter of his - ANKA VOM HAUS
TEIPELKE, SCH H I AD - campaigning her in Germany and the
USA. 'Jalk was a medium sized, black & cream, lush coated
dog with powerful, clean movement and ebullient personality.
A great producer, he is still remembered by shepherdists
throughout Western Europe.
March/April 1999
"Schutzhund USA" shows a picture of Jalk Fohlenbrunnen. The caption
states: "Considered one of the most correct dogs in history".
"The Essential German
Shepherd Dog" by Roy and Clarissa Allan states: "Jalk was a very well
constructed dog of excellent substance and appearance, very suggestive of the Shepherds we
see in the rings today; considerable harmony of lines, with no exaggeration.
There is a colour paling factor which allegedly comes from Jalk, but wherever this comes
from, the fact is that the progeny of Jalk were noted as showing colour paling to some
degree."
Louis Donald (SV Judge and
President of the Australian National GSD council gives his comparison to the English type,
comparing Jalk to an English counterpart of that time (the 1960's) called Fenton of
Kentwood - UK:
"The differences are quite great; they need to be well studied and
understood because these differences have a great bearing on a number of
misunderstandings that exist today in this country. They show clearly what
happened when the country of origin lost its influence. An inferior type
was developed that was given the blessing of those in power in England. In
turn, for what appears to be for parochial rather than breed reason, it was
all accepted without question by 'the vast majority of people' here in
Australia.
When one studies the pictures of these two 1960's winners the differences
are probably very obvious; I note them here anyway.
The most obvious is that Fenton is far too long. His body is much deeper
than Jalk's. The fact that the photo of Jalk is taken from above does not
quite highlight this point as much as it actually existed. The forehand
assembly on Fenton is far inferior to that of Jalk, the upperarm is shorter
and the relatively long shoulder is too laid back, the centre of the scapula
falls too far behind the foreleg and creates imbalance. Both the wither and
sternum on Fenton are far too prominent and he is grossly over angulated in
the hindquarter, highlighted perhaps by Jalk's moderate hindquarter. The
back on Jalk is obviously much stronger than that of Fenton. On the whole,
the main difference to me is one dog has balance, strength, harmony and
proportion and the other does not. Only one dog reflects standard type,
Jalk is that dog."
He goes on to say...
"There is no question in my mind that the shortening and subtle amending of
the original standard was a significant factor in creating a breed in
England that was to become, right from its early beginning, far removed from
the standard type and in due course influenced greatly All-Breeds judges
here in Australia.
This statement may appear to be too sweeping - until one considers the
following:
When Captain von Stephanitz himself judged in England in 1924 he said,
"large numbers are overfed and the number of weak backs is astonishing".
Some considerable years after Von Stephanitz's death, the late Dr. Funk,
concluded a judging appointment in the UK by saying -
"It is good you English call these dogs Alsations because they are
definitely not German Shepherd Dogs".
These were not the comments of any old judge, they were the comments of the
breed's creator and one of his successors."
L.C. Donald, President GSDC Australia - ANKC and SV judge.

The UK's Fenton of
Kentwood |