What makes a germam shepherd dog? Character, character and character. Character creates ability to work, defend, play, learn and be a german shepherd. Character defines temperament. What is good temperament? Showline breeders have their opinions, often to some of them, good temperament is no temperament at all. If all german shepherd breeders bred for character, we would have had them as close as they could have been to their ancestors. Its true, the gsd's beauty had to be enhanced. The showline breeders did that. But some failed to retain good character. Take for instance America. They omitted dogs who had good temperament, saying they had unsuitable temperament. Even the judges back then, were quite responsible for the change in direction of the breed. Note that the germans exported dogs to the Americans, but they knew little about the breed. They could have had the best German shepherds tgere are today, but they omitted them due to inconsistency in awarding of their grand victory championships. As they changed the appearance of the breed, they reduced its workability with over angulation and other low points. In summary, i feel they didnt breed German shepherds.
We have a lot to learn from the German breeders. They had an eye for the dog, they saw the best and patterned their dogs to be like them. They retained their working drive and still enhanced beauty. Their judges knew what the breed was to be and stuck to it. I'm not against showlines, but if we are to avoid the mistakes of others and build the breed upon what it was to be, we must breed the german shepherd for work, work and work. We can enhance its beauty, while solidifying and preserving its true nature.

I do agree with you that show lines have turned out to have less drive but some breeders have been able to selectively breed showlines with relatively medium to high drives. This temperament is suited to persons and families that may not necessarily by hyper or have so much work but do have a genuine love for GSDs. So its like a win for these persons too. Besides the showlines are not deficient at learning if done properly and started early enough.

kolokolobi:
I do agree with you that show lines have turned out to have less drive but some breeders have been able to selectively breed showlines with relatively medium to high drives. This temperament is suited to persons and families that may not necessarily by hyper or have so much work but do have a genuine love for GSDs. So its like a win for these persons too. Besides the showlines are not deficient at learning if done properly and started early enough.

But even the most intelligent ones cant work as well as the working gsd's because of factors like over angulated hind quarters...right?

Eliasaph:

But even the most intelligent ones cant work as well as the working gsd's because of factors like over angulated hind quarters...right?

Already the lines have been called...... Workline ....showline. So expected.