For decades, a German Shepherd’s health story could be told in two stamps. Hips. Elbows. Done. That era is over.
In June 2025, the SV — the Verein für Deutsche Schäferhunde — voted at its Bundesversammlung to raise the bar. For dogs born on or after January 1, 2025, the old “noch zugelassen” grade is no longer enough for breeding admission, for Körung, or for a V rating at a breed show. Those dogs now need normal or fast normal on both hips and elbows. The mild-change grade that once passed is now treated as what it is: light dysplasia, and it no longer qualifies a dog for breeding.
That single decision changed the meaning of every pink paper printed since. A stamp that once read “still permitted” now tells a buyer the dog would not clear today’s standard.
But the orthopedic screen was never only hips and elbows. The German system has quietly built a wider net around the spine, the identity, and the character of the dog — and serious importers read all of it.
The spine, not just the joints. The same hip radiograph that grades dysplasia also reveals the lumbosacral transition — the LÜW — where the lumbar spine meets the sacrum. German Shepherds carry this anomaly at rates far above other breeds, and the severe forms are linked to cauda equina syndrome, the nerve-compression pain that ends working careers early.
While LÜW screening is technically voluntary, it is an important component for breeders pursuing the highest levels of recognition. For those competing at the World Championship level and seeking ratings from VA through V10, LÜW screening is, in practice, an expected part of the standard.
OCD, a genetic joint disease, can be screened by X-ray before it becomes arthritis. Not required, but dogs that fail it are quietly removed from serious breeding programs.
Serious breeders add a DNA test for degenerative myelopathy, and the picture sharpens: the stamp is a snapshot, but the full file is a pedigree of decisions. A breeder who shows you only the hips is showing you the part that’s easiest to pass.
That’s the standard worth asking for — and the one Kempkes Executive K9 is built around.
