SV á'Stamp Program Has A Problem - Page 7

Susie, back in those days you didn't have brokers selling prescreened dogs to military....that is occurrence of last twenty-five to thirty years. Most dogs acquired by military in those days were dogs donated and or sold to military by individual folks, sometimes excess from kennels. Also, many of these dogs were from American breeders as there were still many American breeders that were breeding sound dogs, as it was before the Lance craze had taken over the American breeders. Just as you could get great working stock from Seiger and VA dogs before the saturation of the VA dogs being one color.

Very good point Gustav. I guess I just personally don't care about the showline working ability and since I don't really know what was expected of dogs back then I can't comment as to the real working ability of dogs today compared to years ago. From the little I've seen I do believe that more is expected of today's K9s and military working dogs than before but I might be wrong. I train in sport and from what I see and know of IPO/Schutzhund is that the majority of dogs today (German show or working lines) would be able to title under the old standards. I think back then because you didn't have another 40 years of American breeding to divide the breed from the German dogs, they were probably capable as well. Just as today, enough effort and time and proper conditions, most dogs can be trained to get an IPO title. I think the same can be said of 40 years ago where a skilled trainer, with enough time and work invested could get a title on most of the dogs.

Titling a dog in America is tough no matter what line it is. It’s a commitment and it depends a lot on your dedication and also proximity to a club/trainer. Seeing the dogs titled in Europe makes me realize that its much easier over there no matter the line. I have a few clients who’s show dogs have made leaps and bounds once they started training more consistently and will definitely be able to title in the near future. Will it ever be national/world level? No. But it will definitely be enough to title on a club field…which is what most dogs did 40 years ago and still do today.

In regards to hips…all the systems helped improve hip health. I’m sure working people were tired of retiring dogs early because they couldn’t work anymore, and pet people got tired of dealing with dysplastic dogs. Something had to be done and it was. The stringency of the program didn’t matter much, any improvement and understanding that the really dysplastic dogs shouldn’t be bred was going to add to better hip production.

@ BV👍👍👍