why the disdain? - Page 3

Well put Bob.  I think that we would also all agree that just because your dog is a top sport dog does not mean that it would be worth a damn on the streets as a duel purpose K9 or the other way around.  We all use our GSD's in different ways rather it be as personal protection, companionship, police, sar, or Schutzhund.....or if your dog excels in more than one area that is great to.  The bottom line is that a well bred German Shepherd can learn a job.  It may not be as glorious as some but, they can learn how to do something that would give theme a purpose.  With that being said if you take a dog that has had no purpose and you have no idea what it excels in and you breed him or her that is a problem.  Because it comes right back around to "WORKABILITY"  not a title but can the dog "WORK".  Hell I have heard horror stories about dogs that have little to no training some how getting there Schutzhund I title.  I think that to many people have gotten caught up into the "TITLE"  and maybe its the fact that what began as a test turned into a huge "sport"  what ever the reason I think that at the end of day breeders have to be responsible with what they are doing and keep there breeding goals in mind at all times. 

clee27
There is not sp much as distain regarding people who own G.S dogs that do not work them but keep them as pets which is everyones right to do
What gets up my nose is those people who breed from these dogs without any thoughts of getting certified Hip and Elbow rating on there animals then go ahead and breed from them.
They make all sorts of lame excuses for not doing this basic thing But they have no second  thoughts about breeding from dogs which have not been joint certified even if they do not work them.
Steve1

Sorry, don't have time to read all the posts right now, but I don't think anyone knocks anyone for having pets. Breeding them or for them is a totally different subject. Like you said, enough pets come from dogs who don't have it in them to work. I see no point in breeding for pet quality alone.

I think its great that people work their dogs and stuff. I think it would be a blast to get in too. Right now, our dog is 11 years old, and was never trained well to begin with, so hes just a pet and will never be anything else. With my moms golden, I tried to teach her Agility and she just wasn't having it. Heh, I took her to an outdoor practice once to raise money for the Humane Society, and she did what she was supposed too... until the end, she hopped over the fence and gave me that look that said "we're done now." So shes just a pet too. She is the most easily trained dog ever. To show how bored I'd get in the summer, I taught her the Hokey Pokey in a day. :)

Same goes with my cat.... I used to show her as a household pet, and she just did not enjoy it. At one show she said enough was enough and went off on a judge (embarrassing), so we stopped. Of course, looking back, I should have started training her when she was a kitten. She never has been forced to stay in a cage, so showing was a huge step and the poor baby probably felt like she was in prison. When I took her for her spay, she had to stay in a cage for 8 hours until I brought her home, and even after being drugged and having her insides ripped out, she still managed to cut her nose on the cage, and rub off some of the fur around her face. (black cat with a pink nose.... heh....)

Anyways, people don't tend to freak when you say you have "just pets".... but if I were to say "Oh I'm breeding my just-a-pet mutt to anotter mutt and I'm going to have a lot of puppies, har har har" I'd proably get my head ripped off.

I'm glad to see that the posters on here have an issue with the breeding aspect and not just having a pet/companion. I agree that often times the way people use certain words or the context that people use the words can be confusing or unclear, although Jenni, you have a good way of making clear your meaning and articulating your thoughts. That is not an easy thing to do with a keyboard, heck, it's not always easy to do face to face either. Steve1, I like that "what gets up my nose", lol, I'm a sucker for a very descriptive saying! Jwalker, your summary is a nice one, really everyone has made a good post and I do have a lot of respect for the different sports many of you participate in. Soon there is an event here that will have vendor booths and training booths, so I will be able to see what training opportunities are available in my area, I'm pretty excited since this is my first time in years that I will have the time to commit to long term training. If I find myself doing dog dancing classes, I hope y'all wont laugh yourself off your chairs!but if you do, I have a pretty good sense of humor and I can take it, lol! Have a great weekend and Happy Easter, Jennifer

".... but I think as owners we are responsible to limit the amount of puppies being produced and always remember the purpose a breed was originally bred for...."


I must be missing something, because how do the pet "owners" have any responsibility or control over the number of dogs breeders are producing? 

I think its interesting that for some sch is one of the only ways to determine breed worthiness. I would personally like to see tests other than sch for worthiness. There are so many dog sports that this breed excels in. Ive seen dogs with titles (had one actually) that hated to work. It made me wonder then just how many dogs have titles but only in it because it was pushed on them. I do not  consider this worthiness.

There will always be those in it for the money. The only way to lessen them is to not buy from them. And not to change the subject but I would like to add I get tired of the disdain from people when I have a rescue dog to place. Its like somehow rescue dogs are less than. I wont take a dog if I dont think he has drive. Ive even had people make fun of the dogs. If the so called breeders out there would take back their own dogs, then I wouldnt have to bail them out of jail. Ive seen some of these dogs give more heart than sch dogs out on the field. Now if rescues would just change their attitude toward working dogs and not try and place them into pet homes................

Those that cheapen the test and use it to make money are no better than those that bypass it and have a million excuses in the world.

yes a breed worthy GSD should be able to pass a schutzhund test, and I stress the test part.  not the routine, the test. 

So many dogs can run fast, do agility, do some obedience, but they must face pressure, and not the pressure from an agility course.  There's a reason GSD's have the reputation they do and it's not because of cutting corners.

If you don't know why biting is important to a GSD, do some reading.  If you don't know what biting under pressure can show you about a dog's mental make up, you shouldn't be even thinking of breeding dogs.  I don't care if you want to do schutzhund or not or if you want your dog to bite or not.  But seriously, if you don't understand the how or why it should be able to if you're going to breed it, you have no business breeding.  And that goes for those with bought titles and those with excuses.  You're all the same to me

Bhaugh, I'm not a breeder but I used to take in male GSD rescues because they had trouble finding foster homes for the boys, I never had one that was too much or untrainable in the basic sense, so it led me to believe people bought the dogs and wouldn't /couldn't put the effort into them. I don't really have a response to the other two posters that were mostly discussing breeding, sorry. I was scratching my head as well Beetree