Line breeding question - Page 2

Pine, I enjoy your blunt talk and value your attitude more than any other! My reference to you above was only a little tease! I know how you despise inbreeding! What’s life without the odd stir, eh? Regards.

THANKS A BUNCH !! GSD's are a tough lot -- Good dogs get bad publicity - -- bad dogs surely must get positive spin when politically appropriate -- It's a marketing nightmare --- and educating new people -- well -- good luck to us all !! I have learned a couple of things (I've only lived with this breed for 35 years) -- FREE ADVISE IS SELDOM TAKEN -- So now I try not to offer much if any, unless I'm asked -- I will ask an adoring owner of a 10 week old -- What are you feeding the puppy? And they usually tell me- (hope they know !) and now I just say a - ha !! or I see !! It's too hard to give out the standard 2 hour lecture about FOOD each time I meet someone new at the feed store or wherever - If they are interested and want to know - they can say and What do you feed? (hopefully followed by Why?) and we can go from there. I try to be there for people who are "interested" and want to learn -- but not force myself on folks who nod a lot and go back to "Big Red" or something stranger !! and speaking of the odd sir - Where's Patrishap hiding? Did I miss something over Christmas vacation and and site being up and down and up and down and up and down?? Ladies and gentlemen, hnobos and tramps, cross-eyed mosquitoes and bow- legged ants - I come before you to stand behind you to tell you a story I know nothing about !!! TTFN !!

Close linebreeding and inbreeding, to a lesser degree, is widely practiced and accepted in many breeds. Not sure it is all together correct to say that all inbreeding is bad, some good dogs have been the result of inbreeding and they have gone on to prove themselves as producers. The danger seems to be in getting too much of a "good thing" in your gene pool. Genetic diversity is a general problem in the dog world I think. Many I know agree that is due to the overuse of popular studdogs. Present day breeders have to play the hand they are dealt and working to improve a breed with a shrinking gene pool is a huge challenge. Here in the US we don't see many large kennels anymore either, most breeders fall into the catagory of hobby breeders. If breeding only a litter or 2 a year, it's really hard to make an impact on the breed. Those who are able to do that deserve a lot of respect from their peers.

Pineridge, You are correct about free advice. I'd also add to that the easiest way to get off on the wrong foot is to tell the truth when anyone asks that open ended question - "What do you think of my puppy, REALLY?" By responding honestly not only are you apt to get into trouble with the owner, but the breeder will also become an adversary in short order. A longtime breeder friend gave the best answer - when asked that question, she would just smile widely, nod affirmatively and say - "Yep, that's a GSD puppy all right; no question about it" LOL.

Hi Pineridge, I doubt if endless shenanigans on Board are worth your time! Did stumble across some good comment of yours on Shep structure in previous threads though. Too bold of me I know but, if you felt compelled to make some entry under current topic thereon I for one would value it.

Blitzen -- SO RIGHT SO RIGHT -- THAT'S ANOTHER THING !! I have to beg my friend to say what's really on his mind about my puppy - because I want an OBJECTIVE EYE -- not my prejudiced ones to tell me what they see -- There was this AWFUL AWFUL (Am. Bred) dog in KPT with some pretty famous parents and the most horrible pasterns you ever hope to see on a 12 week old pup and when I reached out to pet the puppy - (Who loves puppies more than me?) it backed around behind mommy's legs and put her head down and growled at me !!! That was it -- I saw it coming -- but the growl did it for me and was totally uncalled for -- Of course, I know who the breeder is -- so I bit my tongue and said--She has lovely DARK eyes !!! What else was there to say ??

LMAO Blitzen omg trying to think if i asked you that question and if that was your answer!!!!! LoL Pineridge yall have me rolling here i shall have to remember this lesson in diplomacy as I have run across folks who have bought "akc pedigreed" but basically puppy mill pups and have asked me its really awful after they tell me they got it from a pet store but it has akc papers so its got to be great!!! Its really bad when you look at it and try to figure if it really is a doberman or a rottweiler pup its so badly bred and you dont want to crush them by guessing wrongly! I've had this happen to me luckily since they brought it to me i took a fifty fifty chance and guesed rottweiler and was right!

No, Newbie, you didn't ask and I didn't say LOL. Telling a person their new puppy has bad pasterns, feet, disposition, etc is like telling a mother with a newborn her kid looks like Frank Perdue. In fact, I once knew someone who did have a baby who looked like Frank; first time I saw the little bugger I just nodded affirmatively and said - yep, that's a newborn baby all right, no question about it. Too young to make much over eye color, Pineridge, but I might use that one next time I see the little chap. LOL.

"It's got 4 legs, just like it ought to!" (God forbid the dog's missing a leg...)