Interesting Article on State of the Breed - Page 2

Lily, I breed the kind you can live with, depend on, and love like crazy. Email me if you'd like to know more.

Thanks ZVZW. One of my old boys had those symptoms but he did suffer from incontinence. I had never heard of CDRM & I've had the breed for 32 years. It was very, very sad & I sympathize with dogs & owners.

It is sad, I took care of one at the rescue I worked for. His name was Buddy. He laid on hospital mats and I had to use a towel like a sling to let him up and outside, roll him on his other side. Such a sweet dog and the guy loved him but I didn't think it appropriate to keep the dog like that. This guy worked allot and if I didn't come by to see Buddy, he would lay in the same place all day while his owner was away. I could see the sadness in his eyes. This was my one experience with CDRM. I hear so many stories of dogs with this and other issues, I feel BLESSED I have been spaired any of it in my 15 years owning GSD's. I'm almost affraid to buy a new pup now.

Well 4pack, I'm afraid to buy one too. And I certainly won't be buying over the internet, sight unseen, either! I am more & more thinking of going the rescue route as you have. I was VERY lucky with my last GSD though, as two littermates were so dysplastic that they had to be PTS at the age of SIX MONTHS! One was a bitch that the breeder had kept for breeding. When I asked her about it, she said the bitch had no hip sockets at all. Sad.

Very thought-provoking article. I would be interested in learning in more detail about "health issues" that were referred to several times. We have an Ursus von Batu grandson (son of Larus) with severe Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Since Ursus was one of the lines mentioned in the article and several vets have told us there is a strong genetic component to IBD, I would wonder if this is another result of line breeding. Our dog is unfortunately suffering from a bad flare right now with diarrhea every few hours, despite a large number of meds and very restricted diet. I'm sure that's not a trait that anyone who loves GSDs would like to perpetuate.

Sorry to hear of your dog's problems, DoubleX. Pure speculation on my part, and not especially informed speculation at that...but I do wonder whether the concentration of Canto Wienerau, especially running through Odin Tannenmeise, isn't at the root of many ongoing health issues. We also hear that Canto pushed a lot of poor temperament forward as well. So is the answer to move the "preferred" bloodline away from Canto and over toward Mutz Pelztierfarm through Cello Romerau and thence Hill Farbenspiel? After all, Cello was linebred on Canto, just as Odin was. Mutz and Marko Cellarland are claimed to have produced great temeperaments, but is there even enough of Marko's influence left to draw upon? And would a shifted emphasis merely replace one set of health problems with another? Or is it simply that the breed basis itself is so narrow from its inbred and linebred beginnings over a century ago that there just isn't all that much that can be done to unring the bell? Are breeders basically stuck with whatever qualities - good or bad - that Hektor vom Schwaben and Hettel Uckermark happened to pass on? The advent of the Information Age has made it possible for hundreds and even thousands of people to share their experiences on sites like this. But the simple fact is that we are more likely to speak more about problems than successes - it's just human nature. So can we even really say that the breed is less "healthy" overall now than it was 50 years ago? All questions to which I certainly don't have any answers.

A shrinking gene pool is a concern in many breeds. There is an interesting web site that addresses this topic and there is also a discussion board one can join. www.canine-genetics.com