Breed Improvement Suggestions for the UK GSD Breed Council - Page 39

So much to write so little time

Misbeeb i am sure it was ME that came up with the working aptitude test but without a detailed schedule of difficulty it is worthless, it was a start point to pander to those that have no real interest in working with their show dogs, for eople committed to the GSD they should go to their local sch training club and train the dog as almost every other country on the world does.

Langhaar

I apologise for not quailifying the FH titles but as you well know at the moment they are a bridge to far for most they take time and absolute dedication working with the dog, the genereal circle runner owner will struggle with this

Funky/liz

Please read the title of the thread and then reread my post perhaps then you will either apologise or butt out we have on the thread over a few weeks come up with a viable and realistic proposal regarding the HEALTH issues in our breed we NEED to however (for those of us that are interested that is) need to address the mental health of our breed a healthy sofa sleeping circle runnuing craven coward is NOT a german shepherd read the standard read Stephanitz read Herr MEYERS INTERVIEW AND THEN COME BACK TO ME

Viable and realistic on health issues!! How can 25 be an acceptable limit for hipscores when the breed average is 19 ?

The acceptable limit for hipscores should be below the breed average or at least that NOT MORE

I not a hip expert nor i doubt are you but when did you last hear of a dog dying under 10 years with hip related problems and a score of 25 or less.

Physical health is very important to me

A normal week

Every day ball chasing as far as i can throw it at least 30 times (very tired dog

4 tracks per week min

Obedience 5 days a week

Protection 3 days per week sometimes 2 sessions per outing

Plus normal walk in the park etc etc

So without a healthy dog i cannot do the sport or keep a dog how i like

On top of this i want and need a GERMAN SHEPEHERD DOG

He must ALWAYS be ready to do as i ask, he must have play/prey drive, food drive, defence drive, aggresion, socialability he must be biddable athletic.

When i walk him and someone says can i touch him fine, he must aceppt them beacause i have given them permission he should not be freindly/fussy/affevtionate towards them HE DOESNT know them he is MY dog he must be social, when someopne knock at the door he should bark and only let them enter on my bequest after that he should remain aloof and WITHOUT aggression.

Iam lucky i have had a few like this and i have one at the moment he is all of the above but not particulary talented as a sch dog, he is titled but not top points yet.

I have also owned many that are without the above qualities,

So health is of paramount importance the physhical comes with his genes the mental basics come with his genes but i have a envouromental influence over the final result

With that can we please get back to the thread BREED IMPROVEMENT

If I can eventually breed dogs that live to be like my oldie I will be over the moon.  He has a hip score of 15 and is out of health screened parents.  They were also mentally sound and had active lives, and went on to live to a good age.  My boy is a touch wobbly at the back but it is not DM it is merely old age according to my vet.  He still loves a ball game and a walk or even better a swim on dry days.

Unfortunately he is one of a few and many people think he is actually about 8 or 9 years old due to how good he looks and behaves - you should see him get his own back on the cat.  Others have gone by 10, one who had massive health issues really shouldnt have made 1, and the other extremely well bred but with a score of 30 something, didnt age well and actually looked old at 3 and went on to develop DM and had a very restrictive last few years.

These girls and puppies from my past who have struggled to have pain free lives are my reasons for wanting this to go forward, and whilst yes I can see working creditentials would be nice, my oldie has done limited show work, and man work - his work has been as a PAT dog and working with children scared of dogs.  The working tests are good for the mental well being of the dog but if the body is failing from an early age you cant do the training to pass the tests.

Beepy said 'The working tests are good for the mental well being of the dog but if the body is failing from an early age you cant do the training to pass the tests.'

The reverse is also true if the body is strong but the mind is failing then they wont be able to do the test either.

To have a German Shepherd Dog one is dependant upon the other.

Jess

You are not living in the real world!!!!

lots of dogs under below average die of hip problems, if you really want to bring the breed average down the n 25 is unacceptable totally, for gods sake what planet are you people on here, you are supposed to be wanting to improve the breed!!!

Our highest scored dog( of of 15) is 12

Anything above 19 would be spayed or castrated,thats what we should be aiming for. Not let it go if it's winning in the showring

get a grip on reality here

I would like to come back to the title of the thread

Breed Improvement

THE BREED IS G S D

Please read the standard, read the founders book investigate the breeds background, this is not a competition to breed the lowest hip score, bearing in mind it is our opinion of the xrays not how they feel to the dog.

The founder clearly stated To breed a germann shepherd dog is to breed a working dog.

LEST NOT WE FORGET

The majority of the breeders in the UK take NO account of this and have eroded the characters of this breed with no regard for its history or its intended use

PLEASE USE PHYSICAL HEALTH IS ONE OF THE TWO PRIME TARGETS

Reason,i have done as you asked and re read ALL your posts and i do not see how i owe you an apoligy.In your address to me you gibber on about a craven coward is not a gsd,i certainly never indicated such.I do believe gsds should have a job to do,but there are other things than sch.I do know the breed standard,could probably read it backwards to you if you like,so get of your high horse.Now for your information my dogs,my fathers dogs,and my grandfathers dogs have worked the livestock on our farms,expertly and on many occaisions on there own. No i have never competed,other than in the show ring,my dogs work for a living,EVERYDAY. Now back to real issue,i did not see any working qualifications listed on the "proposals" so where has all this talking got you?PEGGY i totally agree with your last post.BEEPY i also agree with your post.I wish i had a penny for eveytime i had a worried owner of puppies phone me because they have dogs with serious health problems,and some of them were bought from "big well known breeders". So excuse me for caring about owners with health issues that are untestable. liz

Jess - I hear what you are saying but having had to have puppies put down at 5 months due to failing bodies you have to understand where I am coming from.

I also think mental health can come from other input than the derived working tests.  I have a friend who until she retired always used a GSD for herding and her dogs were amazing - they out performed collies and showed the true origins of our breed , but I dont know that you could have tested them in the way that some people feel appropriate.   I think the mental side of things is different strokes for different folks.  I have one girl who would probably make an extremely good security dog as she is so switched on but she is also and probably better when teaching children how to behave around dogs, recently she was in a group of about 20 5 - 7 year olds and was amazing for over 2 hours - how would that get tested and assessed?

Reason, sorry, I thought it was Sue B... never mind, it wasn't intentional.  We all have to "pander" at times, that's life.  The show dogs who have Sch qualifications in this country are seldom trained/worked by their owners.  So... I think we have to be very realistic here and accept that Sch is not everyones cup of tea.

If you could set out your proposals in a similar fashion to DP's, it would be really beneficial.  I've no idea how you would go about printing off anything from here but you could email/pm us.

It's very clear that you are totally into the whole Sch "thing" Reason, please keep it in mind that few of us will want to take our dogs as far as you, I don't think that's wrong, it's personal choice but I do believe that we need a good working/character test for our Breed Survey, with the option to go further.