New Blood!!! - Page 1

There is something that has been catching my eye here lately and that is a lot of breeders are beginning to cross german working and german show lines. I thought this was a very interesting phenomenon. A couple of years ago I had a female who was a mix of working and show lines. I was proud to own her because she was my first full german dog (I was 14) but when I talk to breeders about her, her type of breeding was taboo. They pretty much scuffed their noses both working and show breeders alike. I was just wondering if anyone new why this crossing of the bloodlines is starting to happen? Also some thoughts on why is was taboo and now becoming more acceptable?

I am not a breeder so I probably am opening myself up..but maybe they are trying to get more drive into their lines..I AM NOT SAYING ALL SHOWLINES DON"T HAVE DRIVE!! But maybe certain breeders fell they need more drive bred into their lines...just a thought...don't bite my head off if I'm wrong..lol I have a showline/working puppy so I would never bad mouth either..

They are doing this with the border collie too, there is also a huge split between the working BC and AKC (show) border collie (barbie collie). The American Border Collie Association will allow dogs to be dual registered with AKC, but will pull papers if you finish the dog in AKC conformation. Its way worse than the snootiness between the show people and working people in the GSD. Little different regarding the AKC stuff, but the intent is the same. Create a dog that can work as it should but it also correct in conformation. Sounds great, in theory. A common theme with the working people is if it works, who cares what it looks like. I have one of those "ugly" little working BCs myself, he is such a cool little dog that I wouldn't like him any less if he was purple ;) And no matter what, there will always be someone there to gripe at what is being produced. So whoever is breeding nice looking dogs that can work, more power to ya, and then send a pup my way lol.

When I talked to those breeders about my girl they said this is taboo because one never knows what will come out of the cross. I own a little puppy now from my old female and Mambo vom Thuringer Weg and she is great. The litter was great, very uniformed in color and structure. But you can see the difference in some of the puppies structures. Some have the more of the conformation look and a couple of more of the working dog look. One of the pups went to the police department. Two of the pups went to a breeder in my area.

Generally the working/show cross takes too many generations to refine. Methods to develop the breed that were acceptable years ago are not available today. I see most success coming from the working lines that are bred to the beter structured working line dogs and conformation line bred to the better working conformation line dogs. I know of no cross produced yet that is accomplished in both the work and conformation. There seems to be an opinion that anything that would have the desired traits from both would be a fluke. It's there and you can see it but it's not developed through the lines.