History of PDB – the work that went into building it - Page 1

I've been wondering for a while, what is the history of PDB? When was it started? And maybe also by whom? How many people? They sure built an amazing resource!

The founders/early contributors must have gone not only through decades of early stud books but also through countless volumes of multiple journals to gather the pedigree information and photos. They built a database and made this available to everyone for free. Anyone who has ever done it knows that going through just one volume of an AKC stud book to find the shepherd dogs (now GSDs) is a tedious and time consuming task. It is of course less tedious with the SV stud books as it is only one breed and one doesn't have to search for the shepherds in each issue of a volume. But then all the information still needs to be transcribed into a database. And stud books tell you only so much. There is much more information in PDB than can be gleaned from stud books alone.

Like many others, I contributed whatever I could, and the more I did, the more I realized the mountain of labor that this database represents. There is no equivalent to it anywhere in its scope and depth. Having grown up in Germany I knew the German lines well but I had to learn about imports to North America and American bred GSDs from scratch. PDB has been a tremendous resource and sped up the process.

Just a word of appreciation at a time when changes are made and not all feedback is cheerful.

Yes, I greatly miss the comment function, looks like users cannot post comments on dogs anymore. I log in from a computer with high speed access, so I don't benefit from the adaptation to smartphone use. But in the big picture, whatever the changes, it is a unique and amazing resource. To use. And to contribute to :)

You ou can post comments on pedigree. Directly under the picture of the dog, click, 'user comment'.

I know some of the history but will defer to Oli the owner he has more details, I believe it start in 2001 or 2002.

@Schaeferhund1

Good question, and about time someone in 15 years asked that.

First a bit of a history lesson.
In 1997 importation of dogs was finally was legal in Iceland,. Before that no one was allowed to import dogs, so there was a black market for "pedigree" dogs.

I met a girl that was all into importation and had imported a lot of German shepherds,. This is about 1999.

The thing is that she and all the breeders from Europe I met, knew all the lineage in their minds. I, being a simple computer guy, couldn't cope so I wrote a simple database to track who was who.

Basically, you could say a name and they would sprout 3 to 4 lineage. ... (autistic all of them).

This is in the time of ISDN's and modems.

One time in 2000. A breeder from Germany came to visit us. (I think it was Laacher Haus kennel). He saw my home made program and asked if they could get access. So I made a rule in my firewall and allowed everyone to access my newly made database.
At that time, I was every night and day inputting data from all the books we could get our hands on. She had her program and I had mine. But we shared information.

Around 2003 we separate. But the interest in pdb keeps growing. I took a 6 month hiatus and rewrote schafer.is into pedigreedatabase.com.

Back then, gsdinfo.com was the leading website for german schafers,.

The website grew in numbers and users over the years. In 2006 I was asked by my family to drop this stupid hobby since it was costing myself and my family too much money. ( I had paid to keep it running up to that point)., I said no, and in the summer of 2007 I finally broke even. On of my happiest days since I could finally say that I was right to keep spending money in running pedigreedatabase.com)

So for about 5 years, I paid all my wages to keep the website running. Since I knew, there where other people, like myself, that need to research their dogs.

So this website was created for people that can't remember 100 pedigrees and need t look up stuff :)

 

This website is still programmed and operated by a single person. Who happens to love dogs. (still)

I have heard part of the story, thank you Oli for filling in some gaps. I do remember when I found it it was still Schafer.is

Congratulations Oli on your dedication to the database and on your love of our

breed.  I had no idea you had put so much work into developing PDB, like

others, I have failed to ask, ever, how it all got started - have just taken it for

granted !

Even though it would be of practical use to me if more British dogs were recorded

regularly, it has expanded my knowledge of the American & Canadian 'GSD scene'

immeasurably.   And provided facinating contacts with other people in the breed.

Thank you;  from the bottom of my heart. 

interesting act of dedication to the breed.

 

congrats and thank you.

If our dog had drive that you have I think it would answer a few questions😄 .Thanks for your commitment

Ok who is into GSD politics, the main orgs should acknowledge oli's dedication and contribution to the breed.

Anyone on it that revolves in those circles.

True, vk.