Longcoat pups higher cost? - Page 2

It sounds as if this breeder is trying a marketing trick in making their culls into a "premium" commodity. Long coat is an autosomal recessive. It has no relationship to the "show coat" that is so thick and lustrous. Jonah

I think in the website matty mentioned, they had a "silver coat" (looked white to me), and they claimed it to be "rare". Of coure its rare, nobody wants those dogs (except for pets), so that breeder probably gets them at a reduced price as puppies and breeds them when they get older to make $$$ from unsuspecting gsd buyers. Andrea

Simple word of advice... STAY AWAY from breeders who view their longcoat puppies differently and only sell them to pet homes. Longcoats may not be able to show but they can certainly work, depending on the lines and if the dog is well bred. Just checkout Kalle vom Welzbachtal for a perfect example.

Brittany So do you think they should be used for breeding because they can work, even if their coat is a fault?? This is another kennel that I keep running across Google Ads that breeds coats. They have changed their page somewhat, it use to have a link for long coats. She seems to have some nice dogs, not sure why she needs to breed coats... like I said before they are pretty and can work, the jury is still out with me if they should be used for breeding. http://www.candlehillshepherds.com/litters/currentLitters.html - scroll down a bit .

I was at the transplant center yesterday and met a coated seeing eye dog and her owner. Almost brought tears to my eyes the relationship between those two and how well they managed to navigate the halls of a very busy hospital together. Why make fun of the longcoat when they can do the same work as any other gsd? I'm guessing that coated seeing eye dog was probably given away by some ignorant breeder who thought she was useless and only good enough for a pet.

Triodegirl I don't think anyone is making fun of longcoats. I said twice in my posts they are pretty and can work. Longcoats occasionally pop up out of breedings of two normal or stock coated dogs. This does not mean they should be culled or not loved. The reason coats should not be deliberately bred is they have no undercoat and cannot withstand the rigors of outdoor elements like the stock coat dog that has a undercoat. The coat is recessive gene so breeding them will just put more coats into the GSD population. Every breed comes with standards, this is just one thing that has been found to be a detriment to the bred as a whole. Individually they can be nice dogs...

Trailrider, Did you know that many "longcoats" have an undercoat? Seems like any gsd with a few extra tuffs of hair around the ears is automatically classified as a longcoat. If the definition of a longcoat (according to the standard) is a gsd without an undercoat, then there are few true longcoats. I have 2 "longcoats", one with an undercoat, and one without. I plan to (gasp!) breed them in the spring. Will the pups have an undercoat or no?

Well one would be considered a long stock coat and the other a long coat. I am not sure what you will get but I would assume some of both. And like I said before "IMO probably should not be used for breeding but some people do breed them. To each their own I guess." GASP!

"To each their own I guess." I know what you mean. I often say the same thing when I see some of the stock coats breeders are using ;-)

I don't think there is any way to know for sure what you will get other than they will all have long coats and all will carry the LC gene. The length and the presence or absence of undercoat is the result of modifying genes. As far as I know, there has been no research completed regarding how the modifers are inherited. If you would have each puppy swabbed and sent for DNA typing, all you would know is that they have longcoats. This is an onging debate in other breeds too. Some breeders I know with other breeds use long coats because they feel they need to keep that gene in order to have correct coats that don't end up too short or sparse in a few generations. I wouldn't argue against that frankly. Some of the best coats I've seen in dogs have LC's in their pedigree. Don't most GSD's have siblings or close relatives that are longcoated?