How would you handle this? - Page 3

Hello, good reading. Unfortenately, the breeders that try to comply with the standart encounter stuff like that all the time. I used to try to educate peopel about, what the standart is all about, but this is a task that cannot be done when you deal with peopel that dont even know how to feed their own dog in a proper way.At my trainingplace we have a woman that bought a female, with the first intension to breed with this dog. After endless discussions, as it is my reponsibility as breedwarden for that club, she stepped back a little. Not even 4 weeks later she had a second female pup ! Both of the pups are out of respectable lines. Besides the 2 GSDs she also has 2 yorky type dogs, she keeps all 4 in the house. I tried so hard to talk her into building a kennel, for her sake and the sake of the GSDs, oh no her babys will stay in the house. Needless to say, after about 2 month she had a nervous breakdown! Now we helped her to build a kennel, hopefully she will use it too. She has registered a kennel name with the SV and starts about breeding again. Fine with me, we all started at some point, but the idears she has are outrages for me. Again she started with stuff like : "Titles are not all " "No need to go through all that hassle " etc. ! That was the point when i was not able to controll my temper anymore ! I explained to her that she signed, with her name, to comply with the breeding standart of the SV at the moment when she had her kennel name registered. Answer : "i did not read that" ! So i explained it again for at least the 4th time. Further i explained, that if i, as breedwarden for that club, come to find out that she is breeding with untiteld parents, it is my duty to report it to the SV, and that i will not stop at that ! As you can imagine, i was pretty pi**ed, i will continue to try to educate her, hopefully beeing able to put it into the right words, without getting rude. It sure is easier to teach my 11 year old son something about dogs, than it is to teach grownups ! I can understand, that all this breeding, training and show stuff is a lot for most beginners, but it is always the same : they first buy the dog, and then they encounter problems, and then they show up seeking help ! The only thing i see, we can do, is try to educate peopel...... what they do at the end is out of our controll. Kind Regards Ulli Dresbach

You guys have a bit of a problem in US. Almost anything is called german shepherd over there, white, blue, green, yellow, black&white. It seems that AKC would accept anything and have a standard for it in a blink of an eye. It is difficult to explain to the people that they are wrong about things and the bottom line is that they will go ahead with it anyway since there are so many others doing the same thing. Some people would breed anything with anything if it would bring them money. To try and explain how wrong they are is 99% of the time waste of effort and it can probably only raise your blood pressure sky high. However, knowing all this, I would anyway try and explain the SV breeding rules in a polite and as calm as posible manner.To at least give the guy different view on things.

Difficult situation. You have to work with this person, push too much and work environment goes bad. Don't say anything and keep listening to him talk about his dogs. I would have to at least try once to explain what the standard is and the lengths respectable breeders will go to meet that standard. And as somebody else mentioned, polietly let him know you would rather not dicuss dogs that don't meet the standard. Don't stress too much when he doesn't listen. You tried. Think of it like this board, people try to explain. Some listen and some don't.

There are many many people out there who LOVE their whites! The white color comes from a masking gene that simply "covers" the dogs true color and as far as I know causes no other health or temperament issues. I have personally known some really nice dogs that happen to carry this masking gene. True, they are not to standard but then again, they cannot be shown in conformation so, so what? Even if they are simply someone's happy, healthy, and and loved companions, I don't think anyone has any reason to dis anyone else's dog and that is how you would come across no matter how tactfully you explain it.

I agree with VomFelsomhof, you may waste your breath BUT if you feel very strongly about something you are passionate about then it is at least worth the spit from your mouth to attempt IN A NICE PROFESSIONAL manner to explain your feelings and give reasons to support them. Although my business is not related to dogs I too have a VERY difficult client I deal with who happens to bring me a lot of business and I make a lot of money from them, they are very very abrassive, very arrogant and demanding; not someone you can easily negotiate with BUT I am good at what I do, provide the absolute best service and go above and beyond satisfying the customer. With that being said I will bite my tongue to a degree but if I feel passionate about something or find it to be unethical then I must open my big trap and address it. I have gone rounds with this client in the past but we still respect each other, still do business together and it is understood where we both agree to disagree. My suggestion is that anytime you engage in a business tranaction with someone you are in agreement that you are trying to achieve a common goal. In the meantime, look for another source to replace the one you are uncomfortable with and when you do send the old one on his merry way to breed white, blue, green yellow polka dots if they wish BUT not with your reputation behind it.

I'm fairly new to this board but I wanted to comment on this issue. I recently had a co-worker that kept adopting and returning shelter pups (too big, chewed extra). She was very unhappy with me when I refused to let her adopt a GSD pup that I was fostering for rescue. It's a tough situation. All you can do is express your view in a calm manner without being angry. You'll probably never convince this person of your opinion but if you are calm and rational you'll educate your other co-workers in the process. As to whites, I don't believe in breeding for color. I do own a male 9 yo White rescue GSD that is a love and he's the reason I got really involved with the breed. I do not breed and have no plans to do so in the future. I do have a friend that is a breeder of White Shepherds. She believes firmly in the seperation of the whites as their own breed. She does health checks, ofa and pen hip, competes in UKC conformation, AKC obedience, herding, agility and has produced quite a few service dogs from her lines. She does know the GSD standard and the White Shepherd Dog club standard. So we have some great discussions involving genetics and standards. I'll never get her to give up her Whites and she'll never get me to switch over from my Color GSD's but we've found some middle ground for discussion. I think that's the best we can hope for at the present time.

Just another point of view. When I was a teenager and we had our first GSD, I learned how much I loved this breed. As I grew and joined the Army and went to Germany, I realized I wanted another when I returned to the States. At this time mind you, I did not KNOW the breed, anything about "the standards", conformation, OFA, PennHip, Titles, Schutzhund, etc. I purchased what would have been considered now to be a BYB puppy. I fell in love with her, etc, etc. She did not conform in anyway at all (I know that now). However, I was a proud GSD owner. Years later, I would find GSD's in Shelters and adopt. My love for them grew. I would eventually always have one in my life. However, nobody "taught" me about them. As my love for them grew, I began to pick up literature on them. I was in my 30's when I decided I wanted to breed GSD's and always have them in my life. However, I was still very new at this and had and still have SO MUCH more to learn! But, until I started to ask questions, I didn't know squat! I had American Shepherds (which I really thought was grand) until I learned even more about the German line. I never knew about the American vs the German, the DDR, Czech, etc. I knew about the whites but, never knew they were considered faults. Never knew about the long haired and plush. Never knew about the blues and livers and now the Pandas. I learned more and eventually have made it to the point that I have a "German" Shepherd. I never knew until now how much there was to learn. I will be learning until the day I pass on. Then, just as recent as last year, I found this site and have to be on it constantly. Always learning more...always open to everyone else's opinion. Now, I know how much I didn't know before. I know how many mistakes I made. But, I'm still learning. And, some of the "newbies" out there that really love the breed just need the right direction to get to the point you all are. Sometimes, criticism can be given in an informative, positive manner that ends up "teaching" that person how to do what they want to do, but how to do it the "right" way. Obviously, if breeding is something they want to do, they will probably do it no matter what you say...however, if you try to teach and inform them, perphaps they will be open to learn more. I just wish years ago that someone would have taught me. I could have known so much more already. I wish I could say I always knew all there was to know about this wonderful, noble breed and that I've always done it all the right way. However, that is not so. I only hope to be able to say now that I am trying to do everything to the absolute best that I can now. Thank you to each and everyone of you that ask questions and above all, to those whom have been able to enlighten me on my long journey to know it all.

Thank you all for your responses. This is a hard thing for me because to blatently breed incorrect dogs is foolishness to me. Many of you brought up issues regarding...if they are healthy,OFA'd etc. I don't believe he knows what OFA is. I saw one of his bitches shortly after she was bred once, her coat was dull,her eyes weren't bright, she was spooky,shy, head held droopy. I would not have bred her if she was black and red and had a great pedigree. She was not breed worthy in any way from what I could see. I felt sorry for her. I don't claim to know it all, I don't... I guess my best bet is to continue as I have, mostly keeping my mouth shut but also look for opportunities to plant seeds of what I know in a professional manner. I doubt it will make a difference since he is motivated by money only and sees no harm in what he is doing. I guess I just lost it when he told me about the blue one. What went through my head was "oh no!,what next!" Again,thanks to you all.

Keep the blue pup, drown the guy!

gsdlvr2-- Wish you had put these little tidbits of info in your initial post. If he's breeding unhealthy dogs, and allowing the female to have no quality of life, then (only for this reason alone), I'd totally support your decision to *slice and dice* him.