Workinglines vs Showlines - Page 15

Ibriham and bubba; Please note their is a difference from opinion and fact. Bubba's latest post is all opinion and without 3rd party endorcement has to be taken as conversation not fact.Speaking of your own dog's back yard evaluations can not direct a breeding program.

Ibrahim, I didn't say he was! Notice I said 'curved topline' not 'roached'. If you follow the sequence of photos, you do see a progression towards something that looks a lot like the modern showlines in both colour and structure, but very moderate in conformation.

His topline does have a slight curve to it as compared to Xeph's dog, but the withers are still the highest point on the back, so it's NOT a roach.

Xeph, I wish you all the best with your dog, but she IS extreme and faulty according to the German breed standard.

That's the problem with these trends: if you want to have any hope of placing in the show ring and selling your puppies, you HAVE to follow them.  :(

That´s reality, but it´s the breeders own decision - for breeding according to the rules you need a showrating, no VA rating, but a lot of people are dreaming about Euros/Dollars only. While breeding their "flavor of the month" puppies they forget about the likelihood of success ( 14.000 puppies born in Germany / 15 VA dogs ), and the showline / workingline owners/handlers buy and sell, buy and sell, buy and sell....waiting for the holy cow, but forget about the dog at the end of the leash in their hand.

This was a learning process for me, too - but today I admire all the folks who buy a dog and give this single dog a good, caring home, while training and titling this one dog as far as possible - and in case this dog is not suitable for at least IPO, don´t breed this dog later on.

Susie, I do not breed to the SV standard.  Obviously I disagree with you.  But that's ok :)

To Susie and Xeph's respective points, I don't begrudge anyone their dog, but I will admit I have a problem with a "type" getting so far away from the standard that they make their own standard...if you want a new breed, make a new name. Don't call that a GSD. 

Xeph, I have heard people who breed both ASl and GSL say "I am going to have to start breeding my dogs with more angulation, if I want to win in the show ring!"  When I first started looking for a registered dog, someone offered me an ASL male. They had held him back from one of their litters because he was a very nice dog, and they thought he could win in the show ring.

Nope, didn't happen. "He hasn't got enough angulation," the owner told me.

My husband was still alive at the time, and he didn't want a second dog, so I had to say 'no' to her.

Just a couple of months ago, someone Australian judge Louis Donald knows said the same thing.

Same as SchH- used to be a test, now a competition. When you have competition, there will be dogs designed for the competition, not the work and structure that was supposed to be tested by the show and test. 

Never underestimate the power of selective breeding.

I know the owners of the HGH dogs I posted above. They breed every now and then and some of their pups are in training for guide dogs for the blind also. They train and handle their own dogs in IPO and HGH. Terrific people with terriific dogs.

How did this get to 19 pages? Buy a showline and enjoy a pretty lawn ornament. Buy a a working line and cross your fingers he can work. End of thread.