Would you breed a dog with a slightly curly tail? - Page 5

Oh, duu-hhh.  Thanks, DebSue.  Dang it.  :(

This subject is very open to interpetation, of course. A dog can have an excellent tail set and carry the tail high when parading with the sleeve.  That is not faulty.  Many dogs start to get a curl in their tail when they get lengthy in structure, due to growth.  If you will trim the excess hair from the END of the tail, shortening it to the end of the tail bone, they will stop curling their tail.  I trim the end of the tails from the time the pups are several weeks old. I am a old school, working dog girl, but this tip came from an old Koermeister.  It absolutely works, very quickly.  When the tail is at the lengthy stage, everytime the hair on the end of the tail touches something, the dog curls the end up.  By taking the hair off the end of the tail, which can be a couple inches, sometimes, they relax the tail.  I have a bitch who will curl the end, if I don't keep it trimmed. It is Draze, the picture to the right.  I have learned, it isn't always a genetic curl....but environmental. 

If the dog has good health, good structure and excellent working ability, certainly I would use it if it compliments my breeding objections. I had a puppy out of Gandalf vom Oberhausen-Kreuz who had a curled tail. dog had the lines that I wanted to pick up to strengthen my breeding, and he was a BSP dog to boot. The purpose of my breedings are to produce working dogs that can serve mankind. I would not double up the tail, but that certainly wouldn't eliminate a dog from genepool for me ih the dog had pedigree and working ability that I wanted. I don't know if Asko vom Lutter produced this type of tail sometimes, but I do know that Asko was one of the most productive working dogs of any breed in the past 25 years. Eliminate him because of a tail.....crazy!!!

Hello Hodie,
Nice to see you back.  You were on my mind today and I was thinking sending you an email.  And, I agree with your post on this dog.  I remember some years ago having an opportunity to pick up a German import bitch that had a curl in her tail.  She was other wise a beauty of a dog.  Bi color and exceptional temperament.  I would have purchased this dog but I was a day late and a dollar short.  This dog had so much going for her that the tail thing meant little.  I would have breeded her in a heart beat, just let buyers know they were getting a great looking dog that was a spit fire for work, but had a glitch with the tail.  Being into working dogs and desiring working dogs the tail issue is just not enough to get up set about.
Like Hodie said, keep it all in perspective for what is truly important for our breed.  My big concern is gsds with Golden Ret. temperaments.  Come to think of it, my male has that short tail that some ddr lines produce.  Do I like it, not really.  Does it bother me, no way.

I see what you mean.  You are right, it is not a good picture.  Looks like the dog is ready to take a bite, but also looks like a dog who would thump a helper.  I don't believe I would even notice it on a slammin' long bite!LOL  Seriously, I don't see any other dogs in the pedigree with curled tails, of the pictures shown.  Of the dogs I have seen, produced by Asko ( which there are many, many, many, I have not seen, of course), I have not seen bad tail sets, curled tails, or anything to cause concern.

There is a really nice working male in our training group.  When he first came to the group, there was a comment by a girl with a "pretty dog" about his looks with a curl of the lip, the girl's lip.  I told her just wait a minute till the long bite and he will get a whole lot prettier!  He flew like a kamikaze and thumped the helper.  She had nothing else to say.  The dog is not an unbecoming dog.  He is a working dog

Moral of the story:  Pretty is as pretty does!  Taking total conformation into account, there are lots of parts to a dog.  I tend to focus on a dog who is pleasing to the eye, works like a well oiled machine, has good movement, 42 shiney teeth, and a lot between the ears. LOL

Debbie

Moral of the story: Pretty is as pretty does! Taking total conformation into account, there are lots of parts to a dog. I tend to focus on a dog who is pleasing to the eye, works like a well oiled machine, has good movement, 42 shiney teeth, and a lot between the ears. LOL

The most important  post of this whole thread.....Thanks   Debbie

Not saying that Asko had this type of tail but know he has produced dogs(along with the dam side) in the past. You know another line that will produce this type of tail....the Lierberg line. Guess we should not have bred to them also because of possibility of producing this type of tail that some abhor. Its crazy again!!