How to breed sound dogs. - Page 1

Most believe that if they put two excellent dogs together that they will produce excellent progeny.
I would like to ask you here what do you do in order to improve the breed. This topic will hopefully help the breeders to understand that putting together 2 excellent dogs may be a disaster and may or may not improve the breed. What do you say?

 Prager Hans

Using two excellent dogs with similar characteristics?

Matching general type rather than line breeding all the time?

Trying to compensate for a (small) deficiency in one by ensuring the other is strong in this way?

I'm a one-litter only breeder, so this is theory.

Good input; breed by type, compliment those strengths, and compensate for weakness.

I've had a high percentage of excellent results with hundreds of puppies,  but my breeding practice will hardly "impact the breed" by any measure.  I don't breed a sliver of the frequency and quanity that Jinopo does, and most of my pups have been sold with limited registration.  But dammit, if I put something on the ground, it'll be the best I can offer, and I'm cautious from who I EVER take advice.

To add, don't overly focus on any particular aspect.  For example, to obsess for "high drive" can and will present problems if not accompanied with a "clear head", and potentially worse yet when accompanied with high "social aggression".  Beware extremes.

First step to be taken by beginner breeder.
Find out what is the GSD breed all about. Study its history and read the Book : German Shepherd in word and picture by the creator of the breed Max v Stephanitz. Find a old, gray haired ( experienced) and successful(!) breeder who is breeding such dogs and who is willing to share his knowledge with you. Keep in mind that GSD is a working dog.
Hans
P.S.
Daryl any breeding is potentially influencing the breed . Especially the really good ones and the really bad ones too. If most breeders would put as much knowledge  into their breeding as you and some others do then the GSD would be better off.
Prager Hans

Nice Topic Prager,

I own 1 male & 1 female that I breed. They are producing nice puppies & though most offspring are still young, I like what I see so far. I am considering buying a female for breeding to my male but I must admit....I don't really know where to start. I got lucky with my current female in that she produces well with my male. Do I look for a bitch like her (in type &/or pedigree)?


One thing in their progeny that I see that I don't like is handler sensitivity (not aggressive). Does this come through my male...who can be a little handler aggressive at times? Or the female...an Eick V.D. Berger Hochberg daughter.   

If I search for a bitch that brings some handler hardness to my breeding, and the sensitivity I see so far does not come through my male....well I may end up with too much handler hardness :(



Just some things I have been stewing about........


Mike Delaney

danny , lets look at your theory a bit closer , not linebreeding , and one dog compensating for other dogs flaws , and how much chance do you think you have that this outcrosscombination with outcrossdogs , will bring together in the pups the best of both parents , and more important ,what will be the chance for the pups to pass this on

answer for hans
forget about money , flavour of the day and selling pups ,
only breed top quality bitches to males that complement/improve them
, have a plan , have a program , and select hard
only continue with stock thats minimum as good but preferably better than the dogs(top  quality) you already have

for me linebreeding(genotype) will do the job , but there are few that can linebreed on fenotype so to speak , but thats only given to a handful of breeders worldwide 

Prager what do you mean by "putting two excellent dogs together??"  Does this mean the farmer who breeds his awesome working dog to another awesome working female in the same city??

Or do you mean two "excellent" dogs which have HD fair and above in pedigrees and both with great drives , civil, biddable and great temperament bred together without knowing anything else about the dogs in the  pedigrees??

I am no breeder and have no intention of becoming one but in the latter case what is it you think could possibly go wrong??

Nice topic btw.

I am curious what other breeders, from successful working kennels, have to comment on this.  This could be very informative. 

OH Get the rubber boots on It is going to get really deep now.