Welcome to Sochi! - Page 1

Several times over the years on this forum, I have questioned the veracity of pedigrees from Eastern-bloc countries.  My specific concerns were, and still are, first, whether or not there was ever a system in place to insure the integrity of any given pedigree, and second, and more importantly, whether it is believable that these dogs could have possibly had access to the kinds of health checks that their breeders and/or promoters claim given the limited resources in that place during that time.  Every time I have mentioned this, my ideas have been summarily dismissed as nonsense by those with a vested monetary interest in promoting these dogs as the best of the best of the real German Shepherd Dog.

Fast forward 25 years since perestroika and consider the challenges being faced by those attending this year's winter olympics.  Are you still somehow able to convince yourselves that these people had access to x-ray machines for their dogs 10 or 20 years ago when they still can't quite figure out how to allow people to flush toilet paper down the commode or provide clean water for an international event?

My point is this...DDR dogs, Czech dogs, blah, blah, blah...it's all just marketing hype.  I've seen dogs from these lines that I like and I've seen a lot of others that are crap...same as any other lines from any other countries.  Stop buying into the bullshit.  A good dog is a good dog regardless of from the country from which it originates.

LOL   Right as rain, but funny!

You took the words from my mouth!!
I've been saying that for years about the X-rays. But I will say, no matter what they had or not, my own dogs are sound. ;-)

And not eveyone can handle some other one's good dog. It is all relative. Not likely I'll be sitting on a double shitter toilet, but when someone wants to tell me, you know.... it smells like flowers, why not? .... well, I think they need to hear it doesn't! PEE YEW!!!

Keith, nice thread. Too bad there had to be a stink bomb show up ;-) ^^

Keith, agree with you 100% about the pedigrees! Heck, I know of several instances where other breeds were slipped into the genome before the days of DNA. In one case, the person was caught (breeding dingo into one of the aussie breeds.) in others they weren't. And these instances I know of happened in what people would refer to as 'first world countries' that lack the rampant corruption present in many of the world's poorer countries.

You think the pedigrees from dirt-poor war-torn countries like Serbia, Bosnia and Romania are going to be accurate? Don't make me laugh! And I'm also willing to bet some of the pedigrees from the Nazi era, and the immediate postwar era in Germany are pretty suspect, too!

That´s the reason why at least for us DNA came into the game...

Susie, I respect your extensive knowledge and resources for facts concerning the GS breed in your country. I have wondered for the past nine years, and can't get answer it seems, when exraying hips and then elbows became commonplace and then mandatory in Germany and then Czechoslovakia for the GSD. Can you answer this for me? Thank you.

@ Susie: Re, the DNA in Germany: so your country did DNA to verify Breed? Interesting, because in the US, imported dogs must be DNAd before offspring can be registered by AKC. However, the DNA which AKC requires is not for IDing the breed, it records DNA markers for PARENTAGE; Even tho the DNA for the parents of said imported dog are NOT know to AKC. I have concluded the AKC is requiring the DNA of imported dogs only as a generator of revenue.