Breeding mixed lines - Page 1

I have a bitch that is 1/4 show line and the rest working lines. She is not yet old enough to breed but I bought her with that intention, if she doesn't meet my standards she won't be bred. She is a SAR dog and going to be a therapy dog and is training to be my psychiatric service dog (don't ask, long story). Going to be doing a bit of protection work as well. My intention was to breed her with a WL dog. However I just found out that I am in contact with someone that has a Zamp Vom Thermodos grandson. I'm not wanting to get in a breeding argument because I am not breeding for profit, nor am I breeding because I think it will be easy and fun. I've dedicated years to learning and research and all good reputable breeders had to start somewhere and this is where I can afford to start.
So with all that being said, would mixing a predominatly WL dog with a Zamp grandson be a wise decision? I will (if she meets the requirments) be breeding my girl in the next 15-18 months. I will be adding a WGSL bitch to my program but not for the next 3-5 years or I would just buy one of his pups from another female. Any constructive imput is much appreciated.

You should put her pedigree up for advice if that would make a good breeding.  Is your dog American Showline or WGSL?   I am not a breeder, but I know what you mean when some breeders or even some dog owners want to give you the " I had to walk to school through 5 miles of blizzard snow barefoot, all up hill" speach. Good luck to you.

I don't think the so-called working line or show line designation has anything to do with breeding choices.  I would breed one of my solid black Czech or Czech/German bitches to a GSD dog that was red and brown if I liked him and he had what I needed to add to my bloodlines.  If you know the dogs and their personalities and temperaments combined with their physical attributes then a breeding choice can be made much more easily than relying on a pedigree.  The pedigrees and whether their dam or sire was a BSP, BSZS, KNPV, or Mondio Ring dog comes later in the breeding decision and last of all is titles and other crapola about whether the dog has none, one or 13 titles in agility, IPO, or AKC obedience.   Early on in my GSD experience I had a psuedo expert tell me that working line and show line dogs should not be bred .. later I figured out that he was an idiot.  Plenty of so called working line dogs with a pedigree full of so called show line ancestors.  Prior to Vello zu den Sieben-Faulen I guess they all were just German Shepherds.  Vello has at least 7000 GSD who trace their ancestry back to him and he was the early prototype of the what would become the "show line" GSD.  Vello's son Bernd von Lierberg has about 8,000 or more GSD whose bloodlines lead back to him.  Not many dogs with more reverse linebred progeny than these two and Vello would be called a "show line" today and his son Bernd would be called a "working line".  Who knew a "show line" could produce "working lines" and vice versa.  Probably because the designation is a meaningless word game.

Oh, sorry, she is WGSL. Her paternal grandmother is WGSL, grandfather WGWL and her mother is East German :) I did like the partial SL in her because I didn't want the full drive of the WL dog so she is just calm enough to have an off switch but drivey enough to do anything I need her to do lol. I never really even considered breeding her to a WGSL until I found out about a friend having a Zamp grandson, then I got all excited lol. But still not sure I want to mix her that much more but figured I'd see what others opinions were:) Thanks for the response!

Thanks, I know my friend uses really even tempered good healthy dogs so I might now be thinking about the Zamp grandson as a possible stud if my girl is what she should be fully grown :) Thanks for the pleasant responses so far :)

Why do you particularly want to use a Zamp grandson?  Nothing against Zamp, I have grandson of his and he is a fantastic dog, I'm thrilled with his first litter, just wondered what you wanted from a grandson of his in particular.  I'd also add that my personal experience of East German working lines is they are verylevel headed so you might be attributing the steadiness to the wrong side of her pedigree.


Margaret N-J

I think when breeding WGSL and WL crosses you really have to understand the dogs and also accept that the litter may have a lot less uniformity in temperament.  It's not as simple as looks + drive, or using a WGSL to "mellow out" the dogs.  I have a WGSL/WGWL puppy right now and the SL was used because of drive and temperament.  Several hardcore WL people helped look at the mating pedigree and actually prefered the pedigree of the SL as far as what could be expected in temperament and drive.  It's not something I'd do or get a puppy from without knowing both dogs involved, but that's just me.  I'm not against it, I HAVE one, but it's not an easy out as far as looks + working ability.  The individual dogs still must complement each other rather than assuming one dog will improve the other in some way.  We used a WL female I hoped might preserve what we (myself, the breeder, and the puppy buyers) liked about the SL sire.