The future of the white shepherd in Europe - Page 2

I don't think there is nothing wrong with new breeders coming into the breed, but there is a problem when they don't understand the temperament of working dogs or do anything to make sound breeding choices and also breed for health.

Many of the people importing into Australia are barely even pet owners. Most know nothing about dogs, but just because they have money - they think they are getting something rare and special into Australia. 

I am certain most of these people will not even show their dogs or train them... Just breed them and get $$$ because they are different...

So are you saying that in general, Czech bloodlines are reknowned for not having the best temperaments??

So what is anyone doing about this?

In the club I belong to in Australia www.wgsdcv.org.au we do temperament testing, like the Dog Mentality Assessment - the one founded by the Swedish Working Dog Club.  The other club in Australia is known to have bad temperaments of breeding dogs.  A person was bitten by a dog at their show on the weekend and there were many reports of dogs with overly shy or agressive temperaments!  It is so bad...

In the last few years the breeders from Czechia are going to other countries for new bloodlines for themselves. The problem is, that most of them look still for the beauty, becouse they want show champions.
I have to wirte now in german, because I can't write this in english.
Ich war früher sehr naiv was die mentalität der Züchter angeht. Ich dachte alle sind lieb und nett und sagen einem die Wahrheit. So ist das leider nicht ! Ich habe meine tschechische Hündin gekauft, hatte noch guten Kontakt zur Züchterin und als ich dann mit ihr beim x-ray war. Schock ! HD-frei, ED-3 ! Habe es der Züchterin gesagt, sie meinte ja, verkauf den Hund und sag es nicht ! Nächster Schock ! Seit dem haben wir keinen Kontakt mehr und meine Hündin Kara lebt noch bei uns. Sie ist sehr sensibel, hört sofort zu fressen auf wenn es irgendwelche Umstellungen gibt, wenn besucher kommen braucht sie sicher einen halbe Stunde bis sie sich mal hin traut, wenn ich sie zu einem Hundewandertag mitnehme hat sie nur Stress. Ich habe mit ihr die Begleithundeprüfung 1 gemacht, aber für mehr ist sie nicht geeignet. Sie lässt sich nicht für spiele motivieren. Da war dann noch eine zweite Hündin ( Jaika) die sich nicht vom Rüden hat decken lassen. Beide Hündinnen konnte man nicht zum Ballspielen motivieren. Beide sind nun kastriert und werden nie in die Zucht kommen. Ich weiss das zwei Schwestern von der Jaika nach Australien verkauft wurden, aber ich weiss nicht ob die dort in der Zucht sind.
Da gibt es sicher auch ein paar gute Hunde in den Nachbarländern wie Tschechien, Slowakei, Ungan ...
Bei uns im Club haben wir strenge Richtlineinen was die Zucht anbelangt und wir müssen mindestens 1 Prüfung machen,so wie HD und ED Röngten ,Wesenstest und auch Ausstellungen.

Hello to all,

At first not all czech dogs and bloodlines are bad i can know because i have a 1/2 czech bloodline dog ;-)
He's got a good temper and good health (HD A, ED free) also his littermates have good temper and health so he's not the only one.

I think all bloodlines have some dogs who are not healthy or have bad temper, because in the past ('80, '90) the white shepherd breeding in europe was not selecting on health and temper only on the colour white. We still have to deal with this legacy and it can happen with dogs from each country in europe and from every bloodline.

My first white shepherd (born in 1990) was a beautifull big boned dog (69 cm) normal for that days, but his temper was not good. For us he was great and loveble but for strangers he was terrible, shy and agressive at the same time.
Wenn we looked for a second white shepherd whe looked for a breeder who breed on temper and health and not for beauty.

I think the WSSD scene looks only at dogs with titles but don't look good at the dogs in real live, are these dogs realy fantastic at each moment in every situation?
A few weeks ago i was on a show and the dog who became BOB had a bad temper, he was beatifull yess but he showed a lot of fear, a month befor he became BOB, BIG and BIS on a FCI CAC-CACIB show with that same temper.
It's not only now, it was in the past and it will be the same in the future i'm afraid.

Hi everybody,
Yes Chris, perhaps one of the problems with temper is maybe that judges dont give this particular item the importance it has, which in my opinion is much. In the other hand we have to think that the breed is still quite new and judges may think it's better to establish a certain structure which to work with in the future, just basis.
In my opinion it is the biggest kennels problem, dont want to take them all as one, but these kennels are much more responsible of the future's breed than the small ones. Their dogs usually participate in more shows and it's more often to see them winning shows, of course their pups enter breeding programmes more than others.
My experience is that dogs from smaller kennels have better temper and almost same beauty. The only reason is that these breeders are constantly in touch with the pups, they grow at home, and are capable to select the owner because the pressure of selling is less. Most of the european small kennels control health as much as the biggest. But obviously we are giving champions pedigree much more importance.

Lendinez

 @chrismart: do you think that there are no dogs which have good temper and health AND are beautiful and have titles?
i think that the combination of both is the secret... having a beautiful, healthy dog with nice temper.

i think that there are too many breeding clubs which do not pay attention to a character test... in germany each breeding dog needs to pass the test. otherwise you can´t breed with him. i know lots of countries, where they do not test at all or where it is up to the breeder, if they want to have their dogs tested or not....

I think it's important to character test breeding dogs.  I have been seeing litters and helping breeders for 10 years now, and whenever the mother has a bad temperament, the pups learn this from their mother. 

I once saw a litter of 6 or 7 week old pups all run away scared as soon as I walked into the yard!  They were petrified.  Most of those pups (except for one or two) - it was a big litter, all were OK because the owners put lots of work into the puppies, but the rest had lots of problems with nerves because the mother was the same.

I would never breed a dog with a bad temperament!  Even if it was the most beautiful dog ever!   It's too dangerous and also gives the breed a bad reputation.

 brooke,
you are absolutely right!

My opinion on why there is such a 'mixed type' in the breed, is due to the division in the breed!! One country can use this bloodline, another can not.

How can we expect to develop the WSS breed around the WORLD to it's full potential when essentially, each country has a different genepool?
 

Yes Alpinarc,
I think those last words are true, certain rules make impossible the breed get to it's full potential, meanwhile
the division between breeders separate the bloodlines ,It happens all the time.These was my first porpose when I started the post.