DDR and West Working Mix - Page 3

No, he's gone Ibrahim, always in my heart though.  I loved that dog.  He is what made me love this  breed.  I'm sure we all have a dog like that. 

You are being nice there, dogs of that character are not easily found nowadays.

Ibrahim

Right on Pharaoh!   

YR

I will say one thing: I have been a small breeder as well as a Rescuer for about 15 years. I love the dogs I breed and chose the lines I did because I like the combo's. Would I say every single puppy out of every litter was perfect for Police or Sport or SAR, no, there were pets. But those pets or Therapy Canididates were littermates of those same Police and Sport dogs. Some were focused and good workers, some were handler hard and too high strung to focus well. I would love to say my litters were all perfectly uniformed but I don't think any breeder unless they did a lot of work raising those pups and luck struck them can say all their pups bred for an intended purpose did as expected. I guess what I am trying to say is, there is no perfect "Line" as far as I am concerned. Some of the best Working dogs, and I mean, stable, tough, driven, Police Dogs that I have placed were from unknown pet quality breeders who allowed their offspring to land in the local dog pound. When I contacted them to see if they wanted their dogs back they refused (if I knew who they were).

Do your homework, meet dogs from different lines and hope for the best, that's all you can do.

K-9 mom,  I think you are honest, which is refreshing. 

Nice looking dog in your avatar.

While I would agree that the sort of dog Michele and RS are talking about is a joy, I just don't think that is what the OP meant by the cliche "Total Package." Isn't that the phrase they usually use when talking about an "extreme sport dog"? Meaning that it  can handle all police/sch type demands and be called pronounced? Well, I guess this shows that talking in cliches isn't very helpful. Each of us has our own idea of what constitutes a "total package." I bet someone who wants to win the Nationals doesn't mean quite the same thing as someone who wants a Sieger. I for one need a somewhat better description. This somehow slipped short of the serious discussion it could have been to "stories of my heart dog."

I have never ever heard "total package" refer to an "extreme sport dog."

People who've asked me about this usually mean a dog who can do sport, but can also be able to settle in the house and not attack the children simply because they were running and screaming.....ie, they want a balanced dog, clear in the head, able to do many things.

I agree with the lady who said a Golden, lab, or a border collie can do Search and rescue. The old DDR lines of yesterday are just no more. I brought over many good DDR dogs in late 80's early 90's as did Jim Ballinger. Those dogs worked in schutzhund police you name it. They where big bold and real.These boys had loads of prey drive but  They had super fight drive and where excellent protection dogs. Now the gene pool is so so small that I am not sure how much real DDR blood is there. South Africa had 100s of great dogs right before and after the wall came down. Baldur Kranz sold many to them. A lot also  went to Australia. In fact there are some guys in Australia who have some frozen seamen from many of these old great dogs. The Delaware state police had many great DDR Schnauzers in the early 90's as well as DDR stud dogs and females.I am not sure what happened to their breeding program. Those old dogs where for real and a loss  to the dog world. I would love to have anothe rbig male like my Olymp dog his favorite toy was a big locust post he used to prance around with in the field. Many time sch 3 and FH2 as well as PSH 3 and he love kids and babies , was aloof as heell with strangers , stable in publice just ignored the world but GOD help anyone who tried to touch his family or come on his property

Dogs like that aren't gone, Wrestleman...it's just that the ones that are around still, today's trainers don't like, so you don't hear about them doing much! LOL . Right now, mine is sitting on the couch.

In all seriousness, in talking to old school, old time SchH people, many of them  quit due to the direction the sport, and consequently the dogs, took over the past 20 years. As one put it, many of today's SchH trainers only want to train "sleeve suckers."

Sometimes the dog you describe is not going to be the flashiest or highest in points due to this temperament, so breeding has gone away from that in favor of a direction/temperament that earns higher point$ and thus as a whole, temperament has gone this more popular direction.

There are lots of people who still like the older style dogs w/more balance, however.

Wrestleman,

What dogs did you import?

Did you know Don Simon-Rainbow Shepherds?  Did you know David Nebelholz?  Don Rolandsteich?

Michele