Alfs photo of German Shepherd bred by him - Page 1

Meet one of the  German Shepherds bred by me.
Messages on this site mention tests to eliminate disease when looking for the healthy dog,
however there was no mention of conformation.

Overall bone structure is important,  in order to find a well boned and straight backed dog.
This will help to avoid the banana shaped dog that is seen in poor breeding.

Oh, is that nasty.  Trim on the legs looks like a show Golden.  What is it you are trying to accomplish with your breeding?  Obviously your mixing them with poodles is just trying to make some money in the designer dog world but what are you doing to the German Shepherd?

More misdirection Alf?  Like I said, you're a funny guy -- you keep trying, and keep trying, and keep failing at presenting the image of a breeder who is knowledgeable about their breed, and someone to buy from.

Couldn't answer my questions about health, so let's talk conformation!  That's what's *really* important, not the dog potentially being chronically ill or lame by the age of four!

And then for conformation you post *this* picture?  :D 

I'm no expert in show lines, that I readily concede, but I can tell you that your dog doesn't appear to adhere closely to the standard.  That's really not a surprise, is it?  Given that I suspect a breeder who doesn't care about health also doesn't care about breeding to standard -- as long as two dogs can make puppies to sell for money, that's really the name of the game!

You also missed another critical consideration, though -- one that people look for ahead of conformation unless they're aiming for the show ring.  Any guesses what I might mean Alf?  Temperament.  For me the considerations of what are *essentials* for a dog are (1) health (2) temperament and then appearance as a distant last.  Can you list the working titles, and the working roles your dogs have achieved?  With five generations they should have done *something* besides being family pets.  I'm guessing "pet" is the only "working" accomplishment, though, since you jumped to conformation as your trump card.  Never mind that the German shepherd dog is intended to be a working breed, and needs drives and steady nerves to do it.

Keep digging Alf, pretty soon you'll be able to have a conversation about what a respectable breeder you are with our colleagues in China. I don't thing they'll be impressed with your evasions and generalities either.

I'm also done with my efforts -- you don't seem to get the message that you're not creating the favorable impression you want.  The rest is just ridiculous, and I don't get any pleasure from debating with an opponent who wins my arguments for me.

I JUST MIGHT START BREEDING DILL-DOES

Jackal,

 

Thank you!!

Jackal73...couldn't have said it better myself, excellent post!!

Hi Mystere and GSDfan,

No thanks necessary (though they're appreciated).  I was trying to make this guy sensible of the fact that (1) not everybody buys into his wise old uncle routine, and will be fooled with a bunch of vague maundering and (2) his supposed consumer base isn't exclusively founded in an unquestioning and uninformed public.  I'm just an "end user" for GSDs, after all -- not a breeder, and not a high level working professional or sport competitor. 

I really resent the fact that to get a healthy, sound GSD puppy I would have to do the equivalent of months of leg work and run the guantlet of shills like Alf here.  The difference between me and the average puppy buyer is that I *know* what the potential pitfalls are and therefore know what to look for.  Too many people don't, and they (and the dogs) suffer for it.

So there's my motivation for this plunge into tilting at windmills, and I think it's time to hang up the spurs now.

Best wishes of the season to you all!

"I JUST MIGHT START BREEDING DILL-DOES"

WTF?  I was saving for a dinkiedoodle! 

It makes me very sad to see someone like Alf justify what he is breeding and holding the animals out to be representative of the breed. Those dogs are among the saddest examples of the GSD breed I have ever seen. It is difficult to say that straight out, but Alf, you really need to pay some attention what a decent GSD looks like. I know you can justify breeding mutts, so perhaps you could care less whether the dogs meet any standard at all, but at least have the guts to admit what you do and why.