The decline of the German Shepherd character - Page 12

i am in a perfect postion for it,  i have the resources, infrastructure, knowledge and demand to cash in, but alas i have morals - something largely absent form the greater gsd world.

 

look at the typical competition i would be facing;

 

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-dogs-puppies/german+shepherd/k0c18434

 

and here;

 

http://www.doggydossier.com.au/dog-breeders-german-shepherds.php

 

here is one picked at random;

http://www.wolfonyx.com/

 

how do you think i would go against that level of comp.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

my breeding is successful when a dog is placed in the correct place for that individual. A pup that goes to a home where the owner takes it all the way to a breed survey is great. A dog which dies at 13 years old and the family writes me that it was the best companion they ever had, is great. A dog which goes into a real working situation is great. The decline of the GSD breed is from poor vision on the part of many breeders and I can not seperate charactor from the rest of the beast. The decline of the GSD is from the disinterest of many owners from perpetuating the breed to the standard. 

I agree gsdstudent's comment regarding poor vision among the breeders.

When I first switched 100% on to the German lines in the late seventies I could not always follow the breeding of some dogs. The reason was that I did not understand how the breeding families behind the dogs came together rather than the dogs themselves and, it took a long time to get the understanding that only comes from experience. The Germans knew how to do this and, as a result, they consistently produced dogs that were above average and better. Today it is a case of follow the leader and just mate the females mainly to the winners. In my opinion this became the way forward, thanks to Hermann Martin et al, because of the narrowing of the gene pool in the breed to the point where most lines were going through Zamb v d Wienerau and Jeck Noricum. The breeding result is just more of the same. Again, in my opinion the Koerbuch is not as reliable as it used to be. Why is this? The answer is that to understand some of the information the breeder has to understand where the fake pedigrees come in to play. Also, many dogs are described as Gross whereas they are really oversized. Another aspect is the fact that we cannot rely on the Schutzhund qualification and especially Sch H 1 because so many are bought, therefore, the Koerbuch is only a starting point.

The breeders should, if possible, visit Germany and see the dogs in the flesh to study his character and conformation. I accept that this is easier for Europeans to do so. The other thing that I do when looking at buying a dog is to ask the breeder/owner if I can see the dog work for a few minutes. Immediately the owner/breeder says OK he then goes to fetch the sleeve. At this point I always “thanks, but a bit of heelwork with a stand, sit and down is OK. Also I ask to see a send away and a retrieve” . I have lost count of the times that an owner/breeder has given a response that begins and ends with F. The benefit is that you know how true the qualification is. If you cannot go then find someone who will be honest and tell you about the dog. We cannot rely on Photo’s anymore thanks to Photoshop.

If I had a breeding female now I would look to find a male to complement her and improve her conformation. The first priority however is to see the dogs true character. I have on this point asked if the owner would like a beer and, if so, I suggest going to a local bar and that I would like the dog to come too so that we can speak about him. If I had a show line female I would be looking for an anatomically good working line with a good history because I think now is the time to begin to outcross to increase the Gene pool in my breeding plan. If my female was from a working line I would find a showline male who fitted my criteria.

Mackenzie

I want to be careful how I say this - anyone who wants to import or breed to a successful showline GSD from Europe should not only try to see the dog first, they should also do what they can to be sure that dog hasn't been "painted". 

You don´t need to say this "careful"... , although color is the least problem. On the German Siegershow they take hair samples for years now - anybody wonders why ?

I heard that they cannot detect all the brands of dye so painted dogs easily slip through the cracks and end up exported. Sure fading color isn't the worst thing that can happen, but if I were paying 6 figures for a Va dog I sure would be disappointed if it turned out to look faded after I bought it. And, if I were breeding for show, I wouldn't be at all happy had I used that dog for breeding. 

"I heard that they cannot detect all the brands of dye so painted dogs easily slip through the cracks and end up exported."
???

"..., but if I were paying 6 figures for a Va dog I sure would be disappointed if it turned out to look faded after I bought it."
If you were buying a dog for that amount of money, you´d take a close look at the dog and at the offspring prior to buying. In case you don´t, you are a fool, but you don´t sound like a fool...

( You can´t improve color by using a "red" dog, it´s about overall pigmentation. )

A German judge just told me that they can't detect all the dyes. You know who that was, I'm not mentioning names here. 

I thought so, but believe me, most people ( including me ) don´t know the difference.
It´s the old game: SV tries to reveal fraud, and the sharks try to stay in front ...

I doubt anyone knows the difference until the color starts to fade .