Was this ever true in Germany? - Page 2

Ok I haven't read the whole entire post yet but this comment caught my eye about culling down to 5. I got Capt. Max's book for Christmas!!!!!! it was the one and only material thing I wanted. I have been skimming through it and I did read where he recommended culling to 5. He may have been quoting someone, I can't say for sure yet.,but that is what he said. So, maybe that is where that first came from.

i have read this (about culling) in at least 3 different books. yes, i thought it sounded harsh and inhumane....probably why it stuck in my mind. if i had read it in only 1 place, i probably would have dismissed it. the more i think about it, though, it makes me realize that at the time this was happening, the breed was very new. it was probably much easier at that time to sort out the pups with undesireable traits. the gsd has its roots in a number of different breeds and early on there would have been a lot of throw-backs. after selective breeding was practiced for a few generations there would be more uniformity in the litters. it could be that this was the reason that fostering replaced the strict culling. (i'm not making this up about the culling, chris. i honestly have read this in a number of places.) pjp

they still have been cruling pups down to 6 in 1960 in Germany.Don't remember when it all changed. Kathy

This rules will be changed in western Germany in the middle of the 80¿s and in eastern Germany (DDR), if the wall came down. Greetings from Germany

I've read this article...which coincides to what Chris had mentioned about ZAMB v.d.Weinerau... And yes... there were better and idealistic breed-masters of the GSD in history, but none can compare to the STANDARDIZATION the Martin brothers had accomplished... Now's fine time to get diversity and follow up in the other aspects of Standardization other than CONFORMATION... Happy Holidays ... guys... http://kristophgsd.com/articles_wienerau.htm

Ziegenfarm, I am sure they culled puppies the way you describe in the early years of the twentieth century, up to maybe WW2. But afterwards, the "Ammenvermittlungsstelle" was organized. Catnick, leaving only 6 puppies with a female does not mean that the rest were killed (culled). As Doghunter mentioned, the number was increased to 8 in the early 90s (I believe). A few years ago, it was changed again to a different wording. My guess is that it is increasingly difficult to find enough foster dams (Ammen). It now implements that a female cannot be bred again until at least 6 months after the whelping date, if she was left with more than 8 puppies. That usually means that a breeder will have to skip a heat since most females come into heat every 6 months. For those of you who read German, here is the link to the breeding regulations of the SV (Zuchtordnung, Fassung 2007, effective January 1, 2007. The paragraph you need to look for is 4.2.4. Wurfstaerke (Litter Size). http://www.schaeferhund.de/site/typo3conf/ext/nf_downloads/pi1/passdownload.php?downloaddata=150 Happy New Year, Chris P.S. Marci and Bob-O: Zamb vd Wienerau for me is a perfect example to show that it is not a good idea to "cull" dogs with certain imperfections (let's leave it at that) from the gene pool. Walter Martin was a man with a great vision and we are still profiting from that. Just imagine or look which dogs we would not have now if Zamb would not have been used. Another dog which comes to mind is Nero Noebachtal.

http://www.bmk.org.uk/martin.php Yup and six is a good number, find a foster mother (even if it be a different breed...) Cull only those with obvious defects... I had before in a litter of three, one without a tail (definitely for culling...) the one before that... in a litter of eight, the biggest (I call him DAGUL...) who was monopolizing all of the dams nipples...the guy had to be put down because of the abnormal hip bone growth, (the pup can't even lift his rear legs and would just slump down and gorge all the milk for himself...) For the DAMS health keep only pups you think is healthy... It's like something that was mentioned here in PDB before... that you should only keep upto six GSDs (even if you had the money...) to make sure that they all grow up fine with proper training...and that all GSDs have proper human contact... Happy New year... :) Marci