What would you do with the "failures" - Page 3

1st working dog grade 4 hips both sides. Very little rear angles and well musled allowed her to work until her 3rd. birthday. Retired sch3,FH. At 41/2 years I found a very good home for her as My 18 month old was getting wupped for going training with me. Three  weeks later my young female exploded with EPI and was put to sleep. Toughest thing I ever did. Start over with Damma so named for my  luck and to remind me to enjoy the dog and ride with a smile as it can end quick.

First dog had "the worst Hips the vet had ever seen" at six months old. Gave her a hip replacement on one hip and she lived till she was almost 13. Got two more dogs (at the time) for Schutzhund. Have two puppies now and if one had bad hips I would probably try to rehome him. If both have bad hips, I would pick one to keep. I don't think that I could get rid of both.

No Spook I only have had three  crap shoots   the one Male bought in 1998 and the recent pup sold to a man that has a bad rapp with many people here in the Big state of Texas....I have very lucky with all my pups customers and have a long list to prove it. My foundation stud was stolen right out from under Pct 4 's and my nose, by a man who has 3 felonies on him...so got justice there....the other two  will have the Carma come back around and bite them in the butt when they least know it....one of them already has others with big issues with him also, and AKC is involved.....A very respectable breeder from Germany , living here , also got done the same way , as I, and she is known all over the world, and her hands are tied as it costs mega bucks to proscecute dog fraud.......and the other matter is being taken care of as I write this....and by the way spook    its YELLOW ROSE    you are not funny at all   calling me   Ramblin Rose"   Your parents must have not taught you many manners........I like to tell the whole story, so you can go right ahead and throw the insults....doesnt bother me at all nor will I stop telling it like it is!!!!!!   33 years of dog work and only three bad apples is not  such a bad apple......

And Yes, to the question about the swimming     Jane Steffenhagen told me to swim a young dog after the ofa failed and then after 6-8 mos , redo the xrays.....sometimes it will correct some of the milder cases and some of the minor crevices that seem to need to be tighter and more in place...  My male never showed any signs of any problems and hes a very hard driven dog.....I notice he has slowed down and not jumping as much ...his elbows are fine., but hips will probably give way before many more years, I really dont know what will come...

I have had to replace a few pups that had severe HD at the early age of 9 mos and it is not a happy day....when you get that call that the beautiful , vivacious pup has now quit playing, cries when getting up, and lays around all day and is sad,,,you have the duty to tell that friend, to put that pup down and you replace it.......

Ramble on 'Ramblin' Rose'....

One of the first things I learned when I started to buy puppies for breeding stock was to always preliminary them at 6 to 8 months or to buy an older dog already OFA'd. 

This may sound sentimental.  But when I purchased my first puppy, I had great hopes, was realistic though that the chances that all the many factors to develop a pup from 8 weeks to working and show dog, was relatively low.  But, I also did not know if I had the resolve, time and finances either. . .  There are so many factors. . . What I mean to say, going in on this, I thought I wanted to develop a dog, but many things could have come in between to prevent this.  Life is just that way. 

Long story short, I picked the pup up from the breeder and in the van on my way home, I made one promise to him and that was that I would give him the best of homes for the rest of his life, no matter what.  If he had bad hips, then we would just find something else to do together.  There are other things you can do. . . take walks, train to be a therapy dog, tracking.  I prelimed him at 7 months and things looked good and the rest is history.  But one thing is for sure, he was never going to be anyone else's dog ever. 

I have always considered that the dogs and I are going on the path together.  My dogs have always surprised me in that they have asked to do more than the regimented pattern and have achieved more than I expected of them.  I feel taking a puppy or dog into your life to be a big responsibility and one should be clear of that in the forefront.  They are living creatures and not a tennis racket that you throw away if it doesn't work.  Owning a dog for me is a luxury and not a right.

This is a picture of my pup at 7 weeks (I hope this works).  Perhaps you can see why it was so easy to make such a promise to him.

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u124/V_Galaxy_009/GalaxyBodyShot7weeks.jpg

Cute picture - He reminds me of the little critters in the movie "Gremlin"!

sunshine, your pup is absolutely charming.is he a long coat? he makes me think of my dog angus when he was about that age. i feel the same way about my boy , he's here to stay for as long as he's happy and comfortable. 

Angusmom,  no, he is considered a normal stock coat.  

Here is his pedigree.  I am very excited because I am getting a puppy out of him born on June 21 called Lara vom Tal der Schatten. . . so, maybe we'll have a chance to do it all again in the bitch ring.  LOL. 

http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/gsd/search.html?main=db&index_in=All&results_in=10&string_in=Galaxy+Ajaye