DDR dogs - Page 4

My account of discussion with Jiri was solely on the rate of early mental maturity. Mental meaning the capacity to think, train, developed drives, and be able to work. Our dicussion was merely about the genetic traits that follow and the breedings of zPS for this quality and how to reproduce these breeding nowadays.

I wanted to make sure I wasnt mis-understood in what i wrote before as I dont want you to take the wrong impression of what was said.

I would love to look first hand at what your describing and am not discrediting what you are saying one bit. The one sentence you wrote made what you were saying clear. The remaining hobbiests. That would clear it up for me. Like I said earlier I base my opinion on the subject off the mingling of the old ddr and czech dogs from the past to equate to the present as its not easy to find a PURE ddr dog. However I have had eyes on some of the dogs produced from those lines and am very pleased in what I see. You know what i mean?







Should be different topic. but anyhow a short blurb.

I would disagree from the perception i took on what you wrote that its fear aggression in the pups. this is how I percieve defense in a pipeline. This is all theory of course.However i ask this were you born couragoues or were you built up to it? Courage in its definition(in my head) is the ability to decision make and push/fight through your own fear. So to be courageous you must have something to fear and have the ability to overcome and fight thru. Right? I dont know a fighter whom has went into a fight without haveing some anxiety or fear for the unkown right? So the ability for a dog to think and fight through his fear is a powerful thing would you agree?

Defense = fear- courage-aggression-- hardness
                                                                      Anger
                                                                      Fight
                                                                      Personal
                                                                      e/t
                                                                 &n

As a born and raised "Ossi" I sure have to give my opinion to this as well ... LOL I grew up with those dogs, and we had a few breeding pairs as well. They were "Haus and Hof" dogs. They were not bred to do SCHH nor were they bred for military purpose, but to work on the farm, to protect live stock, the house, to herd the sheep, drive the cows nuts or get the geese in. They were bred to be protective of their family, to look powerful, and to have a natural agression and aloofness. Most of them had no papers, but a special exemplar could be assigned papers after a recommondation from the breed warden to the registry. Sometimes it happened as well that for a special "fee" a nice dog without papers was assigned to a bitch with papers as welped pup, even tho they were not related.

As we lived only about 15 miles away from the Chzech border, we had a good relation with the border patrols on both sides. Some of our pups were traded for highly desirable Chzech goodys like Becherovka, canned sardines and especially at Xmas time.. chocolate (beautiful looking for decoration and then eating...LOL) Our dogs were all-rounders, what ever one asked them to do, they did it. They were aloof, yet social (if it makes any sense). You could take them anywer without having to worry. Now that we had to wait for a car around 10 years, riding a train, bus or tractor was an essential way of living. But dare you to raise your hand against the master or family... Short strong ears, huge bone, tight round thick pads, wide chest, sturdy, absolute thinkers. Those are the dogs I remember, and thats what I want back.

I agree with VomM that many of the dogs carrying DDR in the US are watered down if one can describe it as such. Looking at many dogs they appear to become more finer in bone structure and lacking in drives, yes I said it. So, DDR is not the same as DDR anymore and its up to you to pick the right dog for what you want. Sadly the label DDR has become a marketing tool to produce and sell puppies, and this will continue to drive the name/lineage down. I agree with Yoshy that the dogs from the PS kennels are most represenative of the DDR dogs I have known. Maybe that is because I lived in the same greater area of it, and as we know attributes of the breed can be very specific to a geographical region back then.

To the SCHH part. A lot of it is training. It is essential that the trainer/helper understands the makeup of the dog and works with the dog and not against it. In the beginning I was going with my DDR girl nowhere. She was barking mad, biting well, but as soon as the sleeve was slipped, she lost interest. Frustrating, needless to say. And I think thats the point were many handlers give up because they think the dog does not have it. I was there too, but I saw something she showed at home .... she liked the fight! I ended up telling my trainer how to train my dog....LOL We came up with a plan and it worked. We brought in more fight, switched the routines around very often, and added a bit of pressure. That made it more interesting to her and kept her from thinking into one part too much. We never had to clean her up in the blind, she is only working on a flat collar, her outs are perfect from the start. She has the most beautiful temperament one can wish for, very balanced with medium high drives. She is now a bit over 2 years old, has her CGC, TDI, RN, BH and will get her SCHH 1 this late spring.

I also have a mix of West and DDR from Jenni. 8 months old, OTT drives, very serious and dominant, as well as standoffish and resistant....LOL He excels in bite work, and brings a natural aggression to the table. Combined with his dominance this makes him already a very powerful serious dog. I admit, he can be a handfull! My trainer loves him (and thats very rare), calls him an "old style" dog and I think thats the biggest compliment one can get.