WHICH LINE IS MOST VALUABLE????? - Page 1

     Long coat, Smooth Coat, Working Line, Show Line,   Which is the prefered dog? Work, Show pet, community service,.. Which is the prefered dog?   Drerw Carey ,Where Are You???

     To all you "experts" out there, Who serves a better purpose in the German Shepherd World, The dog that sniffs out drugs, bombs, etc., the dog that wins a trophy and an undisclosed amount of money for his owner/trainer/handler, the one that brings a smile to the face of kids with cancer,seniors in a "retirement" home, the one that waits for you and your family at the end of your driveway with a wagging tail. Which is "the valued Shepherd?"

     When you love your dog, when you look at him do you think to yourself,, 'if only your coat were a little shorter, a little more color up your legs, geeze, red hair would have been nice, you could have been a BETTER GERMAN SHEPHERD"!

     Anyone have the answer to this? WHAT IS "THE BEST GERMAN SHEPHERD????"

The GSD is most importantly a multi-purpose breed. It follows that a GSD should excell at all things. A single skill dog is a poor example of the breed. It is for this reason that the SV has developed fairly comprehensive criteria to determine breed worthiness. Breeding can only be justified if we are striving to produce the best dogs possible (health, temperament, trainability, etc.) Outstanding parents routinely produce average pups to fulfill the wants of pet owners. Average dogs seldom produce outstanding pups. Thus it is in our interest to adhere to strict standards of performance, health, and structural conformity in our breeding stock. Best Wishes, Jonah

I LOVE MY GSD.....because he is capable of all these things...it is me who is not....

but his best quality is certianly the great love he has for his family...this dog gets excited when we laugh, i have a 6 and 7 year old ...boy and girl..so he is also a professional tear licker...

The breed needs to be protected.  Only the very best should be bred.  The way to determine which dogs are the best is to title, show &  breed survey your dogs.  Learn all you can about schutzhund and/or herding.  You will also need to study genetics.  You need to study all the GSD bloodlines enough to know what the various lines have to offer.  At this point you might feel ready to consider breeding GSDs, but first, you will need to develop relationships and the respect of breeders & trainers of GSDs so you may avoid some of the mistakes generally made by newcomers (mistakes the dogs pay for).    Too many people make the mistake of putting the cart before the horse, as mentioned by Jonah.  Many people here will be willing to help you learn, but make no mistake, we take this breed very seriously, they are our loyal friends and feel the need to protect them.  Please don't make the mistake of being defensive, but take the time to listen and learn from those that have come before you.

I have no preference. To me, the gsd is the best dog. My boy is a spoiled, loving family pet. He's my baby. But he knows when it's time to work, and he know's when to be nice. To me, he's the best dog I could ever ask for.

Jonah and Sue,

Wonderful posts.  Thanks to you both.

For a companion dog, I have no preferences. If I were intending to breed, then I would want a foundation bitch that would be eligible for a breed survey and I would breed her to a titled, breed surveyed dog. Frankly I don't have a major problem with seasoned GSD people using dogs that are not titled or breed surveyed. My concern is that it sends the wrong message to novices who are probably not going to take the time they need to learn about all the things they need to  know before breeding a litter. They will only use it as an excuse to avoid the work needed to title and survey. Well, if Blitzen can breed an untitled bitch without a breed survey, then so can I. In addition there are now way more GSD's than suitable homes, so why add more to the mix by breeding the "good enoughs" instead of only the best to the best. As Sueincc has stated, breeders are the stewards of their chosen breeds and tha major part of their job is to protect the breed from exploitation and over breeding and what better way to do that then to set the bar high and expect titles and breed surveys prior to breeding? If breeding good GSD's were easy, there'd be more of them.

The most valuable? Why MINE of course!

Which line is MOST Valuable?? THEY ALL ARE!!!

As far as value I have to say it is a dog who works. Pretty is nice but if the dog doesn't do a job.....

They are all valuable in their own way and none have no value.

Our GSD'S are supposed to be working dogs. They are German Shepherds ,a fine,PROUD breed, the best. They are to serve.

If on the battlefield they should rescue the human they are in charge of. if need arises. They should be service dogs, police dogs, detection dogs, rescue dogs, tending sheep,family protector,  capturing bad guys etc.

When it comes to breeding ,we need to do our best to keep with what a GSD was designed to do. WORK!  They excel when they have a job to do. We should not be breeding any dog not befitting the standard such as a longcoat or dysplastic or unhealthy dog.

In no way does this mean a pet,companion ,love bug etc does not serve. They do but the capacity is different.

What is the best GSD? I don't know. It would work, be healthy, correct temperament etc. Pretty too. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder but it has to fall within the standard.

None of them are perfect, yet all of them are perfect in their own way.