breeders and schutzhund - Page 1

In order to produce dogs that will succeed in the sport of schutzhund, do you think it is imperative that the breeder him or herself actively works and titles their own dogs? Why, or why not?

If you look up the objectives of Schutzhund...It was first devised and should still be taken as...A Method of knowing which dogs (German Shepherds) that are acceptable for Breeding...It was devised as a Breeding Evaluation...It still has very good merit and should be used as a "tool" for evaluation of good breeding stock...So to answer your question...I think that breeders of German Shepherds...or of any working type dogs...should be working their dogs in whatever endeavor that their dogs were meant for...So what I'm saying is that Schutzhund isn't the only way to evaluate good working stock...

~Bob~

People breeding dogs who are not, or have not actively worked in any given venue for some time, be it Schutzhund, or agility, or whatever, are far less likely to really understand what it takes for a given dog to be successful at a particular sport or calling (given a handler and a good helper who are competent).

If one reads the many, many litter announcements here, most of which way overdo what the pups will be "suitable" for, you will have a better understanding of why there are so often mismatches between owners and breeders selling pups. Some pups/dogs have little or no interest in doing such activites, lack drive if you want to say that, and belong in sedate homes. In any given litter, regardless of the wonderful backgrounds of the dogs in the bloodlines, and regardless of how wonderful each parent may be, there will be a variety of temperaments and strengths AND weaknesses in each pup. The trick is to match them appropriately to homes where hopefully the new owners will indeed live up to what they say they will do with the pup.

This is yet another reason to stay away from so many who are breeding and advertising here, yet know so little. They are also some of those who advertise here writing that their remaining pups "must go", price reduced, "got to get rid of"  etc. etc. They only want to be done with the extra work and want the money, perhaps all too often to simply be able to move on to the next litter. In the meantime, the dogs go to the people who have money held out. A good breeder will and DOES say "NO" to many potential buyers and is one who will wait to sell a given dog or pup as long as it takes for an appropriate home to be selected.

Ab-so-freaking-lutely!

If you ain't walked the walk, you shouldn't  even TRY to talk the talk! I wouldn't trade my experience on the training/trial fields for any money! Sure, I don't train 6-10 dogs a day all day every day anymore, getting older, less fit, and yes, lazier, and I know full well I have to get out and compete a lot this year to maintain my "edge" but no one can take away what I learned when I put all those years in.

SS

I tell all people looking for puppies please run, don't walk as fast as you can from the  "pseudoschutzhund breeders" - those who's dogs aren't titled and those who have never titled dogs themselves have no business suggesting their puppies are schutzhund prospects.

can some one define succeed?

What do you think about breeders who used to title their own dogs, or who have titled dogs before, but now send them to someone else? Do you feel titling a few dogs from their program is enough, or does this need to be an ongoing thing?

I am totally  surprised that some of the most knowledgeable breeders have not responded to this post.  So, I will give my view of the original post. 

1.  A breeder does not imprint temperment, drives or structure.

2.  A breeder can only select the breeding female and sire.

3.  When I am looking to purchase a puppy my only interests with the breeder are the location and price.

4.  This is why it is so important that people educate themselves with different bloodlines and researching these bloodlines to learn what positives and negatives traits are involved.

5.  I have purchased puppies from top Schutzhund trainers, that have turned out to be no more than a pet.  I have also purchased puppies from non-Schutzhund trainers who I have done very well with. 

   A potential puppy buyer should visit and observe the litter they are interested in and research the parents.

So many believe that if you buy a puppy from a Schutzhund trainer that you will end up with a world champion, when in many ways you are basically purchasing what they do not want. 

I met a 62 year old gentelman who has never seen a Schutzhund field but he produces some of the best dogs in the U.S., he does some obediance with all of his dogs, he does some protection work, naturally protective dogs, no tracking work.  I am awaiting a frozen AI breeding he is doing with a Crok daughter and a Gary vom Korbelbach son.  I would purchase a pup from this gentelman any day of the week before I waste my hard earned money on a puppy from a top Schutzhund competitor. BUT TO EACH HIS OWN.