Top Females - Page 1

There has been numerous top studs mentioned and talked about on this site.  However, there has been no mention of the top bitches.  Who are they?  Where are they?  Or are there any in the US?  I am looking for information on the top bitches with titled progeny in the US. 


Mack

Show lines or working lines?

For show lines, I would say you'd have to look at the breeders with the best track records for holding back puppies to later title and show. If you want to know which female has produced the highest number of titled/top rated progeny, you'd probably be looking at a Wilhendorf or Mittelwest bitch.

I know of one bitch I would like to own.  V Wanja von Oxsalis.  Undoubtedly one of the best bitches to leave Germany ever.  She is owned by a lady on the east coast.  This bitch is from a long line of producing bitches, should be able to produce very good croups, short iron backs, rock solid temperament, proper proportions, clean joints and good pigment.  From my view she is true to the FCI standard.  I don't know of any other bitches I would rather own.  If I was starting a breeding program I would do what ever I could to get a good puppyu bitch out of this bitch. 

Another bitch line well known for extreme quality and longevity in the USA is at Kirchenwald Kennels near Pittsburg.  This kennel's main bitch line is noted for health, longevity, ideal temperament and very good conformation.  I forget the name of the bitch that currently represents this multi-generational line, but one can find this on the Kirchenwald website.

Since I am partial to workinglines I am interested in only  top workinglines bitches.  Sorry for the confusion.

Mack

I completely understand your angst about no information or comentary on great producing females.  They are at a min. half the equation and arguably more since they raise the litter.  But on the other hand who has more impact males or females?  Say a female has 4 litters of 8 pups each.  That is 32 dogs over her life time.  I'm sure most popular studs have atleast 4 breedings a year say for five years, thats 160 dogs.

You also requested top females with titled progeny.  There are a couple of components to this question.  Can the breeder get the pups to people interested in titling dogs?  Of those people how many actually do not title because of life getting in the way?

I personally think the combinations that the kennels vom Rheinland (Pia), Jaegermeister (Rojas) and Houserhaus are well thought out and very interesting.  Hence I think their females are tops.

Kyle 

I am sure that there are a few breeders here with top females. The problem in the U.S. is geography and suitability. Both goes hand in hand. Even if a workingline breeder goes through the trouble to find a good match, the problem will be to place these puppies accordingly. Also, what is a breeder's priority in a top female? Only workability without regard to structure and also health? If you take everything under consideration, it is really hard to find top females. Look at the top German kennels, like Karthago (Afra Stoppenberger Land, who the breeder got out of the pound!!!) or Stadtfeld (Lorett and Yane)! I just read about their foundation females and successes yesterday and found that all these breeders based their whole success on just one single female. These two are just a couple of examples, but all kennels have started with one or maybe two good females. So, if you are thinking about a (serious) breeding program, you would be well advised to buy a top prospect from such a great female line. One way to do so is to identify such a female in Germany and periodically check the SV stud news and see who she was bred to. You could then try to reserve a good puppy out of her next litter. Over here in the U.S., you could start a dialogue with a workingline breeder who consistenlty produced nice dogs (not too many I am afraid). I can only emphasize on one thing: A good breeder never ignores structure! Just look at top kennels like Karthago, Stadtfeld, Salztalblick, Boesen Nachbarschaft etc. Oh, and breeding to points rarely brings results! It is all in the blood, like Walter Martin (showline breeder) used to say!

Chris

Kyle and Chris make excellent points here! Thanks for mentioning the problems for breeders in the US associatied with logistics in a country the size of ours and the difficulty placing our best prospects in the hands of people willing/able to train them to titles. etc.  Most people don't realize how much those two crutial element affect our competition and breeding programs!

That said, I will add that top producing females are almost impossible to come by no matter where you live. Given a female should be an absoulte minimum of two years old, titled, breed surveyed, etc., (likely not accomplished before age three, especially in the US and/or the owner has elected to compete further, accomplish more than the minimum requirements because she IS such a super female)  we're looking at age 3-4 before she can have produced dogs old enough to acurately determine their quality. By the time we know a female consistently produces excellent dogs, and which breedings to which studs produced the best results from said female, she is usually at or past the end of her breeding career.

For these reasons my own decisions (and those of other breeders I respect) when it comes to purchasing a female with thoughts of breeding her in future, are heavily weighted on the fertitltiy rates & produce records (how many litters, how many pups in those litters surviving long enough to demonstrate the quality of their breeding, of ALL females in at least the first 2-3 generations of her pedigree! One of the biggest attractions for buying breeding prospects from Western Europe is that all that information and much, much more is officially recorded and available to us with no more than a  few minutes concentration on imformation contained on the Annentafel. (german pedigree) and even more invaulable info is available in Koer books and from people/Koermesiters/trial and show judges in clubs/regions who are/were personally familiar with the dogs in the pedigrees we are considering. Not so easy here!

Once the dogs are imported to the US, the details of success/failure of the pups they produce, (IF they managed to end up in the hands of owners willing to train/title/survey, them etc.... BIG "IF!")  and info re: pups produced by THOSE dogs, is largely  not recorded in detail by the AKC, requires contact with several national organizations (WDA, OFA, UScA...) for verification.

My two cents worth. Time to go out and train some dogs in the sunshine!

SS

I know not all of her titled offspring are in the U.S. but what about the bitch that whelped my pup?