Few Questions - Page 1

I have had G.S.D. most of my life and didn't know there were 2 different lines,show line and working line, until I joined this site.

A few people have talked about straight back English G.S.D. are these just working line dogs?

Are show lines less prone to hip dysplasia than working lines?

I've noticed a few working line breeders have introduced showline to their breeding programme,why is this?

At some point I would like to get a working line but I want a pure working line,is it easy to spot from the pedigree papers?

Any recommended breeders in the UK?

The reference to straight backed English GSD or the old fashioned GSD is not the working type that you are thinking of.  It is the type that has little or no German lines in it and tends to be more a "leg at each corner" variety.

I personally have german show lines as they suit me more.

If you learn more about pedigree's you will be able to "spot" working lines more easily.  If you look online for shutzhund clubs in the UK from there you should be able to link up with people who breed the more working lines.  As for the hip dysplasia, I dont have a problem with it in the show lines and my current 2 year old has a combined BVA score under 10, as have many in the breed.

As for the combination of working lines and show lines, many who attend shutzhund have show dogs, and for a dog to do well in German it has to be a total all rounder and not just "a pretty face".

i have sent you a pm.

What's the situation with The English GSD now,has it been bred out of existence by crossing with German lines or can you still buy them?

There are still a few breeders about who only use the old English lines, but most of them have introduced some German dogs and have the Middle of the Road dogs now, we have a selection of types in UK.  The working lines are something totally different, there are several different types of those too!   I have Eastern German, Czech and Belgian working lines in my kennel and the Belgian ones are much different to the others.  I am about to mate one of my Eastern German girls to a predominantly Belgian bred male and look forward to the result.

Margaret N-J.

It would be a pity if the English shepherds were lost completely.

Kaffirdog,do the Belgian lines have any Belgian Shepherd in them?

Belgian bred GSD are still GSD, same as if they were bred in any other country.  They are registered pure German Shepherd, but they do tend to be squarer and more like a Malinois in build, athleticism and drive, but less sensitive.  Whether that is because the Belgian working scene favours that build and temperament so it has been selected for in the GSD breeding program or if it is because there is some unofficial Malinois blood in there I really could not say.  They look less like a Malinois than some Malinois look like GSDs.

Since the gene pool available to continue "pure" English GSD is very small I cannot see them surviving for much longer without outcrossing to German dogs, even if they take the roundabout route by using Middle of the Road English/Germanic crosses, which would probably be their best bet as the pure German bred dogs are nearly as inbred as the English Alsatian and the results of two such fixed types put together would probably take generations to stabilise.

Margaret N-J