Would you breed a dog with a slightly curly tail? - Page 1

NO NO NO NO, a thousand times NO!

That trait is highly inheritable, and hard to get rid of!

How do I know, never having bred GSD's myself?

Well, back in the late 80's, the Shiloh Shepherd kennel did an outcross to a dog with some Malemute blood. (Mal/GSD mix). They still have occasional problems with ring tails and hooked tails cropping up in their litters, despite careful selection.

Of course, with the GSD, you have a larger gene pool to work with, so the influence wouldn't be so strong in subsequent litters. But still, personally, I wouldn't risk it.

If everything else was outstanding why not?

No dog is perfect. Excluding a dog for the reasons stated is silly if all other factors are good or outstanding. I would take a dog with a slight curl and otherwise an outstanding representative of the breed any day. Temperament, structure, health, and working ability are much more important, in my opinion, than whether the dog has a tail, otherwise correct, but with a slight curl to it as it hangs.

Selecting for the wrong things is exactly why we are creating our own genetic and breed bottlenecks. By not understanding the really important things in this breed and others, we are loosing the very traits and characteristics, health etc. so necessary to what those breeds were supposed to be.

We all have our personal pet peeves. A poor tail is mine. The rest of the dog would have to be exactly what I want and it would depend on exactly HOW curled the tail was, and if it seemed prominent in the dogs' progeny. A slighty curve on an otherwise awesome dog? Not a problem, the breed has a saber tail, not a straight tail, anyway. A corkscrew or a husky-looking tail? Couldnt do it. I know its silly, but there are plenty of very outstanding studs out there without that trait. 

My understanding of the breed standard is that a dog's tail is supposed to be 'saber shaped' at rest, & may be carried higher when in action or excited.......I have seen dogs that carry their tails in the 'saber' position at rest or stacked, & when excited the tail looks like a sideways 'J', when focused on something the tail relaxes again........I had not considered that a fault, should I have? Just curious, the dog in question is very well loved & of the highest caliber, in our opinion. jh

Kalibeck I think your talking tail position and where the dog holds it most of the time and not actual tail curl. If a dog really has a curly tail (he can't straiten it) or it's up curled over it's back like a Chow or Husky...ehh no, I'd pass but a hook at the end or a slight J shape, not as big a deal. My dogs have really strait tails and keep them down 95% of the time, reserving the goofy up in the air wiggle waggle for playtime and meeting other dogs. The only time my dogs tail goes up and over his back is when he is Ting up on some dog or standing over them asserting is "Top Dog" status. Once the leash goes on, or work starts, the tail goes into normal position. The tail is but one small part of the dog and I'd rather have a funkytail than a skelatal issue, bad angulation, too short or long arms or a seriously stretched body, roached back or even a snippy head is worse, as thats the working end of a dog. LOL