Combining show dogs with working dogs - Page 1

Hi

I am just curious to know if some breeders here have already breed a showline GSD (VA, top V rated) with  a working line GSD.
What are your opinions on mixing both lines in one pedigree?
What were the results in regards to drive, health and structure?

Thanks for sharing! =)

 I may have an opinion and so many people on this board. But why do you ask this question? What is the intention ?

Mixing show lines with working lines produces mongrels NOT gsds( in my opinion )

cheers

I suggest you contact Silbersee. Chris has done some really outstanding show/work crosses that are far from "mongrels".

Perhaps combining the showlines and workinglines dogs back together would create the total GSD, and not the splintered group that exists now.  Showlines people call workinglines dogs ugly and all sorts of other things, and the workinglines folks call showline dogs hockwalkers and banana backs.

Come on, they are all GSD, and maybe if the lines were crossed, there might be a larger genepool to work with.  Just my honest, non-expert opinion.

And a mixture of the two wouldn't create mongrels, any more than mating two top V-rated showlines, or workinglines, together would.

It's sad when the breed has been brought to the point that anyone would consider such a breeding in that light.

Crys

A V rated dog who can work is a V rated dog who can work, regardless of what side of the wall their lines came from or what color they are and it stands to reason that if you bred two of those together, you would get correct, working GSDs. Finding the right lines to go together always proves tricky, but when done right, the results can be awesome. And I agree wholeheartedly, Crys, genetic diversity is desperately needed.

 You really can't merge Fact with Fiction. They are two different genres

cheers

I would not make a cross of these two. They are essentially two different breeds. On rare occasions, you can get a showline that can work, but more often, you cannot. If the point is to breed the two to magically get a well put together dog that can work, you may as well just look for a KKL1 working line.

Yes, Silbersee may have done a successful breeding, but what about the second and third generations? She may have produced a good cross, but when you attempt to breed those dogs themselves, everything may fall apart. Who knows until you try. My point being, why try if you do not have to? Why not either get into breeding KKL1 working dogs that already have the working ability, or get into showlines and really, really dedicate yourself to breeding workability and improving temperament.

My pups were Show/DDR/Czech, I thought they were/are pretty outstanding......but I'm just a little prejudiced jh (& of course the sire & dam were not 'V' rated!) (& their owners seem to love them, too!)

Autobahn- showlines will fall apart anyway if we don't get more diversity. Yes, quality crosses are hard to find. As hard to find a showline dog who has very strong work, and as hard to find as a workingline dog with really upper V structure. But they are OUT THERE! And for every poorly done cross there is a showline dog with the drives of a cactus and a working line dog who can barely make a KKL2. See what I'm getting at?  A dedicated breeder will go out of their way to look for the exceptions to the rule in hopes that one day the exceptions become the expected.

Vikram, if you ever come to Chicago, bring your suit and sleeve. I have some fiction for you to read. ;)