Can someone explain why..... - Page 1

I like working line dogs and some German show line dogs (I have both).  Sometimes when I'm bored I browse around the ads here, YouTube vids, breeder sites, etc.  What bothers me is that I am consistently seeing photos and videos of show line dogs that show the dog working very very poorly, both obedience and bitework but mostly the bitework.  A lot of the helper work is really bad too.  I don't get why people are trying to sell dogs and show off their dogs with such poor quality work?  Front grips, dogs showing nerves, falling off the sleeve, lacking drive and intensity, no power or fight drive, etc....things that you do not have to be experienced to see.  I'm not looking to debate show vs. work, I'm just wondering how the breeders and owners come to the conclusion that showing such bad pictures and videos of their dogs is doing them any favors.  Do they really think this is good work?  A lot of what I am seeing is just downright embarrassing, and again, I like a good number of show line dogs and own one myself.

Lack o experience Liesjers , it looks gud ta them.  Some of em ar tryin thar best an at least ar givin it a go aye !.
They wi get better ----- give em a chance aye.

Perhaps, they just don't know any better.  They probably haven't seen enough really good dogs to make a comparison  to and be able to form an educated opinion.  If they only train their own dogs or belong to a small local club they may never see really great dogs and have no idea how a really good dog should look.  Or perhaps they just don't care because those marginal dogs shown in the videos or pictures are good enough to lure in an uneducated novice buyer. 

Most people only want a nice pet and have no desire to compete or go to the nationals in either working trials or conformation shows.  For the normal GSD owner these dogs are great, make great pets and companions.  The small percentage that want to go further and title or show their dogs already have an idea of what they want in their dog and usually have a breeder or lines that they know and like.  

 
JMO,

Jim

Some of the worst offenders are high V and VA dogs from the big name kennels, not "inexeperienced" kennels or breeders (though some are, yes).  Now I see why there is such a split between working line and show line.  IMO it really destroys their credibility, even to someone like me who is perfectly willing to purchase show line dogs as long as they are sound.  Might not be going to the WUSV or winning nationals but that's not what I'm looking for.  But I see such terrible examples of work being touted by people that are supposedly experts, very disappointing.  Some of these things I'm seeing would be like me trying to sell my dog as an agility dog and posting a YouTube video of him coming out of the weaves early and knocking every other bar.

"I have no doubt that many S/L dogs would work so much better in the hands of a W/L person... not as well as a W/L dog maybe, but a lot better. It's not always the dogs that lack ability, some people are simply not interested in working their dogs."

I totally agree here.  Not only the training but some of the helper work too.

My beef is when I read "Working ability!", "Great drives!", "Schutzhund prospect!"  To me statements like that shoud indicate the person making them actually knows what they are talking about.  How many top show line dogs that would very well make nice, sound family pets are advertised that way?  "Low drives, great pet!"  No....you go on the site or see an ad here that says "Check out the awesome bitework!!!" and what you see is not only an embarrassment to the dog, but to the type and the breed.

Yeh I kno wer ya comin from liesjers ---- I ment tha show handlers not avin tha workin experience as wel as tha newbie workin folk. Tha handlers an tha show line dogs wi get better at tha schutzhund trainin in time ta come, shame they ad ta leave it sa late in tha day ta do it tho aye.