Are you really Improving the Breed?????? - Page 1

As i read the post about titles or no titles i keep heaing folks talking about imporving the breed. Id like to know from the breeders, how exaclty have imporved the breed. it seems like those that are set on "improving the breed" are the ones that are big on title, KKL, show rating etc... so id think they'd be able to show were they dogs have done well. NOT JUST EARNED TITLES, cuz getting sch1 isnt all that hard. Id like to see progress or how the breed is better off, for your involvment. If you are breeding show dogs and you started w/ sg and v dogs, your dogs should be v and va. if you started w/ va dogs then they should be va1-3. if they are not what have you accomplished. if you have working dogs that were club levels they should be at least qualifying for nationals after a few generations (a 270 at a local trial isnt that hard). IMO if your goal is to "improve the breed" and you dogs havent gotten any better then you are headed in the wrong direction. so basicall my question is are you dogs better than they were or are you full if sh*t when you talk about improving the breed.

wscott- I am not sure how to answer your questions, you stated NOT JUST EARNED TITLES but then go into how the proginy should be increasing titles? Did Larus Batu improve the breed or better yet Yasko? Certainly straightline paper breeding brings about it's own issues especially here in the states. I think you hold validity when using the raw term of "improving" the breed vs. "preserving" the breed. Either way each holds it's own ability to improve the breed. A GSD to a great extent will be as good as his handler's ability to train him. I suppose that if a certain breeder is full of *&^% then move on to a better breeder.

Ehrenwald my question is to those that insist they are improving the breed. i think the breed is fine where it is and needs to be maintained. there is a difference between earning a sch1 at your club trial and doing well at a regional. many of the folks that cliam to be improving the breed swear by titles. simply getting a title is the bare minimum, and if you are improving the breed how can you settle for the minimum. i think if you are truly improving the breed you should be able to say, hey my dogs are better, better than they were, and better than the sh*t you see just skating by, and id appreciate it if you didnt get the two confused. but i get the feeling that those that claim to be improving the breed are glad to accept the minimum. to say my dogs are titled and KKL is to essentially say my dog is at least as good as the peice of sh*t that had to try 3 times before staying on the sleeve to get her sch1. Molly is a great example she has had several dog show at the national. again if you need titled kkl etc to tell you how good a dog is, doesnt it stand to reason that the dogs w/ the better score and rating would be better dogs. if so then a breeding program should be producing better dogs w/ each generation. not the same. alot of folks claim to be improving the breed, all im asking is how. and i dont want to hear about dogs tha are simply title, for 2 reasons. 1 it isnt that hard to title a dog and 2. we already have dogs that can get titled. so if that is all you are doing, is that an improvement or just maintence

WScott, You make some valid inquiries. and Statements. Molly certainly has much to be proud of !! and in my opinion can toot her horn as much as she wishes, She has EARNED IT !!! Good Post ! I can not claim any "improvements" as of yet, dont' know if I will ever be able to do so, Time will tell, But I will continue training, continue to love my dogs, and continue my education, Honestly I'm not sure what more I could do. I'm not going to be one of the holy grail's on here. appreciate your questions and your honesty in your post !

EchoMeadows, it's obvious you like tooting someone elses horn, maybe you don't have a horn to toot of your own, or you feel a need to belong, or maybe it's justification for breeding your garbage you call german shepherds. James

I agree that the breed should be 'maintained', with good breeding stock. When people say 'improve', in my mind, what they should really do is get rid of their dogs and buy better dogs OR get out of the breeding thing altogether. After all, you can't sit around looking at sh*t expecting a gnome to come and turn it into gold.

NOT JUST EARNED TITLES, cuz getting sch1 isnt all that hard. Actually...the 1 is the hard part...the rest just follows.

dogford4. Why are you such an a hole? Is it because you have a dog or two that can bite a sleeve (gee, dogs bite everything) or is it because you have a dog or two that can find a set of keys in your back yard (dogs everywhere can find a mole underground all day long) or is it because it is safe to take pot shots at people on the internet when you are "out of arms reach"? I have read some of your previous posts and you are always negative. Echo is apparently a nice person. You are apparently not a nice person. Take a chill pill and get a piece of ass, ass, if you can find a blind woman with no sense of smell. As for this thread, I believe titles are one way of helping to improve the breed but if the requirements for the titles pretty much stay the same, then the breed will pretty much stay the same. To improve the breed it would take a gradual increasing of the toughness of the testing procedures for titles. Personally, I am okay with the breed as it is. Keeping it as it is would be fine with me. As I have stated before, it is darn near perfect now. Just need to improve in the areas of health. Titles can help with that I guess.

the sch1 is the hardest part, but w/ the lower standards we are seeing on the schutzhund field these days, it isnt that hard to get. it requires a lot of work but overall its not hard. saying a dog has a sch1 therefore its breed worthy seems kinda pointless if your gonna improve the breed. i can go to the pound today, find a 2 yr old dog and in 1 yr pass a sch 1 w/ 72-75-85

Wscott, You are correct, We adopted out a German Shorthair pointer that a super trainer took and won some Open show that was a national level competition, I don't know sporting breeds so don't understand it all but he sent the newspaper clipping to us, so we would have "bragging rights" ;-) kinda cool !