Thoughts on this pedigree ? - Page 1

I hope to be getting a puppy from this pair. Can anyone help me understand the pedigree, and what I might mean for my puppy as I am a total newbie on this.. Thank you Breeding pair result https://www.pedigreedatabase.com/german_shepherd_dog/breeding.result?father=3067786&mother=2827963

https://www.pedigreedatabase.com/german_shepherd_dog/breeding.result?father=3067786&mother=2827963

I'd give that litter a pass. FAR too many dogs with fast normal hips!

With the dog that's rated A 1/2, it means one hip was A1 (normal) nd the other was A2 (fast normal). 

@Sunsilver Can you help me understand more about this ? It does not appear to particularly problematic for what I have read about this rating.

Some people might be willing to risk this, but I had a puppy with 5 generations clear on both sides of the pedigree, and she did not pass OFA (one hip, mildly dysplastic.) Given my experience, I don't care if A2 (fast normal) is okay - there are FAR too many 'fast normals' in that pedigree for my liking! Fast normal is the equivalent of OFA borderline dysplastic: https://www.ofa.org/diseases/hip-dysplasia/hip-international-ratings-matrix

Ok thank you for the additional information.  The info I found said A2 =. OFA Good to Fair. 

PuppyLover, just had another look at that chart, which is pretty confusing!

Yes, you're right, but I don't really get how 'fast normal' can cover everything from A2 hips to B3 hips (borderline)

My apologies!

But I still wouldn't do it, given the experience I had with my dog,

What are your plans for the pup?

As we say over & over on here, the important thing about the investigation of potential in any pedigree is for the prospective puppy buyer to first decide what they want the dog for.

Do you want to Show ? Go in for sport or trials ? Just want a family pet couch-potato ? Desperate for a Protection Dog ? Or do you want a companion, all rounder sort of dog, which won't be too high energy to live with easily (depending on your own  experience as an owner), but where you can try out a bit of all sorts of activities ? If the last, you must be prepared for the fact that - if you already got this dog - the pup is unlikely to 'shine' in any particular arena, because you have bought a puppy, then thought about its inheritance, and not 'bought the ancestry' with a view to the type of dog and future performance you'd like to get.

If you want a (SV style, rather than AKC) Showdog, one who can probably do enough sports to get qualified for that, there are dogs in the background that are eminently suitable, I hear good things about Bravo v Steffen House, and the v. Kappellenberg kennel. [And everyone wants Remo.]

If you want something committed to a Working discipline, this is not the pedigree for you.  If you wanted a showstopping animal for AKC Shows, ( & no compulsion to be able to work), this would likely not be the pedigree to go for.  But if you require an amenable companion, a dog of any non-specific breeding will probably be alright, including the pedigree of this one - providing you request the breeder pick you out one with a suitable, not high-drive, temperament; and provided you realise that all puppies are a crap-shoot anyway ! It is difficult, without knowing anything of the breeder, for someone like me to tell what exactly they were aiming to produce (if anything except the money from breeding more dogs).

So much can get in the way of plans: ill health in the form of degenerative joint diseases is just one of them. Buyers of this particular litter are at a higher risk  of all those slightly imperfect hip grades combining genetically to result in a worse set of hips in these puppies. That's why sensible breeders do not 'double up' on such deficits in their breeding schemes. It might not happen; HD is a notoriously fickle problem, sometimes turning up even where the immediate pedigree indicates all healthy dogs. If you do have to deal with it, it can be horribly uncomfortable for the dog, and hellish expensive to fix. Your dog may get lucky. But you increase your risks, so what people are saying is: Why choose that, when you can doubtless do better somewhere else ? They wouldn't risk it. Nor might I. Unless there was already something else over-riding it, in that pedigree, that you know about already and hope will give you something particular in the one you buy ?

Thank you all for this information. I appreciate it. This dog will be my companion and pet. It will never be in competitions and it will never be used to make more puppies. I have already put a deposit on a puppy and I am hoping for the best… I really just want a good, smart, healthy, happy dog to train and enjoy. It sounds like this dog will be suitable for me…as much as anyone can know. I honestly had zero understanding of the pedigree and was trying to make sense of it, so thanks again for your responses.

Best of luck.
If you have further questions later on, feel free to come back and ask ! And we love to hear how pups develop. and see photos, so don't forget about us.