Health issues - Page 1

I am wondering why we are having so many major heallth issues in the new top German Bloodlines? The titles are not helping to make healthier dogs? My opinion.

a closed gene pole is the death of any breed. we have seen this with many breeds and imo if the sv and other organizations do not open the gene pole up some it will be to late for the gsd.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who is having problems here, I'm no big breeder but have bought in dogs from good bloodlines and have had some real issues with health and soundness. Just thought I was jinxed!!

A limited gene pool is not a good thing as Workingdawg has said. It is happening in may other breeds due to the popular stud syndrome. IMO this breed is far luckier than most others since you CAN bring in different bloodlines - ie working x highlines or vice versa. There are even the American lines which would offer some diversity if used carefully and there are some breeding Am lines to imports and getting nice looking dogs that may be healthier. There are options.

I whole hardly agree.

I also agree with blitzen. I believe the belgian are also a good source of new blood to bring in. there breedings are not as rigid and i think they are also in some cases are brining in malinios blood. i think it is very important to use these different lines to ensure health. i personally would like to see a rule put in that a breeder can use one mixed breed or unregistered dog in the life time of the breeder or kennel and be able to register the puppies as gsd. a similar rule has worked well for the malinois.

Be glad you are not trapped into a breeding corner as we are with my original breed, the Malamute. We started out with less than 20 foundation dogs and most of them were put on an iceberg and blown up by the US government when a planned invasion of Greenland was aborted during WW II. Rather than return the dogs to their breeders, the Feds opted to kill them. That destroyed almost 80% or more of the viable foundation dogs at that time - this breed was not AKC approved until 1936. Then AKC reopened the stud books for a brief period of time closing them without warning and that only admitted another maybe 30 dogs. The requirements were that the newly admitted dogs needed to demonstrate they could "breed true" for several generations - 3 or 4, forget which - and also attain x number of AKC points at sanctioned dog shows. Many of the better dogs had not yet completed those requirements when the stud book were closed, so they were not avaialable for breeding. Then came the AKC show ring wins and the stud of the day that further decreased the gene pool to where it is today. Now we are basically unable to do many outcrosses (no common ancestors in 4 generations) and the health problems continue to grow. Can't go to Europe or anywhere else as all those dogs originated here. Most of my Malamute friends would say that GSD breeders are the luckiest breeders on earth to have all the choices they have.

Wow Blitzen thats a real bummer. Ya really cant make chicken salad out of chicken sh*t! And the genetics that we are all left to work with are polluted.

Anyone wanting to read a truly inspiring story on the subject of expanding a purebred canine gene pool should log on to: http://www.basenji.org/african/bolt8809.htm