Question to Working Line Breeders - Page 3

Why does a home have to be a working home or a pet home?  I train ALL of my dogs but they are ALL first and foremost my companions.  They live indoors with me (that's not to say we don't spend a great deal of time outdoors, but I do not run a "kennel").  Of my dogs that train and work, I take their training and our competition very seriously.  But I guess I'm not a "serious" working home in that my sole purpose for owning dogs is not working/breeding, and I value the dog for the total package and not just the points on the field.  I do not know the difference between a sport dog and a pet dog, or how I would keep a "serious" working dog any differently than I keep my other dogs...

I think some of you are missing the point. Just because I said working, doesn't mean that they have to live in a crate/kennel when they aren't working. I didn't think I would get any definite answers. I really doubted the fact that a breeder would come on here and say that they have had 4 litters with 26 puppies and out of that, 4 are K9, 7 are sport, 3 are PP, 1 is a trained estate guardian and the other 11 are not being worked at all. I appreciate the honest answers by Chris, Powerhaus, and Molly. And Liesjers, I agree. There are a lot of people that say one thing and do another.

You see, every breeder if asked, will tell you they are trying to better the breed. Well even if you are trying to perserve the breed, how do you know if they aren't evaluated in some venue? If it is a low percentage that is being evaluated, how do you know it is an accurate portrayal of what you produce? I guess I get confused sometimes. If I set forth to manufacture race cars and 90% of them were driven by Grandma on Sundays, what is the point. Maybe I'll just manufacture less and make sure they are being used by Dale Jr and Tony Stewart. There is a guy in one of the Carolinas that sells high priced Estate dogs for around $20 to 50,000. He gets washed up show imports and cross trains them for 3 months. Why doesn't he get working lines? Simple. He knows that most of his customers won't deal with the drive or can't.

You see, every breeder if asked, will tell you they are trying to better the breed. Well even if you are trying to perserve the breed, how do you know if they aren't evaluated in some venue? If it is a low percentage that is being evaluated, how do you know it is an accurate portrayal of what you produce? I guess I get confused sometimes. If I set forth to manufacture race cars and 90% of them were driven by Grandma on Sundays, what is the point. Maybe I'll just manufacture less and make sure they are being used by Dale Jr and Tony Stewart. There is a guy in one of the Carolinas that sells high priced Estate dogs for around $20 to 50,000. He gets washed up show imports and cross trains them for 3 months. Why doesn't he get working lines? Simple. He knows that most of his customers won't deal with the drive or can't.

 

Well I'm not surprised by the lack of breeders that have willingly added some input. As previously stated, I didn't expect most of the breeders on here to crawl out of the woodwork to join in on the conversation. It's funny though. If I placed another thread on "looking for a working puppy" or "breeder recommendations", they seem to flock. And if they don't respond to the thread directly, you get ambushed by PMs.

Ok, I'll bite since no one has been willing to give concrete numbers.

I have had 3 litters this year. One is 7 days old, 4 puppies. 1 going to a pet home ( K9 handler who handles the puppies half sister) the other three will be single or dual purpose K9 as long as they have the drive to work.
Litter of 3 puppies, 15 weeks old. I have all of them still.. One female I am keeping for PPD, one being raised and imprinted for dual purpose K9 and the other I'm still not sure about. He is too high drive for a pet. If he stays and the right home isn't found then I will try my best to put him to work.
Litter of 7 puppies. 1 in a pet home, 3 training for Schutzhund titles and 3 still here being raised and trained for dual purpose K9.

Last year I had 1 litter, 6 puppies, 2 in pet homes, 2 training for SAR, 1 training dual purpose explosives/apprehension and one certified already in Narcotics/apprehension.
Year before that I had a litter of 4, 3 pets and 1 certified narc/tracking and trailing K9

I have also whelped a litter of Malis for a friend and officer. I kept 2, one of which is certified Narc/apprehension K9 and the other hunts with her owner.

I have taken in several owner relinquished/abandoned dogs, mostly labs and put them to work with PDs also. One narc/man trailing and tracking and 2 accelerant K9s.

What would that make my percentage? That is right at 75% in working homes or with PDs. (19.5 is 75% but who has .5 puppies?)

Melissa

 What is this idea that good working line dogs can,t be good pets? By there nature they can be excellent family protectors. High drive sport dogs are not my idea of Good working line dogs there the extreme. A good working line dog bred to the creators standard always lived in the home. The problem is what the common person wants in a dog isn,t a working dog but a Labrador retrievers thats intimidating. Owners don,t understand responsibility as don,t most breeders. The first question one should ask when talking to a new customer is "Why do you want a German shepherd"  and " Do you understand the responsibilities of owning a German shepherd"  Sam I do believe your opening statement is a good one there should be less German Shepherds bred and sold.
 

Melissa, I think those are pretty good numbers considering how many breeders are out there. You kinda got lucky, or unlucky, however you want to look at it, by having some small litters. Thanks for replying. I think you must be proud of what you are producing. You sound like a busy women too.

Sam,

I am very proud of what I do and admittedly yes, very very busy. We do training every day except Sunday. We use the county's training house every day, go to the lake, various businesses etc.. One of the benefits of living in a small town is you start to know just about everyone and the dogs are allowed places where they normally wouldn't be. Besides the puppies we are raising and training for K9, we have 1 adult training for accelerant detection (test is in Oct.) one is doing preliminary explosives detection ( hubby is taking him though a K9 course this fall), my Ob. girl whom I plan on finishing AKC ob. CD and CDX this year. They are worked 5 days a week and brought to the lake for swimming the other two plus the three of them are taken on off leash runs through the cornfields a few times a week.

If one of the small litters had turned out large then there would have only been 2, not three. The youngest litter is out of a dual purpose K9 we donated last year when my hubby was deployed overseas. All that we asked in return was a breeding to one of our females to replace the K9 he donated.

I wouldn't breed more puppies then I'd be willing to keep. I've seen so many ads where prices are reduced to make room for the next litter. That makes me sick. There is only so much you can tell at 8 weeks old other then the puppies are cute, fluffy, eat and poo a lot. As socialization and training progress the price goes up. Personalities emerge and drives are more evident so you can be more certain that the dog you are buying is going to be the dog that fits you and your situation.

Melissa