The Real Deals - Page 1

I'm just curious as to why dogs out of pure DDR lineage never make it to top level sport. It simply just can't be that most DDR breeders breed for the pigment and structure. Legends like Lord vom Gleisdreieck was born in 1983, Zorro vom Laager Wall was born in 1984, Tino vom Felsenschloß was born in 1995, Alk von Osterburg Quell was born in 1992............so it's not long ago that the real deals were around. If their progenies haven't suddenly vanished, which dogs out of pure DDR lines (either out of the lines I mentioned or others) that might be the link between the past and future of DDRs?

Thank you,
Mike

I'm curious to know more about it too.  I'm also interested to know what people think in regards to the view that there are no longer pure DDR dogs since the wall has been down for so long.   I see dogs that all dogs in their pedigree are DDR lines, but I still hear people say pure DDR doesn't exist.   Does that mean breeders of dogs like Puck Grafental, Aron Poppitz and others are lying? I personally believe they do still have pure lines, though they are harder to find.

I assume that it is because of their colour. As far as I know all VA dogs have been yellow/black or  red/black which I believe is SV standard in Western Germany for at least 40 years.

Strange,
just strange.

DDR dogs take a long time to mature, sometimes 3-5 years.  most sport people do not want to wait  that long for a dog to wake up,  they want titles on a dog quickly.

and to bring another point,  yes alot of "DDR type" breeders do solely concentrate on pigment, head/bone size and color.

here's a few that I know of who consider the working ability and temperment though, Justk9's (member of this board), Schraderhaus K9(love Lux!!!), there's another lady up North who breeds and titles her DDR dogs in SAR.

Spartanville and von Hena-C has some nice dogs  but really don't work their own (buy titled already), same with z Banach and Holtzberg, good dogs/good potential in the pedigree,  but don't really title dogs from their own breedings.

fernheim has been breeding to a few DDR dogs,  and she titles dogs from her breeding program.

I agree with what Uber Land said. The DDR line dogs take a while to mature and if a handler is wanting to compete at the National or WUSV level then they dont want to take the time to wait the 3-5 years for the dog to mature mentally. Some DDR lines mature faster than others. I have noticed that the Grafental lines seem to mature quicker than most of the other DDR lines.  Also the DDR dogs seem to have an edge to their nerves...I dont mean that they have weak nerves. I am saying that alot of the DDR line dogs tend to have more defense. Which sometimes ( I do NOT mean all dogs) means that they will not have full calm grips, and when competing at a National or World level every point counts.

Also there have been VA DDR line dogs. Here is one for example and his dam is also VA rated..
www.pedigreedatabase.com/gsd/pedigree/26777.html
They are few and FAR between but it has happened. Also the one thing that really stands out about the DDR line dogs is that they havent split in type like the WL and SL dogs have. I hope it remains this way too!! The breeders that are trying to preserve the pure DDR lines are very selective on what they breed too. Which in my opinion will help to preserve the DDR dogs.

If you want some more information on the DDR lines Hans Prager is one that has alot of information on them....so just JUSTK9s, Vom Banach, Spartanville and SchraderHaus.

Jyl, the VA DDR dog you linked was VA in East Germany, back in the late 80s. So, not a part of the WGerman show scene.

I don't know enough about the DDR dogs to answer authoritatively, but in general, they seem to produce good dogs for sport/work when crossed with higher-prey, younger maturing dogs such as the Belgian or W German working dogs--many great competition dogs will have some lines to DDR dogs; few will be all DDR.

From what I observed some years ago, as a very broad generalization, they often bond tightly with their people (don't transfer handlers as readily) and are less resilient/less forgiving of corrections in training, and have higher defense. So, a pure DDR dog is not going to be the first choice of someone seeking a dog for top-level competition.

Wouldn't they be more ideal for personal protection?  I think I'm going to wait out until the end of the year to get another puppy, I've been wanting something pure DDR, preferably something with Iltis von der Wildsau, but I can't find anyone who has anything coming up out of him.  In your guys opinion who are the best producing DDR dogs?