Czech/DDR Good VS Bad? - Page 12

If a breeder ( not a broker) has a litter of 8 gsd pups and 3 different potential buyers concurrently ask for
"pick of the litter," which pup does the breeder choose for them? And with what cryteria does the breeder make the choice?

Valk - what traits were in the DDR dogs you knew back then that you miss and feel are hard to find today? I have not spoken to anyone with first-hand knowledge of former DDR dogs and what they were like that set them apart from GSD's now, so would appreciate your input.  Thanks.

As far as I know the DDR studs used or sold for "International" ( in this case East European ) breedings have not been the "border dogs" but first and foremost successful "competition dogs" ( SchH during that time ).

I am West German, but as far as I know the East German breeders have been smart enough to keep the good breeding material for themselves...

I very well remember the early 90s when hundreds of DDR border dogs were euthanized, SV and others desperately trying to find suitable homes for them.

Living in W. Germany at the time, I remember the early 90’s too, when all the DDR boarder dogs were suddenly without a job, and many people were desperately trying to find a home for them. It was thousands of GSDs that became obsolete almost overnight. Some found homes, many did not. It was awful.

An interesting point I have heard tell from breeders in the DDR, including the video link I posted earlier, was that the breeding program to use Czech dogs to breed with DDR studs did not start until the mid 80’s. Which means there was less than 4 years of selective breeding with Czech dogs before the wall came down.

The reason the DDR government decided to breed with Czech GSDs in the first place, was only because the DDR was a small country, and was throttled off from W. German stock starting around 1945, but really cut-off totally and completely around 1960 with the building of the wall. So the genetic pool was bottlenecking and becoming too narrow in the DDR by the mid 80’s.

At that time, the german breeders were not impressed by the Czech dogs available to them...nor the offspring of the DDR and Czech breeding efforts...and saw it only as a necessary way to get fresh blood into their lines.

And, further, remember that these dogs were considered a government commodity, even though the breeders were private citizens. Meaning that the government of the DDR had to OK each and every breeding with a Czech dog and allow the travel. The breeding could only happen under government approval.

The problem in the DDR also was that the government department that was in charge of the GSD and all breeding, were almost always burocrates that had nothing to do with dogs in real life. They had no german shepherd knowledge, no breeding knowledge, but were put in charge of all things that pertained to the German Shepherd. The breeders and the DDR SV club, had to do what these non-dog people ordered. Creating a real problem for real GSD people and the breed.

Koots.
seriousness, maturity and high level of intelligence.

sussie
import for breeding at border kennels wasn't from civilian breeders.
this was done in between state institutions in frame of warsaw pact for cooperation.

Jessejones
border dogs and wall dogs isn't the same.
each border dog was assigned to handler and after fall of wall they end up being personal dog of previous official handler.

 

seems topic been locked by moderator.
anyway, Jesse, where do you see hair splitting?
there were dogs, used by handlers to fulfill work duty as patrol dogs. at same time there were dogs living on chains at the border, not only along the wall. those was majority of dogs, you refer to as border dogs. they did end on chains mainly for reason not to be suitable for patrol pupose. and there weren't only GSDs but all kind of dogs, including mixes.
as far as i know, the patrol dogs all was adapted by their handlers.

Valk-
Your splitting hairs now.
After the wall came down, meaning the boarders to the DDR were opened, there were about 4,000 border protection dogs, sniffing work dogs for intelligence agencies-  Stasi , wall protection dogs, VoPo dogs, without homes. These do not include the ones the people kept.

Sad reality....
And most of them not suitable for any kind of rehoming...

ValK, maybe in your country, but not in the no longer existant DDR regime.
"Personal dog of previous official handler" ? No chance, no desire, no outstanding companions worth the effort...