the diverse german shepherd - Page 3

dont we stomp on the ideal of diversity when we have show and ddr............JUST AN IDEAL (which i know some do) maybe we should do away wit show, and ddr by breeding quality show to ddr.........if u sell the ideal and enough ppl do it, the the "standards" over time @ these shows will change to fit the dog (which they have done several times b4)...........resulting ( thought i know some dogs got it, and some dont, reguardless of who {sire/dam} they come from)........ but in theory u would be able to buy any dog from any one, and get the same BEST of THE BEST gene pool......................i know this ideal is MUCH easier said than done..........and again its just an ideal

I think the SV has a lot of influence in such things and should show the way (like von Stephanitz did a long time back) by making a top working line dog with classic sable/wolf-gray coloration, as the Sieger.  All of the top spots should also be awarded to the WL dogs, with Sables, bi-colors and solid blacks leading the way.  Clearly it will lead to wholesale panic all around, but what we need are not incremental steps but a total re-do, and only such a radical step can slow down the slide down this slippery slope.

Clearly, if such a thing were to happen, in the below link, the nomination of the new WL Sable Sieger and Siegerin will stand out (among a sea of Black-and-Reds over the past DECADES) as one of the watershed moments in the GSD history, when the SV decided to do the right thing for the breed, and not make the money-driven "safe choices".

http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/siegershow_winners.html

very good post ibrahim....................i guess once again we have or had to look at what diverse can really mean................in any case good point

that's what is about german shepherds unlike for example dalmatians they can come in all kinds of colours,coats, sizes, working talents..............its fantastic

good post too aaykay.............we want diversity in the individual dog and in the breed as a whole.................its a double whammy.... win win situation......

i think specialisation is a by-product of the free market system. if you want to compete in schuts at a high level you will want to give yourself the best chance by getting a dog from a proven line, thisbreeder sees that the other breeder is getting more market share than him cos he has specialised more for the schuts market then the breeder has to try and breed better dogs to get sales back, so it starts a specialisation arms race.

same could be said about any specialisation eg show dogs, if you want to win big shows you go to breeders that are producing dogs that are winning at big shows which will cause everyone else to lift their game by trying to beat them and so on, the dogs we see being bred today today are imo a direct result of where buyers put their money which includes the pet market where the dogs have to be dumbed down so much to be suitable in that market.

i think it is mostly hype when peeople say they are just doing it for the betterment of the breed as that would leave you breeding good sheepdogs.

breeders can't keep every dog they breed, they gotta sell them to someone and the someones are more and more a narrowr and clearly defined market category. the smallest almost non-existent market is gsd herding which are all the traits that made the breed suitable for anything at all and is being lost due to concentrating traits to suit the specialist markets.

it is not specifically the breeders fault, if the breeder had too high an ideals about the breed they prolly would sell few if any dogs.

basically we are getting what we asked for.

need determines product  - in a war zone you would shift gears into breeding a certain type of dog, in an agricultural role you will concentrate traits for that, in the  play-zone that most of us live in you get what you are seeing.

not a breeder here but all  just common-sense and reality.

all just my opinion.

makes a lot of sense VK4