kennels with several generations of in-house females - Page 1

Much has been said about the importance of females in a kennels breeding program. Are there any working line kennels in the Americas that don't buy females but have kept back their strongest for several generations? It seems most have only a couple of generations under their own kennel name. Not saying it's good or bad, just curious as to why that is.

Anne Kent with Adler Stein - http://www.adlerstein.com/

Mellodee Middleton with Germelhaus.

I'm only on my 4th generation--that's taken 17 years.

Christine

I think 4 generations is a decent amount, but I've seen folks who have been in the business for more than 17 years and still don't have more then 2 generations.

Yes, I know Lisa Clark in MI, I believe she is on 4 generations of her own breeding females and has BHOT titled dogs.  The dogs she trains and trials are ones she bred.

It does take time and a lot of luck I think LOL  

But yes I think most people are more interested in producing puppies rather than being a "breeder".  

I currently have a 9 month old that is 3rd generation of my own breeding/kennel name.  I also have her mother and grandmother (both of which were born here and raised/trained by me) and had her grandmother as well - which I bought as a puppy and raised/trained/titled and lost last year at over 14 years old.  I started with her great grandmother in 1997, so it has taken by that many years to get here.  I HOPE to someday breed her and keep a daughter of hers also... but we have a long ways to go before that happens.  

I am on my fifth generation and finally have become a member of a club that I can train my dogs for IPO
instead of AKC titles, doing ok so far as I am my own breeder, owner, and trainer, tough to do it all but 
I'm determined....

My 12 yr. old female is still going strong, her mom lived till 14.
I also have her daughter that is soon to be ten.

I have 4th & 5th generation living with the grand-ma's, nice to see the twelve yr old running & playing with the 7 month old!

I started breeding GSD's in the late "70's" then went to Labrador Retrievers, then back to GSD's but German instead of American,
In 1998 I was able to get a pup that was related to my dogs I had bred in the "70's" cause that breeder was still breeding, she was active in
search and rescue with her dogs, it was an American line that actively did search and rescue, they had great tracking ability.
 I then bred to a stud with a mostly DDR bloodline.

Over the last year I have rehomed quite a few dogs to pet/companion homes, I feel I have wasted many years as I was not clear on what goals
I wanted to work towards.

Working dogs in German style obedience and protection has brought about a new direction in my breed program.

It does take sometime as a breeder to meet your goals.

I am also on my fifth generation of Labrador Retrievers, the best of both worlds

nice to see some folks doing it! Do you guys hold back males as well? Or just the females?

Austerlitz has generations of their own dogs. Also, you cant always just breed your own, bring in bloodlines to compliment  yours without bottlenecking your lines.

Austerlitz German Shepherd Dogs

I raised a female from a puppy, Sch1, koer, bred her once, kept a male, took him to Sch3, national level competition, bought a 20 month old female from another breeder, and I'm now working with the 4th generation down from the first female and the 2nd generation from the 2nd female. I've also imported a 3rd female and have bred her and her (imported in whelp) daughter to the grandson of my first female. So, I'm working on it. Yes, I'm using the males in my breeding program and I'm using the females. I'm also trying to both combine the lines and keep different lines separate (some of my keepers will be combining the lines; others will be bringing in new bloodlines. Back when I first started, I didn't have the resources (space, time) to keep some of the dogs/bloodlines I wish I retrospectively wish I had.

The success of the combinations are still "in progress" but I'm working to keep multiple options open--so far, have pups working in multiple venues--SAR, schutzhund, personal protection, service dogs (mobility, seizure alert, guide dog), sport (agility, AKC obedience, tracking, flyball), and herding. So I'm liking how things are developing.

Christine

I am on my fourth generation of my lines. Breeding, training, showing and titling my own. As others have said it takes a long time and hard work.  Now I have done my titling in AKC and UKC, with only one BH so far.  I have kept back females and use outside stud dogs. With the new technologies it is so much easier now to be able to use a good dog far away and not have to settle on the best close by.  I have tried to use ½ German Show lines, with ½ American lines, but I do have to go ¾ one way or the other lots of time.  I choose to go ¾ German when I do that.