Is Ballack enjoying a quiet revival via linebreeding? - Page 1

2xVA1, Ballack von der Brucknerallee was an interesting champion that had quality competition throughout his career. Other than Netzer vom Aducht and more recently Usher aus der Brunnenstrasse, he seems to have had a modest progeny in international competition. This is interesting in light of the prolific number of litters sired and the generally high quality females that he was bred to. Here's his progeny on a different page:
https://schaeferhunden.eu/winsis_x/winsisshowdog.php?bb=&id=2266879&tp=6

It is hard to argue against his being able to produce a quality litter. The progeny has plenty of IPO titles as well as conformation ratings. Granted, following up on dogs like him, is a tall order. Also, he was competing and breeding at the same time as other outstanding males... But given the quality of females he was bred to, one would imagine he should have produced a few BSZS VA dogs... By and large, his progeny have very good pedigrees. I don't believe that he was "whored" around like some other dogs I understand that he seems to have had some issues with producing soft ears. But those pups would not appear on the WinSys page...


I occasionally look up to see if anyone is doing linebreeding on him, and in the last year or so, Ive noticed an increase in activity. While some are, the recent ones are not unknown kennels...
https://www.pedigreedatabase.com/german_shepherd_dog/dog.html?id=730234-ballack-von-der-brucknerallee?_v=20181229131810&p=reverse-linebreeding

The question it raises is, given the recent dominance of a very few breeders at the World Championships, are the kennels linebreeding on Ballack dong so as competitors tooling up for future BSZS titles?
These are names like Fichtenschlag, Domus Didacus, Oher Tannen and Della Real Favorita...

I haven't taken the time to look up other recently high placing dogs from kennels who have fallen in status in the last decade or so, but, my guess is that whatever reasons for his progeny not being competed may have been displaced by the urge/need to compete and win. I'm curious to see how these litters do in the show ring and trial field.

The best answer to that question would come from the breeders you mention who are doing the breedings. You've got nothing to lose by contacting them and asking them why they're choosing to do that--at worst, they'll ignore your question, and at best you'll gain some insight.

Historically, there is many epileptic carriers behind Ballack. The first case in the UK appeared many years ago. The first carrier was identified as Ingsohn of Errol. Igosohn was the sire of UK Champion Arno of Saba who was widely used at stud. Arno was born on September 12th 1945. The source of epilepsy is long time ago, however, these lines are still arising today. The point is the disease has been actively in the breed for approximately 71 years. I do not think we know whether any epilepsy has appeared from these lines from Ballack’s ancestors. His sire Hagadahls Figo died when he was five years old. Very early for a VA male.

The originator Ingosohn was a German import. All of the carriers behind Ballack come from UK breeding including two Best in Show at Crufts.  All of the lines can be traced on this Database.

Mackenzie

I would like to add to my previous post that anyone who wants to research this line should search first on Hagadahls Hamisch and go back from that point. It will shorten the search.

Mackenzie

So... What is the most recent epileptic dog in that ascendency?

I'll chime in a little here. My assessment is he's a good dog in the pedigree, but a mixed bag. He was introduced to the breed at a time where there was a sense of breeding for the Golden Middle. Those breeders that wanted to maintain working ability in their program were drawn to him with his 5/5 protection score. Although there's nothing in his pedigree that suggests superior working ability is there to pass on.

In the beginning he was a very popular and desirable male. One of Germany's top breeders wanted nothing to do with him, another had extreme success with him. It was looking like the N von Aducht litter was going to be the male(s) to carry the torch going forward until Quenn came late in the game to rise above. Quenn carried the torch going forward and was set in the V4 position to move into a VA spot. The stage was set when his son Kosmo was called out first and finished third at the sieger show, but somewhere between covid and life in general, Kosmo could only pull mid 20 V at the sieger show. I had Kosmo's brother and sister. Both good dogs, the drive was there, structure was what you would expect from Hilary after producing Finn, Cibaly, etc. but the work seemed scattered. Drive but difficult to focus and harness it.

At this point Ballack is in the history books. Quenn didn't produce the statistics to warrant a VA. I don't think there's a revival but there's a really nice Grandson from Titan Wildsteiger Land in the US available for breeding that appears to be a good representation of what the breeders wanted to get from him.

Charlie319, I'm really curious how you did that reverse-linebreeding. Would you mind sharing that technique?

If you are signed in, at the top, where there are buttons for default pedigree, etc... There's a "reverse linebreeding" button. Click on it and it will generate a list of linebred descendants on that dog.