Why do we Breed German Shepherd Dogs?
As I have written on the “about page” I have been into German Shepherds since the 1980’s and have been involved in Dog Sports for many many years, since 2001, and was a student of this breed long before I became a breeder..
I got very very frustrated when I was looking for GOOD G.S.D. It seemed if it were not a Puppy Mill, pet quality puppy, it was someone that wanted a big long list of questioned answered that were none of their business, as well as wanting to tell the buyers what they could and could not do with the dog for the life of the dog.
I was also very frustrated when I did find a nice dog but the seller wanted very HIGH costs for them, AND then wanted the dog neutered or spayed. Offering them only on a Limited Registration.
WORSE YET! All the breeders that not only are NOT Breeding to the Standard for the Breed, but some, did not even know that IS a Standard for the Breed or what a Standard for the Breed is! That not alone. All these people that know NOTHING about genetics! But yet, they breed.
Couple that with all the poorly bred CRAP that goes on, with fear biters, and dogs that walk on their hocks like frogs, or have banana roached backs, and boy… Why/How did it become so complicated to buy a Nicely Bred Registered Dog??????
FINDING DOGS THAT ARE BRED BY THE STANDARD FOR THE BREED!
I had found, and find, that finding Good Working G.S.D that are bred to look like they are suppose to look according to the Standard for the Breed…..is harder each year that goes by.
I want to Breed Nicely Built, Correct to Standard, G,S.D out of Working Lines that not only look correct, but have a build that CAN actually Work, and Work for Years, not break down because of bad/too extreme slanted hips, elbows, roached backs, etc., etc. I want to Breed dogs that I Want to OWN Myself. That is why I feel it’s so important to do O.F.A testing of hips and elbows of your dogs and why I feel dogs that are from working lines can show some sort of genetic gene pool that are dogs bred for a purpose! If you are not breeding toward something, you are therefore breeding away from it! I wrote about the intersection of working lines and the sport of IPO on elsewhere on this website.
The Intersection of Dog Sports and Breeding. Why does it matter?
IPO is a three-part sport which includes Tracking, Obedience and Protection phases – the dog must pass all three phases in the trial. To succeed in the protection aspect of the sport, the successful IPO candidate must possess a basic level of instinctual drives, solid nerves, desire, and willingness to perform the work with their handler.
The specific drives which must be present are prey (desire to chase an object based on visual cues) and fight (desire to defeat the prey object). The other very important drive is “pack drive” or the desire to work for the handler. While it’s helpful if the dog possesses other drives, they are not nearly as essential as strong prey and fight drives and pack drive.
When we talk about “nerves” we are referring to the dog’s core confidence. A “nervy” dog is one who gets stressed and worried easily – often flipping into forward aggression or fear inappropriately or very easily. This is the classic fear-biter, that puts on a show of aggression, to push away a potential threat. A dog with “solid nerves” does not see a threat easily, and is much easier to train in the sport. Personally, I would think twice about training a dog with weak nerves and I would never breed one either. That’s why we know our dogs: because we train and work our dogs. We feel fear-biters or sharp dogs is mostly a genetic characteristic.
So how does genetics and I.P.O intersect and why is this important? The German Shepherd Breed after World War II essentially became divided into 4 sub-breeds, or sub-gene pools so to speak. The four main Gene Pools are called “The A.S.L” or the American Show Line Shepherd”, the East German (D.D.R) and Czechoslovakian German Shepherd from the Eastern Block (Warsaw Pact Countries) that were raised in government kennels for military duty, and the West German High Line Showline Shepherds and Working Line Shepherds. Some people separate the D.D.R dogs from the Slovakia and Czech dogs (now that Slovakia and Czheck Republic have been split up). Some separate them, but we lump the D.D.R dogs and dogs of former Czechoslovakia as one basic gene sub-pool.
There are hundreds of websites that can explain to you what the differences are between the A.S.L, the D.D.R/Czech dogs and the West German Show-line and West German Working Line dogs. We recommend before you buy a puppy from us that you educate yourself on the various kinds of German Shepherd Dogs available on the market today. Literally hundreds of pages have been written on this subject. We have written a short excerpt on this subject on our site that can be found at this link: “Different Kinds of German Shepherds”. This genetic diversity in the breed must be somewhat understood by the prospective buyer, to get a sense of the various lines, or genetic sub-pools as we like to refer to them, in the breed. We focus on the West German working lines, with occasional West German Showline (with drive) added into our genetic stock. We invite you to read our “Ancestors” page, to understand the genetic overall make up of our dog’s ancestors and our “Titles” page, to understand what the various dog titles in their pedigree actually mean.
So while the German Shepherd is indeed one breed, the various gene “sub-gene-pools” are rarely crossed, and in essentially doing so, you are breeding within a specific genetic sub-pool, perfected over 75 to 80 years of breeding since World War II, where certain characteristics and behaviors are more easily developed from dogs derived from one gene pool versus another gene pool within the same breed. In other words, by breeding within one genetic gene sub-pool of dogs, you are able, via selective breeding over time, concentrate certain physical as well behavioral characteristics.
Essentially, when selecting a breeder, you are selecting the genetics of that breeder’s ancestors in that line. So while all dogs can make great pets, not all dogs have the ability to be working dogs. That’s why we focus on European derive working lines..and that’s what you’re buying from us. We are very proud of the bloodline we carry.
So while the German Shepherd is indeed one breed, the various gene “sub-gene-pools” are rarely crossed, and in essentially doing so, you are breeding within a specific genetic sub-pool, perfected over 75 to 80 years of breeding since World War II, where certain characteristics and behaviors are more easily developed from dogs derived from one gene pool versus another gene pool within the same breed. In other words, by breeding within one genetic gene sub-pool of dogs, you are able, via selective breeding over time, concentrate certain physical as well behavioral characteristics.
Essentially, when selecting a breeder, you are selecting the genetics of that breeder’s ancestors in that line. So while all dogs can make great pets, not all dogs have the ability to be working dogs. That’s why we focus on European derive working lines..and that’s what you’re buying from us. We are very proud of the bloodline we carry.
WHY BREED TO STANDARD FOR THE BREED????
I will TRY to keep this short….BUT BREEDING TO STANDARD IS VERY IMPORTANT.
PROPER BREEDING MATTERS! DOGS BRED TO THE STANDARD FOR THEIR BREED MATTERS! WHY???? Dog that are Bred to the Standard of the Breed are Bred Correctly for the way that the Dog is Suppose to be built. Then. The dogs bones are proper size, proper set. Dogs that are Bred To Standard are less likely to have Structure and or Health Problems. Dogs bred to the Standard are far more likely to have Sound Temperaments.
If pure bred dogs are haphazardly bred, what we call, ‘rubbing two dogs together and hoping for the best’, that is, if the person breeding the dogs is breeding off standard for something they like or that is popular for sales, such as, long hair in G.S.D, bigger sized, plush coat, THAT breeder is not breeding dogs to the Standard, and probably not even breeding dogs that are built correctly. There is a high factor that these dogs will have a higher incident of health problems than dogs Bred To Standard. That ‘breeder’ is buying their dogs based on one thing….whatever that thing is that should not be there, according to Standard, that they want in their dogs. So they are NOT caring so much about the bigger picture or the structure, soundness or health of the dogs.
We do not breed for color. We do not breed long coats. We do not breed white dogs. We do not breed Panda or Liver colored dogs. We do not breed 110 lb dogs. This IS not the breed standard.
Why do we sell our puppies for less than what we paid for our dogs?
We bought our own dogs for a Purpose. That Purpose is/was NOT to breed them, although we did buy dogs that we feel are worthy of breeding. We paid what the Market was asking for GOOD, WELL PEDIGREED DOGS THAT COME FROM DOGS THAT HAVE HAD THEIR ELBOWS AND HIPS CHECKED Dogs. We bought dogs from Europe, so we paid more.
We wanted dogs out of Working, Titled Dogs with the Body Style that is not only True To The Standard, but built to last (health wise) as Working Dogs. People that are working toward Titles and or actually Working their dogs are Breeding Good Dogs….however, maybe not every single dog they Breed….but close.
We are in the middle of titling our own dogs. It takes time to train a dog to a certain standard. It takes travel expenses and training costs involved. It also costs money to all the health testing we did.
Could we charge more for our puppies? Could we use the ‘hook’ of ‘discounts’ for certain people? Could we have litter after litter after litter. Sure we could. But that is not what we think is right.
The cost of a puppy is what used to be called, “A drop in the bucket.” Meaning that care and food and time and such, was going to cost far more over the years.
We sell our puppies at a Very Fair Price. We do this because we had to work so hard to find good dogs…it just should not be like this.
We feel you will have a lifetime partner in buying dogs from us..dogs that have proven temperament, health and the right structure and genetics for work.
