The Myth about Golden middles - Page 7

These were V. Stephanitz's last words I believe :

"Take this trouble for me:
make sure my German Shepherd Dog remains a WORKING dog, for I have struggled all my life long for that aim".

~Cate

I doubt those were his "last" words, but those are the words that should be the most remembered!  It looks to me that there are two camps when referring to the "Golden Middle".  One is the showline people who want to mix, and the other is the workingline people that shudder at the thought. I see plenty of workingline dogs that are far more appealing to my eye than any I've seen from the showline variety.  What can the showlines "really" do for them.  Nothing at all, IMO.  I dare say, a showline plus a workingline equals a better showline, but still a showline.

Ceph,  If I had said that I would have been attacked by ghosts saying "WERE YOU THERE" ????????  Where is your proof those were his last words....  Give ya credit for being brave enough to take a stab at that one.  And if you were there then I say Thank You very much for posting.   Even if you were not,  Thank You for sharing your thoughts.

Spook- its real warm for hibernation. Just pick your shots with worthy(intelligent) oponents. If all with real info disappear it won't be any fun for those of us who now  LURK.  Keep up the honourable fight.

lol - I actually think I am one of the younger people here - I have just done alot of research on the breed....currently I am working from the back up...but I will probably know for sure when I start buying books from the 30's...lol...right now I am still stuck back in the 20's.

Even if those were not his last words (and I imagine they werent...like darylehret said they are probably just the most memorable.) I imagine from what I have read of his book that that is what he felt.

~Cate

Ceph,  That is way cool !   I wish I could get my daughter so interested.  She's a good kid though,  stays out of trouble and has an excellent GPA.  So no complaints here.   That is very cool that your doing your research that way !   I hope it brings forth all you hope for and so much more,  Good Luck to you.  :-)

This has been a surprisingly interesting post.  I would not have imagined there was so much controversy over such points as what the definition of  "golden middle" IS, let alone the merits thereof. Let me try to recap...

The golden middle could be the ideal for all, or just an excuse to pawn off unworthy dogs.

The breed could be improved by mixing showlines and workinglines, or we should just accept the fact that two camps are typical for any breed.

Seems like a lot folks are pretty polarized on this issue.  Just curious, are there any breeders that are striving to produce the golden middle that would be willing to share what their goals are, and what dogs they're using, and to what result???

Yvette

Even though I'm not an advocate for the Golden Middle, I respect the knowledge and experience of Fred Lanting, who wrote the following articles.

"Part One" Will the True Working Dog Disappear?

http://siriusdog.com/articles/printpage/printpage2.php?id=369

"Part Two" The Gap Widens

http://siriusdog.com/articles/printpage/printpage2.php?id=370

I may sound like a broken record...but were Max's dogs that bad that they needed to be improved?

I read so many opinions as to what people think the breed should be...but do you have the experience to make these decisions?

Why not  breed for what he called for....why worry about a golden middle?

If easy to figure out...but everyone needs to be the expert....that is how things got so f...d up in the first place.

RealCold, please do get a post in every now and then.  Glad to see you haven't totally disappeared.