New Year Question - Page 1

I would like to start off the new year with a question that has been nagging me for quite a while. Why is it that there is always so much hype about males but not females...its almost like the female GSD is like just the oven for the bun. i came accross this question when I asked my self what do Uran,Jeck,Quando,Quina,Quana,Ulme ,the foundations of the modern Gsd have in Common.. 2 things VA titles and most of all MOM . palme vom wildsteigerland In my opinion she should be THE GREATEST GSDD THAT EVER LIVED PPl might say that the sires were the ones who played the part but dont u think that is just a fanicers dream.. I dont wanna start a war on the wirst day of the new year but I think i shuydld be able to see some really interesting posts in this thread. So go ahead and shoot. Fida

Shoot who Fida?

Good question Fida the old saying 'the strength of a kennels is in it's females' is the truth of the matter. To start a breeding program you need a foundation female that is capable of producing the type of shepherd you are looking for. We can then look around for the best possible male available for her, thats the easy bit. Finding a female good enough is always gonna be the hard bit. But at the end of the day, the male usually gets the credit for the offspring, but he also gets the blame when things go wrong!! Interested to hear other peoples thoughts. Carol

If you look around. I think you will see two situations. Kennels that have a male and breed only that male to all their females. A program built around the male. Kennels that have females that they are building a program with by using males they think are best for their females. You will also see as was pointed out with the Palme example, it only takes one good female. There was a topic 'Foundation Females' on the GSD World webboard recently that may be of interest. I think you will also see the most successful programs are the second type. Since a male can be used many times and can produce hunderds of offspring, they have the most influence on the breed. This is why there is so much focus on the males. To see what traits they produce so you can compliment your female.

Fida, check out Dog1's and other folks' comments on GSD World message board. It is very informative. IMO, for an individual's breeding program - females are more important, and he can use the best males. However, for GSD as a breed, males have a more profound influence due to the sheer number of pups he can produce, as compared to the bitch.

Fida, As influential as animals cited by you may have been, I doubt if many would agree that these form foundation of the modern Shepherd - not by any stretch of the imagination in fact! Speaking of females only, you seem to have overlooked the importance of Trienzbachtal girls,as well as Wilma, Flora, Fee and if not Xandra and others. Before posing such questions, perhaps a bit more study or thought is in order - as for the many other random topics you seem to raise with such exuberance? However, I do agree that the female, in many situations, may well have greater influence than the male. Have a look in data base at endless number of offspring/litters produced by major studs and the very few that actually achieve any rating! Then one stumbles on litter produced by one particular female and presto, pups of quality galore! And often the female in question may not even be a Ring darling! Palme's sister makes siegerin, but she produces Uran and other good progeny. Only explanation I can think of is existence of some genetic homozygosity innate to a specific female and a felicitous combining thereof to that of selected male. Cheers.