Improving the breed - Page 10

I am not saying it was always that way, but in the times they were treated as unacceptable, (coated dogs), many a breeder denied breeding coats,
(Maybe many is an overstatement, but I do recall when I first joined here, several...claimed they will not use dogs that even produced coated).
And yes, that is a good informative post hexe. I already have that info as I do such Google searches as ' long coat working line German Shepherd's.
I read about what things I am interested in.

To cite Mona and maybe a stud or two is somewhat misleading....in the history of famous studs and dams over years which has to number thousands and thousands, or take the countless trials at regional, national and international level over many years. Do the smell test.....many posters on this board have seen thousands of dogs compete in these events over a 10 year period.....if they have seen five LC they would be seeing less than 1 percent. I hardly think that constitutes any practice of use, it only means it exists and is the very rare exception to rule.

The only difference between a coat and a stock hair is the gene that dictates coat length. Factor in that it's a simple recessive which in itself dramatically reduces the odds of producing long coats in a litter. Most serious trainers will probably not want to have to deal with grooming a long coat, they'd rather spend that time training. In every litter only a very small percentage, if any, of the dogs will ever even "make it"  to the competition ring, odds of any of them being coats is very slim.

It shouldn't be a big surprise that very few coated GSD's have ever excelled in Sch or IPO. The odds are and always will be stacked against coats in the conformation or trial ring. There will never be enough coats  whelped  that are competitive for either venue unless there is a trend to breed specifically for them which would still take years to show any influence. A longcoat is the same as a stock hair except for the length of the coat and the gene that produced it.

 

For decades at least in Germany almost all coats were sold to pet owners.
For most members of SV it was senseless to raise a coat, as long as you can´t show or breed it later on.
Only some exceptional "green" coats were bought by sport competitors.
Almost nobody wants to own a winner but not being allowed to use this dog as stud ...

I am not passing judgement on the genetics or value of the LC, just stating that I have very seldom seen them used in serious working venues. As Susie stated, the overwhelming numbers I have seen were in pet homes and pets. 

If we are going to truly improve the quality of gsd here in USA we need more people involved in IPO. I say IPO because i believe this is where a newbie will learn the most about GSD and drives etc... I believe we must also re-examine where our sport is going at the moment. Way too much EGO here in USA and it starts at the top. That in itself turns many away. I thinkour national clubs USCA GSDCA-WDA could do a better job at promoting it. I would start with making a BENEFIT trial one of the biggest trials of the year for say maybe ST. JUDES CHILDREN HOSPITAL for instance. In its current state we are going nowhere.

That´s a good one, vomeisenhaus.

Every time I try to convince people, that only through training and trialing they will be able to learn about their own dogs,

49,5 % are telling me, that IPO is that easy, that it´s senseless for "real" workingdogs
and
49,5 % are telling me, that they are able to evaluate a dog without bitework and pressure.

1 % do train their dogs...

Lol @ susie.... That is common practice here in USA. You cant tell us anything because we know it all. Yet all our top dogs are still coming from europe and those IPO dogs that could never do real work. Lol

Forgot about the people telling me, that they are able to evaluate x-rays by themselves, and buyers should trust their opinion
almost all of them don´t need a show result for breeding, because they know how a German Shepherd has to look like
...
Enough - I didn´t want to talk about this any more!
 

Susie, I can hear voices saying you are again wrong, the percentages are 49% then 49% and 2%, therefore you are still wrong and they are correct