If the Capt. was alive today - Page 26

just some thoughts:

some people shortcut the system. this is obvious to anyone with any bit of exposure or experience and does not make the system invalid for the many who do it the right way. someone saying titles/proofing is without benefit because some cheat is no different than those who say h/e certification is of no benefit because some choose to cheat.

why would anyone waste time as apologist for a "line". It is all on display at the shows/trials and now you tube in many instances. a dog is good or not, a "line" produces many examples of good or not. they are on public display.

many people offer strong opinions on what is a good GSD when their experience has never drifted far from their own yard and only talk what a GSD should be.

if I show up in public with a dog that is an embarrassment to me or to the breed with poor example of character, it is not Walter Martins fault, especially if I am 3 or 4 generations into a breeding program. I have made my own choices and to blame those choices on someone else would just show my weak character. how could I expect the dog to be different.

jmo,
Rik

 Rik

It´s a bit ironic people are so concernd about extreme preydriv e in todays SCH-dogs and breeding to famous dogs, yet there are namedropping about WUSV-dogs and titled SCH-dogs , don´t see how these dogs are so much different than other dogs doing SCH, how could you be sure these dogs are better producers and better themself outside their SCH-comptetitions? I don´t have the experience that mostly topplacing SCH-dogs are being use in breedings, some very much used studs have not done much at all as far as competition goes, maybe it´s different depending where you live.

As far as titling goes it´s what you make of it, if someone wants to breed foremost for looks they will do that as long as the breedingrequirement isn´t so hard to pass that only very good dog can make it. A breeder that is serious about breeding working GSD will choose his dogs depending on his goal and not if the dog has passed some minimum breedingrequirements. In germany a SCH-title is a must, which may keep out some dogs working in other areas to be used for breeding I suppose, like a PSD for example. In other places there is none at all, like US. If I look here in sweden there is no SCH-requirements as in gemany, but on the other hand you can use dogs that are certified PSDs or securitydogs, which all also must go thru a selectiontest which I think tells you more about a dog than just a SCH-title. If you also can see the dog in training this is much more telling than just knowing a certain dog has passed a SCH-title. I also know some breeders won´t use a mediocre dog regardless what titles it has.

What the captain said or not about titles many years ago is not so intressting, of course there are today other people that know what a good GSD is, and also other ways to test this than the methods they decided as breedingrequirements in germany a long tme ago.

Fortunately, there are still people that are breeding the right dogs for the right reasons. JMO....It remains important that people bring to the forefront of today, the type of dogs that created this great legacy. Sure we have divergent interests that have taken over the breed....but as long as some of the breed is being used for work there is the need to breed for the balance utilitarian dog. In order for this to continue, then some of the oldtimers have to reemphasize the basic tenets of breeding and where the priorities should be. Thing die out from a lack of knowledge...I was always told.
Example: When in the service in early seventies at Army War Dog school, we had over 250 dogs at detachment, in many different vocations, (sentry, patrol, narcotics, scout, trackers,body recovery, mine and tunnel,etc).....when you are there 40 plus hours a week over 3 years you get to know all the dogs generally. There were no OVER the top prey monsters like you see today often in sport. Sure there were dogs with good prey, but that over the top prey that is so unbalanced that it crowds out other drives.....nope! Actually, no where in my travels did I see dogs with THIS kinda prey drive in those days. Just like you din't see only Black and red show dogs in those days. My point is that many people today think these are what is supposed to be and alway was. And from their point of reference this may well be....BUT this is a creation of sport/show purposes. But people with the KNOWLEDGE of the abilities of the balanced type, and the knowledge of how to maintain balance thus keeping this breed employed, are still out there; though declining as time goes on. It is imperative that they discuss and strive to educate folks who are open and willing to learn about the breed as a balanced dog, created to work and worthy of work. That is why threads like this are important. I KNOW the show/sport world is going to march to the ribbon/money drumbeat. I know they are not interested in moving from the allure of these gains....but these kinda of threads are not really beneficial to them because they know everything(within their world...lol) anyway. But there are many people out there thirsting for knowledge of breeding dogs to be the way the "Book" says the German Shepherd should be....and for them, some of us continue to speak to.JMO

Gustav said....

"But there are many people out there thirsting for knowledge of breeding dogs to be the way the "Book" says the German Shepherd should be....and for them, some of us continue to speak to.JMO ""

Thank you, Gustav.