which country has not ruined the german shepherd? - Page 6

Aw geez, vk, now you went and hurt Jenni's feelings.  I'll bet she is crying her eyes out as we speak.

she will be fine, gotta run, toodles.

yeah back in the day the eurosport kennel made the foundation for sportwaffend and miked? I am not sure if that is right? saw a lot of their dogs on their site. They would have been a great place to go. No idea about now. I met a eurosport dog here wow what a nice bitch. I also met a male dog from Jiri and he was a monster also.

Hello peeps, sorry 'bout long delay  -  I'll try to answer what you asked me OP but I

only just got up.  Back in a mo. HM (Linda).

OpticNerve ;

you asked a couple of questions about the UK,  and raised one or two 'issues';  I'll try to

deal with them as honestly and in as much detail as I can. Notwithstanding anyone else's

comments about posters' length and type of experience I will start by telling you that I am

neither a breeder nor a Police Handler;  but that I have adored, been around, worked with,

researched and owned GSDs for about 45 years;  at least half of them 'security' dogs of one

level or another.

 

The situation with Police general purpose Patrol Dogs in the UK is complicated.  You ask if

many Showlines are used ?  Well yes, including dogs from 'West' German SL, but also 'DDR' type

lines have been imported direct from Germany.  Mainly as breeding stock for the dozen or so

(out of 48 I believe) Police Authorities here who run their own kennels / breeding programme(s),

most but not all of the pups produced going on to qualify as working Police Dogs.  However,

those kennels also use lots of other dogs -  dogs bred in the UK by Show / Sports / Work / Pet

breeders - in the mix;  and likewise, not all are from Police breeding programmes, forces still buy

in or accept donated dogs [puppies & young adults] from all the above sources and occasionally

still Rescues.  The emphasis being that the Handlers with responsibility for Selection know what

they are looking for and assess the dogs INDIVIDUALLY for aptitude / potential.

 

The UK has an excellent history re dog breeding generally, for all purposes;  and while a majority of

the GSDs here are either pets or Showdogs, we've had a long time in which to keep up the standards

of the country of origin, our near neighbour Germany.  So we can see what is on offer, get across to

actually see the real dogs, not rely entirely on word of mouth or videos, and so on.

 

Other breeds the Police use:  specialist scent breeds and mixes of those, increasingly for drugs,

weapons, money etc -  many many Police Handlers now run a team of two dogs, one a GSD or

occasionally other large-ish dog eg Malinois, patrol dog for criminals and crowd control, and one a Spaniel

or Labrador or similar for searches (especially domestic).

 

Our Prison Service and our Army and Air Force all use dogs in the same way;  some are following fashion

and getting more Malligators than GSD but it still breaks about even at the moment as I understand it. 

I think the whole thing with "very large" specimens of GSD  (DDR or otherwise)  is a bit of a crock.  A really

heavy dog can LOOK frightening, for guarding purposes, hence the trend to breed oversize specimens.  But I

think most practical, involved handlers of working and sports dogs have realised that the breed was created within

its Standard for size, for purposes of agility and health, and come away from / left the giant examples to the

pet market.  One of the reasons for the popularity of Malinois now.   "Manstoppers" do not have to be huge to be

effective.

 

I have no ideas about the video you refer to when you talk of two 'crowd control' GSDs 'eating' a man !   I hope you

don't mean literally,

Won't comment on USA breeding practices -  except to say the States is, I feel, at a distinct disadvantage when it

comes to importing dogs as so many do it sight unseen;  and I have noted  the lack of cooperation among US breeders,

again their loss I reckon, as it works better in Europe.

 

BTW, welcome to the board.

jenni you are a breeder? so are you able to provide the man what he wants? A man stopper? Aren't you a pet breeder?

oh ic what u mean thanks, i am suprised not as many import from the UK or even places like netherlands or france.

One of these again.  i'm guessing i could go to about any country that is any type of "player" in the GSD world and find dogs I really like, and find dogs I want nothing to do with.  It's not really a revelation.  Why does it seem like the US doesn't have good dogs?  well, i'm guessing it's because you either spend too much time on the internet, haven't been in the game long, or haven't made any connections.  There is just as good of quality here as here or over there or anywhere else.

To answer the rest of the questions it basically comes down to size and participation.  European breeders don't all work together either and training and culture is different. They aren't all good, but are a lot more of them. How many clubs in Germany?  I'm  going to just wildly guess there are more in Germany than in the whole of the united states.  Then you consider that Germany is relatively the same size as the one state of Wisconsin with similar weather.  What does WI have?  4 clubs maybe?  Less than a handful in the entire state.  How many people actively training dogs or breeding for that standard compared between the 2?  

How do  you define a "pet breeder", Optic? Given  you are new to this database and probably the breed as well, I'm just curious about how you have learned so much about posters here and so much about the breed in general in such a short time. You don't post here to try to start trouble, do you? Not a troll I assume? I didn't think so.

BTW, if you do buy a GSD, I'd recommend Jiri; you sound as if one of his dogs would be perfect for you,