Pedigree Dogs Exposed - TV Show to Reveal Inbreeding and Health Defects in Canines

[LOVEGSD]

Sue is totally right Zack you are more than welcome on this forum, i think most of the people on here have their GSD's as pets - I know i certainly do and I think we need to have all sorts of people on here giving their views and opinions from all sides of the GSD world.

I think you've raised a really good point about the show/pet GSD's...it will be interesting to see what opinions and debate this provokes....we may need to open a new thread

It would be interesting to know statistically how many GSD's are purchased as purely pets and those that are for showing/breeding.

[GSDOWNER]

Originally Posted by kita

Zack you said

"Perhaps I Shouldnt Be On This Site, I Dont Understand All The Jargon. We Did Alot Of Research Before We Got Zack, Im Just An Everyday Housewife With A Family And A Dog"


You have every right to be on this site (I am sure everyone will agree here). When you say you are "just an everyday housewife with a family and a dog" surely that is the sort of home where the majority of dogs bred in this country end up?

Ultimately that is what breeders should be breeding - good, honest, healthy family pets!

How many pups (including from the Crufts winner) end up being shown or worked? The majority will end up as family pets.

I do have a problem with GSDs being bred with a very strong working line - these dogs don't always make good family pets - how many people are going to 'work' their dogs?

Could Zamp be placed in a normal family home and live happily? How many people actually want a dog that can do a 12 mile endurance test? Surely the homes for these sort of dogs are very limited?

Or do we have two very different dogs here - a show/work GSD and a pet GSD?

Maybe this should be a whole different thread!

Sue

Thank you so much sue for taking the time to post the above, it's one word more than I wanted to say but lol you said it much better

Zack the dogs mum lol I knew nothing when I first got george and will be the first to hold up my hands that I did so many things wrong, but the help and support this forum has given me has been second to none

me like you is just the lol the stay at home boring housewife that has nothing better to do than wine about there dog pmsl, but this dog was bought cos I got broody for another human furball and when my dog became poorly I needed someware to rant and cry...............and with the help of people who have been thro what I went thro or much worse the angry went lol maybe just a bit..........................

one day maybe the breeders will listen (shit breeders not the good ones lol)) and I hope to god the bbc program helped that little bit

[wildmoor]

I wasnt having a go at anyone just making a point, I dont show, and yes Zamp would be capable of living in a family home as most WG showline dogs are. You all may find this article interesting;
CYPRUS GERMAN SHEPHERD DOG CLUB - STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES

I have advocated for many years about linebreeding on the ones mentioned in WG show lines, the problem is the bottle neck is already there not like it was mentioned on the BBC show, but back in 6/7/8th generations. But it is the same in worklines, again in the same time period as Palme, her Q litter and U litter, the worklines linebred on 4/5 dogs, same again in the English breeding with Sparticus/Tarquin etc. These matings all took place back in the 70/80 and unfortunately this as led to the genetic health problems that are seen in all GSD lines, albeit different conditions in the different types. The difference is the WG breeders are trying to erradicate these conditions, many other type breeders stick their heads in the sand and carry on without testing or if they do ignore the results and breed reguardless.

[jules]

I do think it's possible for GSDs to be pets and working dogs, I've known a few police dogs who also make wonderful pets, thats the GSDs best feature, it's a colleague at work and a companion at home. I think a good GSD knows when to switch off and relax (although this is a lot to do with training too). There will always be dogs who think working is just that, too much like hard work and of course some who can't switch off but I think it's important to breed for an equilibrium. Breeding purely pet dogs takes away the GSDs purpose and essentially, a piece of their character... look what happened to the basset hound, people stopped working them and now they would be worse than useless if put to their original job. Oh, and I adore basset hounds BTW.

So basically, I think it's important to keep the working gene in GSDs and segregating the breed into two camps is a slippery slope... and if more breeders made the effort to utilise their dogs in working compeitions (not just those from very strong working lines) and prove that they can do it it would increase the gene pool of good working dogs and help combat the bottleneck that was mentioned.

Jules

[wildmoor]

Hi Jules, the bottlenecks are not just in the WG lines, these are further back than most lines. The health problems are not just in these either you have spondilosis and cauda equina in worklines as well as other conditions. The Police dont elbow score, so they have no idea of the status in the lines, they will also quite happily breed from a bitch with a 11:4 hip score which is too uneven to be healthy. The English line folk dont elbow score, they also breed from high hip scores, those that do bother to score, they also breed from dogs line bred to carriers of the genes for Cataracts and Epilepsy. Then you have the Obedience folk, again no elbow scores, who will knowlingly breed from a stud dog known to produce high hip scores from numerous bitchs, and linebreed on his sire.
Pam