Any advice for a 1st time GSD owner? General Chat

Hi, I hope to get myself a GSD in 12 to 18 months time, the wait is killing me but it's not the right time at the moment and I have to be sensible.

I have trawled the internet and armed myself with books/magazines etc, and I think the best route to go down is look for a breeder who breeds for family pets. I want a long coat, and although I want a dog with character, I don't want a dog with a high drive.

I just want a dog that is easy to live with - I'm aware I will have to put in a lot of work, but I want a dog thats happy to curl up at my feet after a run on the beach, rather than constantly wanting to work. I also have shildren, so the temperament of the parents is very important.

A few breeders' websites I have been on have some lovely dogs and seem to breed with the aim of going to pet homes, but some of them seem to have high hip scores running through there kennels or no mention of the hip scores at all. Ive also come across breeders who are breeding blues/livers/reds etc and while they are lovely looking dogs, I want a black/gold or black/tan.

There seems to be a lot of GSD owners on here and if any of you could recommend a breeder to me, I would be very grateful. I know its a while away from when I plan on getting a pup but I want to be prepared and may have to go on a waiting list anyway.

Thank you
x

Not sure where a bouts in Cumbria you are, there's a excellent breeder in fife, Conbhairean not sure if they are to far you. All are hip/elbow scored either in Germany or UK, males heamo tested. I know one of her males carries the longcoat gene.

Thank you for that, I found their website but I prefer straight backed GSD's *waits to get lynched*

Sorry!!

The pictures are of dogs in stance when stood natural or on movement they are 'straight backed'
If you are referring to English type dogs you will be lucky to find ones that have a 5 generation of hip/elbow screening and of decent scores let alone ones that do heamo testing on the males.

I am so lucky to be meeting Dougie (the longcoat at Cohbhairean) soon. He is soooo gorgeous!

My latest longcoat is from Kazeti (do a google search for Kazeti GSDs as I am not allowed to post links) and see what you think. They do breed the German type of GSD, but they are not as exaggerated as some. If you search back through my posts you will see lots of photos of the lovely Yogi

I personally would steer clear of any GSD breeder whose dogs do not have a 5 generation pedigree of hip scored(& haemophilia tested males)dogs. The Hip scoring scheme is now over 30 years so there is no excuse for a dog having any unscored dogs in it's pedigree. Currently I would expect at least two generations of 0(1 at a push if the dog is top quality)elbow scores.

Unlike many people on here who have GSDs I would also steer clear of anyone who deliberately breeds for non standard colours/coat. The aim should be to breed to the current breed standard & if there is a Long coated offspring then that is OK.

Anyone who charges more for non standard colour/coat type should be avoided like the plague. All puppies should be bred for health, temperament & breed standard equally. All three go hand in paw for me.

All breeders should be breeding dogs that are suitable as pets. People who breed from "pet"dogs(ie without regard for the health &/or the breed standard)should not be breeding any breed of dog.

All my GSDs have been pets first & activity dogs a distant second. All my GSDs(& my current breeds)live indoors with me 24/7 & if we have fun at shows well that's a bonus. My relationship & bond with my dogs outweighs anything they achieve at shows etc

I can definately recommend my GSD puppy's breeder. Bear is from Agios GSD's in Newark - give them a google. Paul and Tracey there were fab and really helpful. All the dogs were brill. They have a great website - take a look - promise you won't be dissapointed.

If you are certain you want a long coat why not get in touch with the white & long coat club & have a chat with them. See if they have any of their fun shows in your area & go along. That way youwill see the actual dogs to assess your likes & dislikes because believe me a dog in stance can be made to look how you want it to. Most of the dogs are from regular breeders & they can recommend someone near you I'm sure.

Thankyou to everybody for your replies and advice, has anyone heard of Icemead and if so, any comments?

It's just that they are about a 3 hour drive from where I live and they seem to have nice dogs and breed there dogs with the sole intyention of them going to pet homes, any comments would be appreciated, I thought they may be popular as they have had a lot of visitors to there website.

I'm really determined to buy from the right breeder but it's like going in blind as I don't know who to avoid etc. Thanks for the breeder recommendations, both have lovely dogs. I am just so wary of making a mistake, as one of my dogs (BMD) didn't come from the best of homes and has been nothing but trouble tbh, I knew nothing about them and made a lot of mistakes myself, but the foundations that were already there were all wrong (if you get my meaning)

What's peoples thoughts on breeding a dog with hip scores of just over 19 , say early twenties? Would this be something to avoid?

I really appreciate any advice

x

Think I may have met some of the Icemead dogs at some of the white & longcoat shows I've been to. From their web site it certainly looks as though they hip & elbow score all their dogs & do haemophilia testing on their males.
As for using a dog with a score over 19, I personally would not In fact I don't like anything above 12 & even on both hips ie 6-6 fine 10 - 2 no way. 0-0 for elbows too. A dog is not just a hip score, I wouldn't use a dog just because he had a perfect hip score, but while there are several excellent dogs & bitches around who also have good hips & elbows I see no need to do so.
I take it you are refeing to GSDs as of course in some breeds with breed averages in the 30s I would be happy to use a dog with low 20s.

A quick check on the KC site shows they have bred from dogs well over the breed mean & also one of their"stud"dogs has no record of a hip score on the KC site.

Another of their stud dogs has a dog with a hip score of 38 two generation back !

These "breeders"are not breeding the GSD Breed Councils Breeder's Charter

They are breeding for coat & colour & certainly not breeding to improve the breed as there are no elbow or Haemophilia test results. None of the bitches have any health test results

Sorry the word barge & pole come to mind

Thank you very much for that. I guess that's another one crossed off the list! :-(

The search continues.......

Yes I was referring to GSDs, when Ive been browsing through the websites, Ive noticed alot of dogs with higher hip scores than 19 or as you mentioned with the 10-2, quite unbalanced (is that the right word?!) I checked out the Kazeti dogs that someone mentioned and they are gorgeous and seem to health check their dogs and seem like good breeders but one of the stud dogs they are using - one of his parents has a hip score of 37 :-/ surely dogs with hip scores that high should not be bred from, or is the odd one in the line okay??

No it shouldn't have been bred with a score of 29/8 even though it as a litter mate scored with 2/3 without prelims done at a young age there is no way knowing if it was due to injury or genetic, in an earlier repeat mating only 1 dog score 11/12.

I can second that my Zeita is from there, she is a very well rounded girl, I have 2 kids (5 and 6) she is brilliant with them. She loves nothing more than a big walk then a big snuggle after. Good luck xx

If you like the look of the Kazetis (and I am more than happy with mine ) why not email or ring Karen and Doug and query the reason behind breeding from a dog with such a high score. They are both friendly and open and I am sure they will be more than happy to have a chat with you about it

Here is my Kazeti. Yogi.

There is absolutely no excuse for breeding from a GSD with such a high hip score, no matter what the cause(genetic, environs, accident etc) There are so many good dogs with good hip scores that are hip improvers in the gene pool using a high scoring dog is a big no no for responsible breeders

The problem with looking at parents scores etc is that some times you need to look further, I remember a dog in the 90's with a score of 2-2 which looked fantastic, but he was the only dog in the litter to score below 15 & a couple were in the 30's. When you take that into consideration you can't be sure from the paper qualifications what he is going to breed on. This is why you need to look back several generations on a pedigree & not just look at the parents.
One of my previous bitches had a score of over 30 & was very uneven. I never had a litter from her but all the rest of her littermates scored under 10 & my vet said he was fairly certain her score was because of something that happened either at birth or in the nest.

Hi this is Doug from Kazeti gsds,
The boy you are reffering to is Farlo ( Lararth Maximus at Kazeti ).His own hip score is 3/3 if you check the rest of the pedigree you will find the bitch line is the outstanding CH LARATH ODYSSEY who yes has a high hipscore but does not come from a line that is known for producing this. The lines she is bred on have been used succesfully by Sharon and David for some time. Another point worth mentioning is that Farlo's Father line is Figo van der Lust an Esko grandson. Esko is probably the best hip producing showline dog as stated by the SV, Also Figo's father line is a strong hip line and very well used all over the world.
The current breed average is 19 this is to be used as a guide, we cut off at 25 the KC advise to cut off at 36.
We put alot of time and work into breeding from the best lines available and have produced some fabulous dogs ( Yogi being one of them ). We do all the health tests now including elbows, heamo for the boy's and DNA profiled.
We have also had our pedigree's checked by a breed specialist Chris Hazell for any health aspects that may be in the background.
Our dogs are clear and safe. we are one of only a few breeders who truthfully would be prepared to stop a line dead if it was found to be producing a problem.
Doug and Karen
Kazeti gsds

Thank you for taking the time to answer my post. As you can probably tell from my previous posts, I have no idea how it all works and was unaware the cut off advised by the KC is 36, I assumed it was 19 - it's all over my head a bit

I've got to say, your dogs are stunning! Thanks again.