German Shepherd Breeders.... Questions

My boyfriends family are looking at getting another German Shepherd. They have had 4, and still have 2 of them as well as a dachshund. They are looking at getting another puppy to add.

Normally they use a great breeder http://www.kesyragsd.co.uk/ but her litter they were on the waiting list for never happened as the bitch did not get pregnant. They can wait for another litter in the future but were just wondering if there are any other highly recommended breeders.

Obviously I know I can help them look on the KC etc but I know lots of Dogsey people have GSDs and thought I may get some good advice here

This is a pic of Roxy one of their current GSDs - I think shes lovely Great temperament and very pretty.


They were also looking at huskies, I have recommended they don't go for one, but husky experiences welcome too!...

Kazeti I think they are called are good breeders (Moobli's Yogi bear is one).

Fyresrye are pretty good in looks and temprement too.

I've no idea what mine are as they're both rescues, but I wouldn't recommend Harley's lines anyway as he's a very unsure dog. Jess has Kurtridge in her lines as well as Rokovy, and she is superb.

I would recommend Kazeti, but they do mainly breed longcoats - www.kazetigsds.co.uk - so not sure whether your friends are wanting a standard or longcoat. They do (or did anyway) have a couple of standard coat bitches though, so do occasionally have standard coat pups.

How far would your friends be willing to travel? As Conbhairean have beautiful dogs and an excellent reputation ...

http://www.conbhaireangsd.co.uk/pge.php?page=4

They are in Scotland though.

Wildmoor (Pam) could possibly give you recommendations for down South of breeders who do all the health tests and whose dogs are bred for temperament etc.

As for the breeders your friends usually get their pups from - they do have beautiful dogs and also have an excellent reputation.

Thanks for the suggestions so far Will have a look at those in a bit

They are looking for standard coated GSDs I believe..

I also believe Shotaan have a new litter ...

http://www.shotaan.co.uk/index.html

As do Marinita ...

http://www.marinita.co.uk/

Just to check: German Shepherd parents should be hip scored and elbow scored. Is it under 20 for hips (this seems quite high but I read it on one of the sites?)
Are there other tests I should be looking for?

Hip score BMS is 19 so any breeding stock should be well below that preferably in single figures.

Elbows should be 0:0, elbows are scored differently to hips they are not added together so if elbows are say 1:2 the overall score is 2.

Males should be tested for Haemophilia A

Both should be eye screened annually for HC (Hereditary Cataracts).

Obviously the breeding stock should have good temperament and be able to demonstrate that either by being regular show winners at Championship Shows, have passed a BH in Schutzhund, a Temperament Test by say BRA, A Breed Survey, or at the very least a Bronze GCDS Test.

Thanks SB - am compiling a list so will add all this

The parents should also be DNA screened for Dwarfism(or normal by parentage), Degenerative Myelopathy & Anal Furunculosis

There is also a test for JRD-Juvenile renal dysplasia

Thanks! Will add that in too I did read that on one site but didn't notice it on the others. A lot to test for a gsd

Katrina has an excellent reputation and does some health tests that others dont do such as A/F, if they can wait and not in a rush I would tell them to go back to her but not have any litter with Yaso Farbenspiel in the lines
further south you have Carol at Antilli, Mascani currently have a litter dam showlines and sire working lines both parents are hip/elbow scored
elbows I would expect a 0:0 even though BVA/KC state max 1, hips I would expect several gens of below 12, eye test unless Enhlish lines no need

Is Yaso Farbenspiel a carrier of something?

And do you mean there is no need for an eye test unless you go for English lines?

sorry sp mistake Yasko v Farbenspiel - I know too many grsons and many grgrsons with health issues - some grdaughters to but predominately the males

last case of HC recorded was a dog born in 1992 English lines the KC was going to remove this test but due to this dog being born and with support it was re-instated

Joedee would you expect breeders who have never had a problem from DM to still test. Ditto annal fununculosis. Just curious as I am no longer breeding, & have to admit having had a rescue dog with DM I'm thrilled there is now a marker having had my dogs involved in the testing my dog because of his problems my bitch as a control as she comes from lines with no known links to DM. I also now know she does not have the marker which is good for me.

Thanks for all the replies and really useful advice. I have passed it on so just waiting for a reply to see what they think

Thankyou so much to everyone who has helped out posting on this thread - has all been very helpful.

Ok so little update:
They are thinking of reserving a bitch from Marinita German Shepherds:

Sire – Hausmailand Quattro
Dam – Kazaura Yazmin von Marinita

Does anyone have any knowledge of mum and dad, regarding them being good, healthy dogs. How do I go about searching their hip and elbow scores?

I will get the family to ask the breeder about it too and also check what other health check they do, but I just wanted to find out myself first too

Kazaura Yazmin 7:7 hips 0 elbows
Hausmailand Quattro A-normal hips normal elbows ZW 76
risk of hd lower than average in his progeny

I would expect ALL available tests to be done until the puppies that are bred are normal by inheritance

Thanks for the quick reply! Sounds good will get them to ask the breeder to and hopefully they will have done all other tests on the parents but again will check!

All being well I think there is a little girl gsd going to them in November!

How exciting! I really like Anita's dogs (and horses ;-)) and it would be lovely if you could give us updates on the pup and photos too