Working line German shepherds Working Dogs

I don't know anything about it Murf. They look serious little s*ds though, don't they My hubby said if he were after a GSD he'd like the really hard looking one on the right in the pic

Well you will know that they know their business then

Me too..
I spoke to the wife ..l
Its not happening but i spoke to her ...lol

Not sure I would react at all tbh. I think health testing has a place in dog breeding, but I don't agree it is the be all and end all.

Yogi's sire also has a higher than average hip score. That didn't worry me unduly either.

My hubby breeds working sheepdogs, who are eye tested as per the ISDS rules. He could hipscore, and test for CEA/CH,
CL and TNS. He does not.

Haha! Allan said if he had a spare kennel and a need for a GSD, that is the pup he would have.

The only thing I do know about them (as per the website) is that they are Belgian lines, which I believe can be very high drive and not usually suitable for pets - but make excellent working dogs.

i was thinking about starting a hobby with it..lol..

Deja vu..

I have known Margaret for over 20 years,I have had her dogs in the past and would certainly have one in the future,

Ooh right back to the beginning again

Oh no - you will be burned at the stake with me

Why? So she can try and convince me she knows better than to health test? No ta, it's very dangerous territory to be in and part of the reason some sections of the dog breeding fraternity are in the state they're in.

I'll continue to to stand by my statement previously:

No amount of "special drive" would make me choose an untested dog in a breed as numerically strong as the GSD.

There will be plenty of GSDs out there who will be equally as special and there is simply no excuse for it imo. In a sad way it's "nice" (note the air quotation marks before people jump down my throat) to show that other factions of the dog breeding world can be equally guilty when it comes to bad breeding practices.

I'm not having a go at you or your dog Kirsty, I would hope you know that, but I can't ever agree with such practices I'm afraid.

LOL LOL LOL LOL

No problem And no hard feelings

I take it testing for dm is out of the question then?

Only a couple of points above the average?

Breeders wishing to reduce the risk of hip dysplasia should choose stock with scores WELL BELOW the breed mean scores

As the GSD is numerically strong I would only be using dogs with hip scores in single figures.

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Yes more than possibly, I am just trying to gain more understanding of these health checks because I am very concerned that we might be knee jerking and further limiting a gene pool already limited by linebreeding by picking some health checks and then removing dogs from the gene pool on the basis of the results without looking in more depth into the mechanisms as to how the good and bad results happen in dogs
For example are those figures actually bad, do they impact on the dog at all or do we simply not know?

Thankyou, yes I wondered if that was the case with the hips
It is a bit of a worry that we might be using these numbers as gospel for not breeding very good dogs when actually we dont know why the hips have the results they have and it is more than possible that breeding only dogs with good hips will still not improve the hips
As far as I can see in so many breeds were are reaching a stage where we should be thinking of taking less litters from more dogs rather than limiting the gene pools so much
Not saying not to health test, but to also not take it as gospel without questioning lots

Yes exactly, at BEST it only shows what you are testing for

Yes it seems to some that it is the be all and end all
It is a useful addition to other breeding practisies
But at the same time in many ways it is new and untested
also it only tests for the things we have tests for
I dont know a single collie with any of the conditions tested for

I do know far to many with epilepsy (many from a breeder who states she dosent have it in her lines) many with really bad noise sensitiviy, reactivity
hmm all these would pass health tests

Some excellent points, well made BenMc.

Like I said, if it wasn't tragic it'd be funny.

Really? Why?
I ask the same questions regardles of the dog
It is simply asking questions - to me it seems that far too many people are just doing what they are told and not asking 'why?'
and the more I am looking into breeding practises (show/working/whatever) the more I am worried that we may well have things very badly wrong and have no way of really knowing until it is far too late

Do you still want a WL gsd Clo..lol