I don't like ad's like this

[Mendel's Balls]

Pretty good article on this topic:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...ignerdogs.html

[NightLad]

Pretty good article on this topic:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...ignerdogs.html

No matter the source, a reporter not intimately versed in the topic of an article can only reflect what they are told by experts. Even the self-proclaimed type. To me, this article reflects that.

From the article:

"I was increasingly disheartened with breeding German shepherds," said Manners. "These dogs, like other pure breeds of the show world had been bred for looks, and health was largely ignored. German shepherds, for example, are plagued with 89 inherited disorders."

German Shepherds are used as police/armed forces dogs across the world, most notably here in North America. Their high intelligence, loyalty, ability to take command, as well as many other traits makes them ideal for the job. If they were so defunct, you'd think they would have been out of that game centuries ago. Notably Manners operates a designer dog business. Perhaps he is trying to forge a new, legitimized dog breed... only time will tell. But for this person to take a dump on legit pure-blood dog breeds like that is, I feel, disrespectful and ignorant.

The fact that he'd choose the German Shepherd as an example - a dog used by police and armed forces personnel for centuries - makes his comments highly suspect. I question the motivations for his various swipes at pure-blood animals in this article. For example; I've been unable to find any other source claiming German shepherds have "89 inherant disorders." I didn't just check online, either; I asked my brothers friend who trains dogs (mostly German shepherds) for the police force. She had no idea where that number came from.

You will also notice that Manners didn't mention how many health issues his lapadoodles have. Ah, but they've not been around long enough to really know.

[littleindiangirl]

No matter the source, a reporter not intimately versed in the topic of an article can only reflect what they are told by experts. Even the self-proclaimed type. To me, this article reflects that.

From the article:

"I was increasingly disheartened with breeding German shepherds," said Manners. "These dogs, like other pure breeds of the show world had been bred for looks, and health was largely ignored. German shepherds, for example, are plagued with 89 inherited disorders."

I find that so strange to read....

Considering I grew up around many German Shepard's, and what I know of breeders of GSD's, they take great pride in their pairings that have shown little to no inherited problems. Responsible breeders do yearly tests for these disorders, and many will guarantee the animals do not carry them, or the line has had minimum occurrences. Many responsible breeders have dogs bred that are an accomplished champion in some working event or show.

I think he is talking about his back end in short, it simply goes against all my experiences talking with breeders of many different breeds. Health is one of the first things taken into account for responsible breeders before a pairing. We're not talking the occasional breeder here, but the people who give their lives and homes to bettering the breed, or maintaining the standards...

They are increasingly in the minority these days...

[stangs13]

I've been unable to find any other source claiming German shepherds have "89 inherant disorders." I didn't just check online, either; I asked my brothers friend who trains dogs (mostly German shepherds) for the police force. She had no idea where that number came from.

German shepherds do have many problems compaired to other dog breeds. Hip displaysia being the biggest. Most breeders will tell you that there dogs don't have these problems though, they have had them tested. There still great dogs, my dad was a dog handler in the army and in the police force and had GSs and Belgian malnwa( that is not the right spelling at all...LOL). I wont hesitate to ever buy a GS. Nice thread everyone!!

[wendy]

my opinion on this.....

snakes are a different ballgame (pardon the pun) entirely.

dogs on the otherhand....well i can' believe mixing these breeds, that akc and other dog

associations recognize them. (part of evolution maybe?)

on the other hand....breeding dogs is cool if done properly and legally and most

importantly...humanely. i feel that if people pay for a dog, they are more likely to care for

it.

i have seen toooo many free puppies get passed around like they are an ashtray or

something.

[wolfy-hound]

I would like to point out, German Shepards(and a LOT of AKC breeds) have not "been around for centuries".
German shepards as they are known today are slightly over One century old. Many other breeds are not even fifty. Most of the toy breeds came about very recently.
That's still a LOT of generations, and some breeds HAVE been around for a long long time(usually the Japanese, or chinese breeds).
Any dog being bred can have genetic issues, or defects. The breeder should always be aware of the dog's health and possible issues prior to breeding it, and if they just don't really care, they shouldn't be breeding dogs.
The lack of specifics in the original ad shows that they don't seem at all concerned with the quality of dog, and in fact, very few breeders would part with a quality intact female of breeding age.

[wendy]

i agree. sheps are my favorite. i just put mine down a year ago...he was 13.

different breeds have different ailments and qualities. if it is to improve the overall quality of the animal, then great. but its all about dead presidents now.

as a breeder myself, i took a long time to pick my breeders. i didn't care if i got to breed that year as long as i could find what i wanted, the best.

akc, ukc they are corrupt. as long as you have your fee money, they give you papers. its a shame. my 2 cents.

[mooingtricycle]

Breeding 2 different kinds of dogs is not like breeding 2 different kinds of ball pythons.

All dogs. Are the same species. Just with different physical Attributes. So yes. It is akin to breeding two different kinds of ball pythons.

[mooingtricycle]

akc, ukc they are corrupt. as long as you have your fee money, they give you papers. its a shame. my 2 cents.

Why do you think they are corrupt? Papers are needed to register an animal with known lineages, from my understanding. Not just anyone can register their dog because they have money. And the litter needs to be registered for an animal to become AKC register-able.

[wolfy-hound]

The problem arises when you have papers, so you use those papers to register a litter of pups that are not from those dogs. Or you say there are more pups in a legitimate litter, and sell the extra papers, or use pups from another litter and say those are from the original litter.
You can buy papers from unscrupulous breeders for dogs that have no papers, then breed all you like.
Puppy mills are infamous for turning out large litters of pups, like 8 maltese in one litter... then any fluffy white puppy of about the right age, or younger suddenly becomes a 'maltese AKC papered'. They even have files of extra papers so they can supply whatever type of pup. The same white fluffy pup can be a shih tzu, lsasa, poodle, bichon, maltese, havanese, etc.
The AKC and other organizations are just as corupt as any organization, in that there's always someone that is supposed to check, and obviously doesn't, or "overlooks" discrepancies.