Mixing the lines

[Lucy Dog]

A few recent threads and posts have me thinking what everyone thinks about mixing bloodlines - should it be done? Should it be avoided? Should some be mixed and others not to so much?

I know you see a lot of Czech x DDR mixes as well as some east and west WL mixes. A few members, myself included, have working and german show mixes. The recent thread about an ASL and GSL mix has been a pretty big hit.

So... how does everyone feel on the subject?

[Andaka]

I have a ASL/DDR cross, and i a crazy about him. He is the neatest dog I have had in a long time. Much of what I like and dislike about him came from his sire -- my boy Tag, but his big head and rich color is most likely the DDR. He is very willing to work -- although he has entered the "adolescent male" stage where he does tend to think twice before doing what I tell him to do.

Deestraum-Andaka's Jagged Edge - German Shepherd Dog

To me (and I hope Leis isn;t insulted) but he reminds me of her Nikon.

[Andaka]

Since DDR lines tend to have higher thresholds they often make appropriate mixers for other lines that may need modifiers for sharpness or reactivity.

[Lucy Dog]

I'm not too sure how I feel on the subject, but that's only because I haven't been around enough mixed lined GSD's to give a legitimate opinion.

In my experience with Lucy (wgsl x DDR/Czech), the results were positive. Solid nerves, healthy, nice drive, etc. Good dog for what I was looking for.

[PaddyD]

Outcrossing (JMHO) has always been a good idea. It's the same concept as creating mutts or hybrids but (obviously) within the same breed. It gives you an opportunity to bring in desirable traits from different lines and, hopefully, creating better dogs.

[Freestep]

I know very little about GSD bloodlines. I know even less about Pit Bull bloodlines, but I have learned that the latter are very closely linebred, to the point where introducing another line may be considered blasphemy by purists, as the resulting offspring are less likely to exhibit the desired characteristics and may be unpredictable. Pit Bull purists look down upon "scatterbred" dogs and it seems some GSD purists feel the same way.

I think what it comes down to with any breed possessing aggression is nerve strength. Some lines of GSD have more aggression, and some have weak nerves; you combine the two and you have a loaded gun. I think that's what gives breeders pause when attempting to combine different bloodlines. I do wish the GSD could be one breed, and that all GSD accross the board would have strong enough nerve to balance the potential aggression, but we are a long ways away from that it appears.

[Freestep]

Originally Posted by Andaka

I have a ASL/DDR cross, and i a crazy about him. He is the neatest dog I have had in a long time.

Deestraum-Andaka's Jagged Edge - German Shepherd Dog

He is quite handsome! So just the maternal great-grandfather is DDR, yes? I wonder what the first generation ASL/DDR cross was like, do you happen to know?

[GSDElsa]

The way Freestep explained it is the way I've always heard it explained...I have seen a lot of ASL's and WGSL's, but I really don't know a lot about the individual dogs other than general abstract.

But there is SUCH a significant difference in some of the lines, I think you really have to be careful how you cross back in. I don't think anyone will argue that genetic diversity is a good thing...you just can't do it to do it.

[Lucy Dog]

Freestep... I definitely see what you're saying. There's such a drastic difference between some of these lines that it's almost like they're separate breeds. You really don't know what you're going to get.

[Vandal]

I have "mixed lines" in the past and probably would again, if I liked the dog. There is nothing wrong with doing that. I have added DDR, ( years ago so both dogs being used were different than many of the dogs we see now), and I got decent dogs. The generation after I added the DDR dog was better though, and many times, that's the way breeding works. It is not a" put two dogs together and get exactly what you are looking to produce" kind of thing, although, of course, that can happen. It is a case of adding this and then maybe the next breeding, you add a little of that. I have used males with more "show lines" years ago...but that was years ago. I would not use a show line dog now.

Recently, I did a breeding to a male with a small amount of older Czech in his lines. Don't know much at all about those lines and didn't do the breeding because of that , or to add diversity. I know just about everything about the rest of that dog's pedigree and I liked the dog quite a bit. Didn't need to ask anyone for an opinion of what might come from the breeding, I already pretty much knew. I can't say I have ever done a breeding to simply add diversity. I did the breeding because the dogs complimented each other or one added something that I was looking for.

I usually look at the dogs. For me, and for many breeders I know , ( who breed very good dogs), it is more a feeling you get about what two dogs might produce. After that, I will look at the pedigree . Of course the pedigree is considered, that should go without saying, just that maybe I am not doing it the same way others seem to be saying they are.

Here is one of my little "Czech crosses" lol.