Reading this pedigree, Voxi Vom Geistwasser
 

VOXI VOM GEISTWASSER
[DOB 07.10.12]
Athos vd Wannaer Höhen BH x Irmhild vd Staatsmacht SchH3 KKL2


Voxi vom Geistwasser


All I can tell is that her elbows and hips have a chance to be normal, 3/4 grandparents are SchH3 dogs and that's about it, even though neither of those points make much sense to me.



So on that note, if you don't mind recommending, what is a good source to start at to begin reading and learning about bloodlines, pedigrees, and all that good stuff that you all spit out like it's common fact and confuse me so much about?

Ever since I brought my dog home, I have had an itching to learn so much more about the breed. Finding a good book on GSD seems tough to find and there are so many opinions on this, in fact I have yet to find a book specifically on pedigrees and a decent one on the history of the GSD.


Gracias.

My male Hunter is half brother to Voxi, son of Irmhild v. d. Staatsmacht. I can help you with understanding Hilde's side of the pedigree. Hilde is daughter of Staatsmacht kennel's foundation female, Orla. Orla was a wonderful producer of sport dogs.

Voxi's father Athos is an incredible male, probably my favourite male to date. He is everything I love in a dog (from what I have seen). I have also made myself very familiar with his pedigree since I am getting a daughter out of Athos within a year.

I am happy to chat with you about these pedigrees, since Athos and Hilde are part of my dog family... please feel free to PM me or ask questions here. :)

Hilde's hip score is 82, Athos' score is 72 -- these are nice low numbers. Basically, the lower the score the better the hip production from the pedigree... the number is based on the hip scores of the other dogs in the pedigree.

I also want to mention that Athos is Bill's new competition dog, will be titled this year!

I’m not real sure what kind of information you're looking for about the dogs in your dog’s pedigree, so I’ll just throw out some suggestions.

You learn about the bloodlines by talking to people who have known and seen the dogs and by meeting the dogs yourself. It’s not really something you learn from a book.

The first thing I’d be tempted to do myself is talk to the breeder of your dog. He is a very knowledgeable guy. He (the breeder) is usually the one who can tell you the most.

Also, the breeder of Irmhild von der Staatsmacht and owner of Orla von der Schiffslache was Stefan Schaub so I’d maybe talk to him regarding the mother-line. I know he also has personal experience with Justin vom Pendel Bach. He is a member of this board – send him a PM. Orla not only produced wonderful sport dogs but also some outstanding working dogs employed by Military and Police. Ask Stefan, he will tell you more.

Look up Lisa Clark (lhczth - board Admin) on the board and ask her about Javir vom Talka Marda. She has seen him in person and spent a little time with his breeder. She bred her female to him and kept back a female from the litter and is training her. She will have a good idea on what he produces.

I own 2 males. One is a son of Javir vom Talka Marda (from Lisa's breeding mentioned above) and one is a great grandson of Orla, who is 3-4,3 on Orla (from Stefan's kennel). Both dogs are wonderful boys. They are night-n-day of each other but both maturing into some awesome dogs. I’m more than happy to talk about either (who doesn’t love talking about their dogs) with you.

I also raised and started titling a Hilde son, very nice dog. Really liked Hilde (got to meet her and play with her in person). Talk to Bill and Jen, they are very knowledgeable about their dogs and will answer questions. The dog I got from them was everything I asked for. His hips and elbows are A1 Normal (SV rated) and his ZW score (he has his own score not just the average) is 75. He was SG rated in conformation at 13 months (highest rating possible for that age). He was the fastest German Shepherd in U-Fli flyball (3.9-4 seconds) after less than a year of training.

Thanks all. I have contacted the kennel and actually met Bill once before for a SchH eval and he was very nice and spoke to me for a bit. I may not be taking Voxi since I do still have a an 11mo pup that needs work, but I figured since Athos is the sire, it may be a good start to take a look at. I don't think it can be too early to be doing research especially on this breed. But, I am certain that he will be pointing me in the correct direction in any case.

This shows just how much I know about this stuff... my bad :blush:

Something you should read is The German Shepherd Dog in Word and Picture. It is a history of the breed written by the most famous of the founders of the breed.

There are other sources where you can get good information on dogs of the past. For more recent dogs, as Vinnie pointed out, the best information comes from the sources. The people who owned them, handled them, bred them and/or produced them. Also those that have seen the dogs in person, spent time with them, saw progeny and maybe even owned progeny.

Oh, I'm sorry, I misunderstood. I thought this was a dog you already owned. Sorry. :)