Companion Home vs Working Home

[GSDLove]

While I am not in the market for a puppy yet, I do like going to breeders websites and looking at their dogs and puppies.

Some of the top-notch breeders of working line/DDR GSDs state on their websites “preference given to working homes”.

My question is - how someone goes about getting a well breed family pet/companion of WL/DDR pedigree if most go only to working homes? Or is there a percent of every litter that do go to companion homes?

Mary

[GSDBESTK9]

Not all puppies in the litter are going to be the same. Some will be working prospects with high drives and such and some pups will be more suitable for companion dogs. Some however will be in the middle, they could go either way, but obviously working homes will be prefered.

[martemchik]

A lot of them do go to companion homes because working households are very picky on the puppies they get. Say there are 6 in a litter and only 2 show the drive to do work of some sort, the people that are going to work their dogs will wait for the next litter until they get the dog they want. This means 4 will go to companion homes. Sometimes people wait years to get a puppy from a breeder they like because litters might not have enough working prospects in them.

[Lucy Dog]

Preference is just a preference - it's not a prerequisite.

Just because a breeder prefers their puppies go to working homes doesn't mean that they all will. If there's a litter of 8 puppies, what are the odds that all 8 puppies go to working homes? What's the odds that all 8 puppies are suitable to be worked? Some of those pups will probably go to companion/pet homes.

[bocron]

Generally in a litter of 6 or 8, you rarely get ALL pups that would be for working homes. You also almost never get that many strictly working home buyers either, so there are always companion homes needed and sold to. Usually when they say preference given to working homes means that if they only get 3-4 pups and have that many buyers looking for working dogs then those buyers get first right of refusal type of thing. No serious working breeder wants to place a dog in the wrong situation if they can help it. They don't want someone who really wants to work and possibly title a dog to get a couch potato and they don't want a family getting a dog that is a holy terror and they end up getting back.
One of the females we have we ended up with because the breeder just knew she was an absolute handful and while she had 3-4 companion homes looking, she just didn't want to place the dog in an untenable situation. When my husband met her the breeder said if he wanted her we could have her, but if not she was going to keep her. She was a special puppy, just totally full of herself and literally bouncing off the walls. Now that she is a year and a half, she is very settled and would make a great family dog, but getting her to this point was work. The breeder would have most likely gotten her back,so it was a good decision all the way around. Now of course you couldn't get her away from my husband, he is totally smitten with her, all 55lbs of her!

[Lucy Dog]

Same applies with the show line breeders. I'd hope that a show line breeder would be interested/involved in the world of showing if they're breeding show dogs.

So they breed a litter and have 8 gorgeous puppies. What are the odds that all 8 of those puppies will either be held back or go to a home looking to show the dog? I'm sure not every single one of them. Some of those puppies will end up going to homes not looking to show their show line dogs.

[LaRen616]

I have a 5 month old female Czech/West German Working line female, she is strictly a pet but I would like to get her involved with agility and maybe do some herding for fun.

I dont really talk to any of her littermate's owners but I do know that one of her brothers is doing Sch training.

[holland]

Originally Posted by GSDLove

While I am not in the market for a puppy yet, I do like going to breeders websites and looking at their dogs and puppies.

Some of the top-notch breeders of working line/DDR GSDs state on their websites “preference given to working homes”.

My question is - how someone goes about getting a well breed family pet/companion of WL/DDR pedigree if most go only to working homes? Or is there a percent of every litter that do go to companion homes?

Mary

I love looking at websites too. I think I have been looking at them too long though-some websites make me laugh and I am not sure that is their intention. Obviously their preference is a working home. As a buyer I will decide what my preference is Websites do tell something about the breeder-I believe

[bocron]

Originally Posted by bocron

they don't want a family getting a dog that is a holy terror and they end up getting back.

I feel I must clarify my own remark . I don't mean to imply that working line puppies are holy terrors, more to mean that to the person looking for a nice family companion, some of the wl pups would be way beyond what they are wanting to work with. To us, the bouncing off the wall pups are a blast, as long as they are engaging and like to be messed with, the wilder the better . That wl pup video on Leerburg always makes me smile since to us that is just the dog we want and love. In my experience, most of them settle into nice dogs to have in the house as well, it is generally a matter of training and time spent.
I also used to work with a lot of ADHD kids in a former life, so there is that...

[Cassidy's Mom]

In Halo's litter there were several puppies that went to people who were looking for a dog to compete in Schutzhund. One of her littermates went to someone for SAR training. A brother was held back a little longer because he needed to go to an experienced working home. Halo was listed as being appropriate for a working OR active pet home, as were a couple of the others. Our dogs are an active part of our life, but we are by not "working" them in the usual sense of the word. Halo is in scentwork and flyball classes.