Looking for a Breeder in Florida, please take a look at the link

[Neko]

Hello,

My husband grew up with flat back shepherds that lived 12 years +
We are now looking for a new puppy and are not sure what direction to go because the breed has changed so much. We are finding dogs with a slight sloped back. Does this hurt them? or limit working/playing ability?

We could really use feedback. We want a dog that will be for family mostly, but we are very outdoorsy and want him to go with us on the river, beach, parks etc... and maybe joining a local clubs to do training and some games.

What is your opinion on this? we are not experts on reading pedigree:
German Shepherds - Home

Sire - German Shepherds

Breeder seams awesome and caring for the dogs and has a 6 year generation hip and DNA certificates.

Thank you so much!!!

[UnlimitedGSD]

I don't even know where to start... :-(

Find a breeder that does something with their breeding stock, does health testing, posts proper information and doesn't just have two dogs that they breed together and charge you $1500 for!

Sorry, I hate when I see people selling puppies this way!

[sit,stay]

It could be that the website is just poorly set up. OP, are the dogs that are actually being breed doing anything? It is great that they have a six generation pedigree of dogs that have been health tested and worked in some way. But unless the dogs being bred have also been worked in some venue that has provided an objective opinion regarding their overall quality, a pedigree full of competitive dogs doesn't mean that these two dogs should be bred.

What does the breeder say about the choices made regarding these two dogs? There needs to be something more than just "successful and healthy" dogs in the pedigree.
Sheilah

[wolfstraum]

Little River Canine - Betty Mathena - board member - does PP training and breeds for stability.....

look her up.....

Lee

[Neko]

ahh thank you so much for the feedback so far.

I was told that they are show dogs with grandparents from Germany and that they want to keep German bloodlines. The dogs are AKC and they are currently applying for membership at the united shutzhund club in Tampa. And they invited me to come over to see the friendly temperament for myself and meet the parents and pups.

My husband is visiting today and I will go on Saturday. My first concern was the back because we lack experienced with this type of a GSD.

[carmspack]

not flat backed , the sire has a poor front - seen in the top row where the dog is just sitting -- then who is the dog 4th , 5th , 6th from bottom - could use better condition , better muscle and tone , then on picture 3 from bottom you can see curve in back.
Same to be said of female -- just lacking something , some spark of "life" -- both sire and dam to the tail wrap when stacked - I know some dogs don't like to hold the position -- but tail wrapping mmmm confidence problem not totally secure? There's no muscle in the thigh. Picture #20 of dam sitting -- poor , short upper arm , and feet flat as a pancake . Look to where the two, male and female are sitting together , both are shifted onto a hip (right flank) because they can't get their front in underneath them, curve in back , no flexibility there . uhh male also has bad feet - long and flat . bottom of page where dog is sitting you can see she is sitting on her bum not on her hock so this time pelvis shifted forward instead of tuck to the side.

[Andaka]

Nocturne Acres Kennels German Shepherd Dogs contact her. She has been involved with GSD's for years and trains in a wide variety of performance events.

[carmspack]

In one of the older GSD Review magazines which I sent to Bethany 12/12/12 -- there is a picture of an American bred Ch and SchH 3 dog -- from "american" lines not recent import stock. Actually there WERE some good working dogs in the American bred lines in the mid to late 70's , earliest 80s . I delayed sending the magazines out because I was spending so much time re-reading some of the articles -- which stressed working and FRONT angulation , balance. As time went on the extreme rears and side-gait won out -- Bethany will see , maybe she can comment . (and find the dog with the titles on both ends)

[wolfstraum]

with the right software - anyone can produce a 10 to 20 generation of any registered dog....it means nothing that they have this.....these dogs look like a pair of pets and have nothing to indicate that they should be breeding stock....please do yourself a favor and look beyond the fact that they are "nice pets"....there is so so so much more to it - and there are thousands of 'nice pet' type GSDs being put down in this country daily that were produced by greedy/irresponsible/ignorant people who had "nice pets"...

For $1500 you can find pups from parents which have some type of credentials to indicate they are of a quality to be bred.

Lee

[Neko]

My husband visited the breeder today. There are 2 adult dogs and they are 2 years old. The puppies and parents were in a good shape and well taken care off. One thing that my husband liked is the intelligence and temperament of the parents. We are looking for a friendly dog since we plan on taking it with us everywhere. These dogs were great with him, listened to command in both English and German. Just friendly and obedient. I think the puppies are $1,000 for limited registration, but i am torn if this is going to be a great pet or keep looking...

The breeder seemed to know allot about the breed and sounded like he really cares for the dogs. They did not look like they have too much funds so they are using the money from the puppies to further advance the dogs and join clubs and activities.

All the the feedback you have provided is great so far and we really appreciate it =)