What percentage of GSD owners do Schh?

[qbchottu]

There are very few handler owned/trained (HOT) and even less breeder/handler owned/trained dogs (BHOT) in the USA. I would wager that the majority of show lines are sent to Germany to be titled or are imported titled; especially showline females. Working dogs are not exempt either - many are sent away to trainers for titling or are imported with titles. It is difficult, expensive, and time consuming to title a dog yourself. I would love if there was a placing for HOT/BHOT dogs at the sieger shows - would be interesting to see which dogs place under that criteria.

A lot of breeders find it MUCH easier to ship a dog away for titling. This is no big secret, but a lot of the buying public don't realize that there are two vastly different ways to get a title. Buy your titles or do it yourself. To me, it really matters if a breeder titles their own dogs. Find breeders that title, train their own dogs. Breeders that keep/train/title their own progeny to BHOT status. Breeders that keep generations of stock and can follow the motherline carefully through generations. Those are the types of breeders I prefer to support because they put in the necessary time/effort into doing it right. When I see a kennel with 10 females from 10 different kennels, all with imported/bought titles, and no progeny carrying the kennel name kept back - I have misgivings about that breeder.

[lhczth]

I would say maybe 5% and that could be high in this country. Lack of clubs, travel distance, hired sleeves, costs, and the fact that you need a vastly different dog than the majority of puppies born. Also dog sport is looked at differently over here. It is just another sport that people happen to do with dogs (instead of horses, bats, balls, etc).

I remember reading some where that in Germany 75% of the puppies born are show lines. Maybe 5-10% are working lines and the rest are mixes of the two.

B/HOT is a lot of work. IMO it is worth that work.

[robk]

I think that the assumption is wrong that most dogs are either working or show. Most are back yard bred. I can open my newspaper right now and there is probably 5 litters of GSDs for sale. Multiply this across every newspaper or Craigslist type publication accross the country and we are swamped. the pet type dogs being purchased by people who have never even heard of a reputable breeder let alone Schutzhund. I think 1 % is too high a percentage.

[ponyfarm]

Originally Posted by robk

I think that the assumption is wrong that most dogs are either working or show. Most are back yard bred. I can open my newspaper right now and there is probably 5 litters of GSDs for sale. Multiply this across every newspaper or Craigslist type publication accross the country and we are swamped. the pet type dogs being purchased by people who have never even heard of a reputable breeder let alone Schutzhund. I think 1 % is too high a percentage.

I am afraid you are correct! But, where are they all and what are they doing? I rarely see a gsd when I am out, rarely at AKC OB/RAlly events, and just a few at the puppy school I help at..and we have 40 puppies a weekend. (mostly labra-doodles...ugh) Hmm. maybe why so many in rescue..nobody trains em or maybe they are too weak-nerved to even do anything! Some must be OK or they wouldnt continually be so popular.

One of the great seven mysteries of the world!

[robk]

They are in back yards across America. People are unable to take them anywhere because the are too big, too aggressive and too unruly to be hassled with.

[onyx'girl]

now now, nothing wrong with backyard dawgs!

[4TheDawgies]

Originally Posted by robk

They are in back yards across America. People are unable to take them anywhere because the are too big, too aggressive and too unruly to be hassled with.

unfortunately this is very very true.

[G-burg]

I would also say the percentage is very low for SchH.. And that most of the GSD's bred today in this country, working/show/american lines end up in strictly pet homes where their just pets.. and maybe even antoher small percentage of that that actually do AKC ob, agility, herding, etc.

[wink-_-wink]

Originally Posted by onyx'girl

now now, nothing wrong with backyard dawgs!

That is one back yard I don't want to roam into with ill intentions!

[Rerun]

Originally Posted by ponyfarm

Using logical thinking:
A reputable breeder uses dogs that are titled in schh
Very few owners/breeders do schh
thus, the majority of titled dogs must be imported

Right?

With breeding the way it is in this country, I'd wager an educated guess that the majority of the schutzhund dogs are coming from a very tiny percentage of good breeders breeding dogs with what it takes.

The rest are backyard dogs who never go to puppy class, much less obedience class, and who are kept in houses and backyards as pets. I can not think of a single person I know that is a normal pet owner that has any interest in going to obedience class, much less any kind of sport - even a fun one. They don't seem to understand the point of it, and don't have an interest in anything other than having a couch pet. I'm not saying there is anything at all wrong with that, right now all mine are is pets. But you have to consider the average person vs the average person on THIS kind of forum. A dog is a pet to them, that's it.

I don't agree that all GSD's that aren't out doing sports and aren't well bred are unruly, aggressive, etc and therefore are left in the backyard. Honestly, most of the people I KNOW with GSD's don't do anything with them, there is a variety of breeding in the mix, and they are all well adjusted pets. That is not to say they are schutzhund material, but the reason you aren't seeing them is because they are pets, not because they are unmanageable beasts who can't be taken out into public.