What lines to breed to my male?

[Dr89]

Ok now before this starts a huge lecture/debate, let me start by saying I am not in any position right now to start breeding GSDs. It will be several years before I have the proper facilities, land, etc. BUT, I'm a serial hobbyist and like to learn as much as I can about everything I do, and I always make it a point to be one of the best at anything I take up!

My male is only 5 1/2 months old right now, he starts obedience and schutzhund in January. I don't know his lines because I have not yet received his papers in the mail. I also haven't had him x-rayed yet because the vet said for the sake of only having to do it once lets wait until he's full grown.

So, for the purpose of this thread: let's assume his hips/elbows/and health screening all check out, lets assume he is from german working lines (months of researching has led me to this conclusion but, I will see for sure when we get the papers,) and lastly let's assume he excels and I title him in a couple of things over the next few years.

IF he turns out to be breeding material, and I will be checking with various clubs and the schutz people I'm seeing on there opinion of this, then I will be in the market for a high quality bitch. She will come into our home first and foremost as a companion/working dog. But I plan to buy an adult female, titled, breed-worthy, etc. So that being the case, what kind of lines are a good match for a german working type dog. Rambo has high prey drive, and high pack drive, good nerve, and I want to maintain these attributes.

I'm very, very interested in the czech lines, but would these likely be a good match? Let me know your opinions.

[unloader]

[Dr89]

Hahaha, noo I really hope it doesn't go down that road! I'm not some unintelligent fella just trying to make a buck. I'm a hardworking, educated person, and I love the dog sports and the breed in general. I have a lot of learning to do about genetics, training, and everything that goes along with breeding. But I am not shying away from that fact or pretending to know everything I need to know.

There's actually an x-factor to this whole thing: What kicked me off to this idea is the fact that central Kentucky is just overflowing with BYB's, and plenty of people willing to support them. Kentucky is in no way a progressive state, and is very uneducated as a whole. The idea is that if I can someday be in a financial situation that allows me to breed quality german shepherds, foster, and rehabilitate gsd's from shelters, I can sell adults (rescued) and puppies (bred by me and/or rescued) at a price that is comparable to the many BYB's around here, I can perhaps manage to "put out" some of the bad breeders by making them irrelevant.

[GSDElsa]

Um, well, without knowing his pedigree no one can (or I should say SHOULD) tell you what to breed your dog to.

As an aside...why on earth did you purchase you dog without knowing his background??? How do you NOT know his pedigree--with or without papers in hand???

[GSDElsa]

Also, you should probably be looking at things first like health screening and titling before even beginning to worry about the bitch to breed him to. For instance, you should be doing prelim xrays on him around a year with final xrays at 2 years.

What do YOU think the minimum criteria is to test his temperament before you breed him (ie titles). What is it that you are interested in producing? What is it that you want to accomplish?

When you do find out his bloodlines...those are other things that people will need to know. If you are interested in primarily showing vs. herding vs. SAR vs. Schutzhund vs. SDA etc.

[W.Oliver]

I agree with GSDelsa, health screen, have acceptable hips & elbows, and accomplish a SchH1, then explore breeding the dog. Between here and there, study.

[Jason L]

I just want to add even titling a dog (all the way to SchH3) does that necessarily mean it's breeding material. We'll all be better off if people are just a bit more picky about breeding!

[Dr89]

Originally Posted by GSDElsa

Um, well, without knowing his pedigree no one can (or I should say SHOULD) tell you what to breed your dog to.

As an aside...why on earth did you purchase you dog without knowing his background??? How do you NOT know his pedigree--with or without papers in hand???

I'd just like some ideas about what common combination's are among different lines, or if most stick to the same lines because it results in more stable temperaments maybe?

And as for the second part, when I bought the pup I didn't even know there was a such thing as a reputable breeder vs. a byb. This forum has opened my eyes to so much that goes on, and in my area you can open the newspaper year 'round and see "akc german shepherd pups for sale" and not just one ad, but several. It's almost an epidemic. And I've been thinking lately about what a solution could be. The fact is as long as people are buying dogs from these people, it's not going to stop. So fostering and rescuing isn't enough. I believe you can "market" so to speak, to people who don't understand the crisis, and get them to buy from a reputable breeder (hopefully me in a few years)--but that breeder would have to use the general public's outlets (newspaper, craigslist) and be at their price range (~500). You won't find any reputable breeders taking this approach, which is understandable.

But in the eyes of the purchaser, they would see all these ads and then one would stand out because they have "champion bloodlines, certified hips, health guarantee, etc." So if it's around the same price, why would someone NOT buy from that person? And then of course the main difference would be that a dog that didn't work out, would be returned to the breeder (me) and not taken to a shelter.

Keep in mind this is a thread for gathering info and I'm just thinking through this. No new puppies are in the near future so there is no need to start panicking

[Dr89]

Originally Posted by W.Oliver

I agree with GSDelsa, health screen, have acceptable hips & elbows, and accomplish a SchH1, then explore breeding the dog. Between here and there, study.

Yes this is my current plan, but it's just really interesting to me and I wanted to begin getting a feel for what other breeder's are doing.

[unloader]

Originally Posted by Dr89

So if it's around the same price, why would someone NOT buy from that person? And then of course the main difference would be that a dog that didn't work out, would be returned to the breeder (me) and not taken to a shelter.

I don't envy the amount of money, time and stress a breeder must go through to have a litter of pups. Not to mention the time spent finding and training a suitable stud or dam.

Most reputable breeders sell expensive pups because all of that money goes back into the program with little profit.

I know my breeder spent a few thousand on breedings that never took, it's just a loss that she has to deal with.

With that said, I am extremely thankful for the breeders that spend the time, money and deal with all the stress and heartache to breed such wonderful dogs.