"and the parents have been imported because of the strict breeding guidelines - healthy hips and elbows."

you don't have to be imported to have this !

I would rather buy from a domestic breeder , with a dedicated breeding programme , where they are thoroughly familiar with lines that they have developed over decades.

the breeder that might have "imported parents" may be a serial first generation breeder , never getting to know their stock .

those are common. The developed lines ? not so much .

 

I agree with Carmen, many US breeders follow responsible breeding guidelines.
Get in touch with Malinda at Weberhaus.
Weberhaus German Shepherds - Home

 

For what its worth, I second this lol.

 

Lee Hough - Wolfstraum on here, just did a breeding a couple of weeks ago, that would fit what you are looking for. Mother is HGH (herding titled) and SV Hips and Elbows, also DM clear. Kira's mother will be going on 14 years old and still doing very well. Father is a Certified Narcotics Detection Dog with his owner/trainer/handler in Baltimore, MD. They do private detection work and have a contract with the Federal Government for detection work. Branik also has his OFA's and DM Clear. Both dogs are Sables and will produce Sables and possibly Blacks. Both parents come from generations of titled and health tested dogs. I would definitely recommend you talk with her. Her website is out of date due to tech issues.

 

I can also recommend Lee Hough ( @wolfstraum on these forums). I have a puppy from her previous litter (Kira's brother Komet and Lee's female Panther) and he is a great dog! Very smart, bonded with my wife and I instantly, great with our other GSD, and our cats, just over all an extremely confident and easy to live with puppy...I really can't say enough good about him, he's just awesome.

Lee is great too. Very good experience from start to finish. When the day comes that we are looking for another puppy, she will be the first person I go to.

 

Thanks for the referral. Can you tell me how I can get in touch with them?

Thanks,
B-

 

PM her on here. She is also very helpful to someone she didn't know, me. Answered every question I had. That said I have never meet her and have no affiliation with her. Wolfstraum that is.

 

I think Czech German Shepherd is the best choice. The Czech German Shepherd bloodlines originate in communist Czechoslovakia in 1899 as government working dogs for the border control arm of the Czech Army – the Pohranichi Straze. Breeding of the Czech German Shepherd began in a single kennel in 1955 when Max von Stephanitz saw Horand von Grafrath – the first officially registered German Shepherd – at a dog show and decided he had the best qualities to be a working dog.

 

Not sure what you are saying. Von Stephanitz bought Horand in 1899. The zPS breeding program started in 1955, long after Horand died and was mostly based on DDR dogs, and the DDR dogs considered the foundation dogs were born in the 1970's and 1980's and selected by Jiri Novotny, who started directing the zPS program in 1981, and probable had the greatest influence on the breeding stock and results. IMO, since the zPS program ended, the selection of dogs by Novotny has gone in a different direction due to the market, and many of the newer dogs are very different than the early dogs. This is an old thread, but I was responding to the post from today.

 

Not to mention, Czechoslovakia wasn't even a country until 1918, and wasn't part of the 'East' (i.e. Communist) until 1948. When Von Stephanitz bought Horand and started the SV registry that still exists today Czechoslovakia was part of Austria-Hungary.

 

Old thread anyway

 

I'm not sure what the early zPS dogs were like from their onset until in 1955 until 1981 when Novotny brought in some nice DDR studs with strong conformation and strong defensive aggression. I assume they were more inconsistent in type/structure, low prey drive, with good and bad sharpness and probably more health problems than when Jiri started breeding with a consistent strategy and developing knowledge of the lines he was producing. My understanding is that many of the early DDR dogs at the Berlin Wall were nervy and valued because they would bark easily alerting soldiers of people trying to escape the DDR, but not many were confident working dogs. I have also heard a fair amount were valued for their tracking ability. The later DDR dogs that Novotny brought in were high quality DDR dogs with classic large bone and heads, dark pigment and confident sharpness.