Sable Conformation Line Dogs in the US - Page 2

I think the days of doing things on your own are over in the US. A few years ago you could drag a top import in for the sieger show,,, but now the top places go to the dogs with the groups as it should be. It takes a team to work together. You need good females, good homes for the puppies, good training opportunities, etc.

I've seen some excellent sables shown recently and they place where they deserve to be placed. You have the dogs from Thomas and his female Happy that are doing quite well, Rik's male last year, a few of my own.

The question I have is; Will it be possible to get a good dog and pull together a group of people that can work together? There are many obstacles. Distance is a major problem, training opportunities are few and far between, who would keep and raise the puppies?

How much interest is out there? I've heard from a few. There needs to be a few more.

Are we allowed to know who the dog is??  It may help people to know how interested they might be??   What I meant to say before, is that in any case it is very hard to get the interest and support necessary to present a good progeny group, with a sable it will inevitably be more difficult as fewer breeders want to use them with their females.   However, if the dog is really good I am sure he will be do well and be used.  I hope that you get enough interest and that it all works out.....please let us know if you decide to go ahead.

Randy, would you be kind enough to send me the pedigree? I love sables. I think Chris's female Gina is to die for!

 Whether or not a dog placed well in Germany is a small piece of the big picture as we all know. Progeny groups will be there if the male produces. It doesn't matter the color of the dog except the judges have the preferences and sables have a disadvantage to a degree.
 An outstanding progeny group will place well enough to go far even if sable (which I like). We all know VA or V ratings do not make a dog produce. If you can get top quality bitches to breed to him that's great but if the male doesn't have top progeny on the ground in Germany I'd run the other way because you are swimming upstream in the U.S. with the shortage of good bitches. His working ability means nothing in a breeding program if he doesn't produce. 
I like the sables and wouldn't hesitate to breed to one with a good progeny group. How old is the dog you are looking at?

Tanks for all the responses both public and private. I'm sorry I have not been able to respond to everyone. There's interest from a good cross section of talent and some females willing to participate. Anyone want to sign up for a puppy? Please include your ability to raise the puppy too.

Thanks

I like sables too (and show my sable dog for fun, she is spayed now so no longer elligible for SV style shows), but color pattern is not a top priority for me.  I have seen several sables in shows (as well as blacks, WL/SL crosses, German/American SL crosses, etc) and I believe all got the placement they deserved (based on conformation, temperament in the ring, presentation, and whatever elements the individual judge liked or was picky about).  Sure, they are more of a "rare" thing but I think this is more because so few are entered, not because they are automatically scorned for being sable.  I would love to see more and see them do well, but then more people need to enter them.  I think the goal of achieving a high rating with a progeny group is awesome, but I personally would not breed to a sable male simply for promoting the sable color, it would have to be a good stud with the qualities I was looking for, pretty much all of which would be a higher priority than the color pattern.  There are some great WL dogs that IMO have more correct conformation than a great deal of the SL dogs and I regret that more of these dogs are not entered.  I guess I am more for promoting a "correct" dog as far as conformation AND work as a whole rather than engineering the sable show line dog.