I'm a backyard breeder........... - Page 12

Gustav, I agree, it is a crap shoot, but you still need to do your best to know whether you are breeding a healthy dog or not . I've always thought it would be great if we had a database to show the ratings of the siblings,but that would of course require mandatory hip screenings and I don't have to guess how that would sit with breeders and most dog owners.    

Starrchar,
I am sure you realize this, I guess I just get fed up with so called reputable breeders and elitest(people who imported titled dogs and breed), who have marginal knowledge of issues of bloodlines, genetic saturation, hidden and dominant recessives, etc; and run around constantly pounding the quote "backyard breeder". Like these titles and certs instantly give them breeding credibility....NOT!  The backyard breeder is a very small percentage of this giant German Shepherd realm. The proliferation of these BYB dogs no way compares to the spread that is done by socalled reputable breeders. More times than not I see a stable well adjusted healthy dog from BYB. The one exception is hips, which is a constant struggle to all breeders. But listen to the mounting frequency of health ills that are accompanying the "reputable lines. I KNOW the types of dogs that I am seeing EPI, bloat,epilepsy,etc occurring more frequently and these are the same sanctimonios breeders who pound the BYB. Shit, If they're so smart why all the issues? I won't even go into temperament because people are in denial about massive backmassing on weak tempered/health dogs as being problematic. And what about the hypocrites that import these adult dogs into their kennels and breed them and when a person posts about breeding their dogs and even say their dog was prelimmed, you hear them screaming that without OFA certification they are BYB. RIGHT!! Your adult dog was more than likely x-rayed at 12 to 14 months overseas which is no more than a prelim over here. So if the Germans read the x-rays at 14 months that are good for breeding, but once you get into America you can't get an accurate assessment at 14 months...Bullshit! These are elitest attitudes of hypocrisy and this kinda of thinking is part of the problem. No BYB aren't the major problem for this breed, its half knowledable,trophy seeking, egotistic breeders that refuse to put the breed above their personal likes and feelings about the breed. Want to know how I really feel??

Amen Gustav.

Very good points Gustav and I agree wholeheartedly with most of the things you said, but the OP was a self proclaimed BYB who, as far as we know,  didn't health screenings, nor has she done any type of work with her dogs, so that is where my focus was. That said, there is no easy answer to what has happened to the GSD. I am deeply saddened by it. I am very much aware of all the health issues with the GSD and if I had my way (which of course I never will!), in effort to try and recover from what has happened, I would require all dogs to be screened  for a multitude of health issues and keep a database that is open for all to see, such as with OFA. Of course I am aware that the passing test results themselves don't mean that it is a guarantee against these health issues in the progeny and issues can arise later in life too in the adults being bred, but at least you know what you are breeding...to a point.  Even by compiling data a few generations would be extremely helpful in trying to weed out the health issues because as most of us know it is VERY important to look at the entire pedigree. Presently most of the information/data just isn't there because so much is concealed or unknown, whether intentional or not. Of course, if this were even to be proposed it would never fly.  I still think that the screenings need to be done no matter what. 

I am not an elitist and not even a breeder. Both of my present dogs are rescues, although I have had both German SL and WL in the past. 

 Have a great day,
Char

Good response Gustav.