Well,
I'd hope that the picture of the large, lumbering male in their picture gallery working the sleeve isn't typical for their dogs. All that shows is a typical showline dog being fed the sleeve - could the helper hold the sleeve any closer to the ground? :rolleyes:

You have to wonder why people put crappy photo's on their website - you'd think they'd at least try for shots that made the dog look good.

I've been told by some high level trainers from Germany that Americans actually work our showline dogs *much* harder than the Germans do. So we might start paying attention to the showline dogs that recieve honest SchH titles awarded here in the U.S. by the more work oriented judges ( there's a few left in both USA and DVG ) - which would pretty much eliminate titles awarded by the GSDCA/WDA <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

I just took a closer look at the website, and I saw what you're talking about. His front feet aren't even off the ground!!! I'm thinking one of two things - either they don't know any better and think that it's a WONDERFUL shot of their beautiful dog, or they realize that a lot of people won't know any better and will be impressed with the dog anyway.

i guess i'm an odd duck, but i don't necessarily see the diversity within the gsd as being a bad thing. granted; we have distilled some of the bloodlines to a point where they cannot be successfully bred to certain other lines, which is fine. let the show dogs be show dogs, and the sport dogs do trials and the working dogs help to keep our communities safe. as far as "explaining how much better" working dogs are; it should first be established that that is what they truly want. imho, some people are better off with a gorgeous t.v. pillow. we have one of those in the house.....a lars wilhendorf son (jello wienerau grandson) out of a jeck noricum daughter. he's fabulous in the house! but we also have the other dogs in varying degrees of "hardness." i guess i'm fool enough to believe that every dog is good for something. the question is: can we find it, develop it and then live with it? depending on lifestyle, there are frankly a lot of people who should never consider owning a "working" dog. and honestly, i recommend golden retrievers far more than german shepherds to people who are asking.

i understand what you're saying, but I don't know about the temperament of the showline dogs...does anyone know if these particular dogs are spooks or have sound temperaments? i think that the guy could find a maneagable working line dog. most people I know say how wonderful their working line dogs are in the house. Actually, I've never actually talked to someone who said otherwise, unless you count the people with out of control puppies.

I guess i'm a little biased, but for me, working line dogs are the way to go. If the guy who e-mailed me doesn't agree with me, that's fine, but I want him to see both sides of the coin and not regret his decision later. And I just want to know if the kennel/dogs are any good.

Most show line dogs are spooks. There's always a rare exception, but most of them could be run off the field by a determined helper.

But they do make nicer house dogs, if that's important to a would be owner. Of course said owner could just buy a golden, as mentioned above and be better off. If they like the looks of a GSD, they can buy a statue of one.

not sure what the owner wants, he didn't specify, but I asked him when i wrote him back, so hopefully i can get a better idea of what he needs.

I agree that German showline dogs often make outstanding family dogs for people who just want a great pet. They're just right for those families - social, playful but not high drive, not spooky, generally handler soft so easy to handle, and they look nice laying in front of the fireplace.

I agree that dogs from the animal shelter often make outstanding family dogs for people who just want a great pet.

ducks and hides <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Do you recommend any German show line Breeders?