Quote: Lynne Barrows

 Quote: Lynne Barrows

 Quote: randy allen

What litter is he?
Mmmmm, what letter in the alphabet is he?

They have a lot of bitches in their kennel, don't they...

John, best of luck with your new pup! The comment I made was not meant for you; I was referring to the link that Phaedra posted.

hehe... Opps

Phaedra, There are alot of breeders that have been in business for 20+ year, so have many puppy mill breeders. (not implying that is what they are) It depends on their market. Many of what were excellent W/L GSD breeders have started to 'dilute' their lines due to the people looking to buy pups. Many of the everyday (insert pet, here)buyers are now looking for W/L pups. The word is out, as you can see from the posts here over the last couple of years,that the W/L dogs are the way to go. I personally would not own anything else. (I did over 2 years of research before purchasing my first W/L dog. Which is an almost 7yr old LB bitch.) Well the problem with that is that many of the buyers are not prepared for what they are purchasing & end up with way too much dog. A number of these are taken back by breeders & many end up in shelters or internet ads to get rid of the dogs. 2 ads on CL last week alone in just my small town. They are no longer cute at a year or 2 old with limited to no real training & bouncing off the walls in homes with clueless owners. Not trying to insult anyone here...there are owners that step up to the plate & get the help needed & do what they need to do to keep their dogs & give them a good life. Unfortunately it is not the majority of these buyers. The breeders want to make $$$ off their breedings & not have to take pups back,(not profitable doing this) so many are breeding with showlines. Most of the general public doesn't know squat about pedigrees, so the breeders pass these dogs off. Win, win for all but the ture working dog people. The bluring of these lines are starting to take many of, what were still good dogs,go down the way of the so-called american shepherd. My guess is that in 10 years there will be only a handfull of truly W/L breeders with great dogs.

It is with great sadness that I admit that I know several of these breeders. JMO

thanks Anne, for your honest and helpful opinion - pm on the way.

 Quote: tammy moore

 Quote:

The more we support showline breeders (which I have done myself and I love my boy, big time)the more we encourage taking the breed farther away from their "roots".

Yes- breeding away their working ability, the beauty is still there, the engine gets lost!

Agree 100% and I actually don't even think the show line dogs are good-looking.

Great thread here, some familiar names from my puppy search.