Mike,
I have a seven month old bitch out of Czech working lines. She is linebred 4-4 on Astor Waldidyll. The sire is Olymp Policia whose sire was Barry Asbrete. The dam is Onda Ben-Ju, who is half sister to Norbo Ben-Ju and goes back to Marco z Danaru, Cordon An-Sat and Titus z Pohranicni Straze, a very strong border partol dog. My pup is showing sound nerves and is outgoing and friendly. She has shown practically no defensive behavior at her early age. She is not dog aggressive and has good pack drive. Here prey drive is good, but I wouldn't call her ball crazy. She definitely likes to bite, and can be a challenge, but overall has been a very enjoyable pup to work with so far. So I think you can find dogs out of these working/military lines that are manageable and not overly aggressive or sharp. Of course, my pup is still young and things might change with maturity. I do think she will be more of a challenge to train in schutzhund than say, a dog coming from more of a sport line breeding, because she doesn't have extreme prey or food drive.

I have a 11 month old bitch from east german/Czech lines. Sire is Stormfrons Brawnson whose roots are in the east german stuff and the bitch is Isa z Milberku who had some origins in the Czech border patrol kennels. She has lots of prey drive...as of now she hasnt exhibited much civil drive...she is a jealous dominant bitch with some minor dog aggression (she has never growled, snarled or went after another dog but she likes to be dominant)...wont bark at people coming to the door..she lives inside with my 3 kids...she likes them, sometimes more than they can handle...if ti comes to strangers she is as friendly as my Golden Retriever..tail going like crzay, an extreme expression of happiness whenever she sees a new person...she drops to the ground out of excitement to get a belly rub...she is full of confidence and courage...no sound sensitivity just plain solid nerves...this is my only Czech/DDR dog so I dont have much to compare her to and take this information as what it is...the temperament of an individual dog...

THANKS EVERYBODY FOR YOUR INPUT-ITS VERY HELPFUL-PLEASE KEEP THE INFORMATION COMING-AND THANKS TO ED FRAWLEY FOR PUTTING THIS FORUM TOGETHER-ITS A TERRIFIC IDEA-IT MAY SAVE SOMEBODY A LOT OF GRIEF DOWN THE ROAD-
THANKS AGAIN
MIKE C

So far I have only seen one person make the distinction here, not all Czech/DDR dogs are from working lines. They do have showlines as well. I have a Czech dog and he is all showlines...so please be aware that not everything that comes from there is working lines. I didn't know this till after I purchased my dog. He is great with kids though, calm in the house, but when ya take him outside, look out. He nevers tops moving.

Recently I visited a breeder who sticks with exclusively Czech mostly east German bloodlines. He showed me some of his dogs working and they all seemed like very calm, self-assured, balanced dogs that have a lot to offer. I have also read that these bloodlines are more like the original GSD envisioned by Max von Stepanitz. The breeder did mention one drawback of the DDR lines and that is that they mature mentally quite late. In other words you have an overgrown puppy for quite awhile , especially with males. I have a deposit on a litter for a male puppy there and am really looking forward to training him.

I have a 7 month old Pohranicni straze male that so far is the most stable pup I've ever owned. Very little bothers this dog-- rock solid nerves. I don't have kids, but when he's at the park etc. he loves all children. He's not at all hectic and has the ability to be very calm when told so. He has good prey drive , but not crazy. I know things are going to change as he matures, but my feeling is that he's always going to be fine with children. I have an 8 year old female lab that as a puppy didn't like children and still doesn't (very nervous). I've had a total of six GSDs in 25 years and would say this one is the finest so far. With this being said, I would do my homework and find a repeat breeding that has produced stable pups without crazy drives. I think these types of pups fit best into a family environment.

John

Yeah there are too many stereotypes about Czech dogs, mainly told by people who have never seen one. I have a 18 month bitch from the Pohranicni straze kennel and she is EXTREME drive, both prey and fight. Malinois like. Good nerves, extremly stable. I have a male from similar lines ( Policia, PS, Honestus etc) and he is a calm dog, yet dosen't need or want to be everyones friend. Alot of defence. He is younger (only 15 months) and is still very immature. We have to decide what we want from him, then take him that direction. There is a Czech imp. called Dares Geradonu and he is extreme drive (fight) and infact on his visit to Australia Donn Yarnell tested this dog and was Very impressed by him saying he would take this dog back to the States.
Like I said before, what do you want? When you have the answer for that then research your lines.

HELLO JOHN AND DAVE D
JOHN YOURE PUP SOUNDS LIKE THE ONE I WANT-I LIKE THE POHRANICNI STRAZE LINES- SOME REALLY NICE LOOKING DOGS-DID THE BREDER PICK THE PUP FOR YOU?WOULD LIKE TO TALK TO HIM -CAN YOU EMAIL ME?ALSO DAVE D I LIVE IN CHICAGO AREA AND I SEE YOURE FROM NOTHERN IL WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK WIYH YOURE BREEDER ALSO-PLEASE EMAIL
MANY THANKS
MIKE

Excuse my confusion... why the focus on broad swatches of genetic lineage? It strikes as rather abstract and theoretical.

Would it not be most efficient to begin by indentifying the features you most desire in a GSD, then proceed to locate the most reputable breeder and ask for assistance in finding a pedigree on an individual basis... founded upon the breeder's intimate knowledge of the specific characteristics of the animals in his program, and their respective pedigrees???

I confess that this is precisely how I found my GSD, who is perfectly suited to my family. I don't believe my breeder relies excessively on pedigree theory, which should be reasonably reliable when assessing a population, but not when assessing an individual animal... instead, I think he knows his own animals very well.

Genetics are fantastically complex, and the urge to "master" the code is alluring, no doubt. You can work the charts until your eyes cross... but I suspect that the most experienced breeders will tell us that breeding is more art than science.

Hello all & Im new to this board so please be patient. I have a breeding bitch who is of Czech blood out of Xillo IPO3,SCH3 & Gero IPO3,SCH3 & she is very work driven.You take her out & her nose is to the ground immediately with no care to anything other than work,however I do not trust her with kids! Her puppies are good with anyone they are now 10 weeks although a couple are shy but not agressive,hope this may help. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Czech dogs

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Kimberly A Richards