Rain,
I can relate a little about the issues I've had with my Czech bitch. She was very confident and outgoing as a young pup, and was very aggressive. Her prey drive was good from the beginning. Aroung ten months of age her prey drive began to diminish and she started snapping at people who approached her at training when she was on leash at heel. I wasn't quite sure how to approach this new behavior, but decided to correct it quickly without much fuss. My pup initially responded with a few attempts to chew on me a little, but not too severely, and then learned after a couple of months not to worry about it too much. I also worked on socialization more after the aggression started. It doesn't seem to be an issue now. On Friday, the cable TV guys came onto the property and my bitch barked very aggressively when she heard their truck come up the driveway. We went out to meet them and she barked and was a little insecure. I told her it was alright, and after a few minutes, she was trying to steal items out of their tool belts. When they got ready to leave, she was a little less sure of herself and barked a little more. No raised hackles, just a sense of distrust.

I have a Z PS male (13 months) that shows very little suspicion. He's out of a Gero
z Blatenskeho zamku * Doris PS (Father Baron PS) breeding. He's never should
any standoffishness with strangers. His usual reaction to strangers is to be very
physical, i.e. bumping, pushing. I was told by Jiri Novotny that this was the third
time this breeding was done and it produces "super defense", but I haven't seen it.
Not sure if that will change as he matures.

Does anyone have experience with males out of Gero z Blatenskeho zamku or Baron Z PS?

John

**Most of my Czech dogs are probably from lines most of you guys have never heard off . My Czech lines are Podradbuzi,Rhodopy, Mesta Ruzi,Dvora,Onyx-Bohemia and Hvezda**

These are all old Czech show line kennels. There is "A" litter from Hvezda skala that is out of Doksy and Hesi, that is a nice working pedigree. What the "Dvora" is, have no idea since it is used in many kennel names there and it is usually only part of a name.
Hanna-Leena

As I said before. I have noticed it(aloofness) mainly with the females. I had a litter out of Gero. Michelle on this list has him. She can tell you more how he is developing. I know when he was here there wasn't anything he was afraid of.

He is 12 months old. As a puppy nothing bothered him, and nothing does bother him still. He does have outstanding defense, which showed up as early as 4 months.
He has crazy prey drive as well. He is biting on a hard sleeve, serious crushing grips. I am pleased with this especially due to his age.
I work him only in prey....in my mind he is too young for defense, and I will wait probably at least another year before pushing that on him.
I think a great number of defense-oriented dogs are ruined at an early age by helpers doing too much defense..the dogs show the correct response, but they lack the maturity to have any confidence in it. Work them that way long enough and they'll develop some issues.

Chris,

Please keep me posted on your bitch out of Chuligan. Like I said Tako is the most dog, I have come across in a long long time.

Chris,

Also, you forgot on your description of Fella. She is also linebred 4-5 on Bojar vom Schotterhof SchH3, ZVV2, SP/PS

Fella is a nice bitch. I would prefer more handler hardness but. She is not overly aggressive. Her nickname is Happy <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> So what are Taco's prey drives like?

Tako(Alex) is an extreme dog. He is the most dog I have seen at his age. Very clear in the head. Prey drive through the roof. He will go anywhere, anytime, to anyone. He is not showing much defense, which is understandable at his age. However, I would like some glimpses of it. His grips are fantastic. He has a very deep nose for tracking. I would get another out of a repeat breeding in a heartbeat. However, Chuligan is retired.

Hi, I had a similar experience. My response is primarily toward Mr. Chip Blasiole, I bought a pup from a very good bloodline, CJ was the sire and Setty Von Leerburg was the dam. He was 7 months old when I got him and had good prey drive, highly trainable dog and good looking do as well. His full brother, Axel, can be seen on an Alaskan breeder's website: Klatolklin K9. His full brother:
http://p.hostingprod.com/@klatolklin.com/axel.html

Excellent play/prey drive, natural aggression built in, full mouthed genetic grips, excellent physical robustness and health. Just an overall great dog in many ways.

I trained him with food reward and ball reward.He was showing natural suspicion toward strangers at young age, which I felt was appropriate for the breed. He seemed to snap at people, when in a sit-stay by my left leg, for no apparent reason, trying to take a bite out of them without any reason or provocation whatsoever. He was not a fear biter. He was well socialized by me. He had this super defensive attitude in him combined with super aloofness. I enjoyed the aloofness and I think that's how GSD's are supposed to be, instead of Golden's which will lick a burglar's face. But this super defensive drive I found scary. Do would bite a total stranger, unprovoked and unchallenged. He also would not growl or show raised hackles or anything. He gave no warning. Just try to take a bite out of a complete passerby for no reason, somebody not even looking or paying attention to him. I don't know the cause of that behavior. He was severely reprimanded with a level 10 correction for doing it. But he did it on other occassions a well. Perhaps Mr. Todd Gaster from Rolling Acres Shepards can give input.

Edited by Alexander Gonta (04/09/2010 10:36 PM)
Edit reason: added whom comments were in response to