This is the exact picture which I originally posted on this site soon after I started it, in October of 1996.. almost twelve years, ago! It was my privilege to be the first ever to put this picture online. Robert Felcher was the photographer, and gave me another photo of Don which has never yet been published. This shows Mark Reed (importer) of Massachusetts, with Don vom Rolandsteich. While Don was not the first DDR DSH import to the US (nor Reed the first importer), the importation of "Don R" really started a movement!..and I was a part of that, now twenty years ago! I owned two Don sons (brothers, Roy and Roccer von der Müritz), and the first of these two was imported by Mark Reed in 1988. I also had the privilege of owning such famous dogs as Candy von der Knappenmühle, Pele vom Kiebitzmoor, and Quai vom Baruther Land, and many other lesser-known but very interesting dogs as well. I bred some very good offspring from these dogs, and made some people happy. It was an exciting time, of which I have both happy and sad memories.
Indeed, it is sad to lose the "one-in-a-lifetime" dogs like these, but no one can take the great memories away! It's the stuff of a lifetime, and what makes life worth living: Doing what you choose and making your own dreams come true! For those who truly love great dogs, and hold them in the greatest respect, there is no greater joy than to own an awesome and unforgettable dog! The MOST unforgettable and awe-inspiring German Shepherd Dogs that I ever saw in my 25 plus years with the breed, were the dogs of East Germany ("DDR").
I took hip and elbow dysplasia VERY seriously, having OFA certified ALMOST 100 dogs with OFA, over a period of over 25 years. I lost exact count (would have to go back into my records to make a new count), but I believe that the exact number would be right around 98 dogs and bitches. And, here is where my interest in the DDR dogs came in, that the vast majority of the dogs I was eventually able to certify "normal" were DDR (East German) dogs!
My first litter from a Don Rolandsteich son was the first time I had ever had 100% normal hips in a litter. Since Don was known to produce almost 100% normal hips, and the DDR dogs overall produced an average of over 85% normal hips, I saw the light! Before, with West German lines, I was only able to get one out of every four or five to OFA, and here I was getting maybe one out of every five which would NOT OFA!!!
I eventually switched over to pure old-line DDR breeding and never looked back!
While any experience in the breeding of another species is a good thing, be cautious about breeders whose sole experience is in creating fancy colors, varieties, and "mutations". We are not creating mutations. This is not the goal. We are trying to conserve something which is worth conserving, as it was, and as we found it.
The problem is that breeders of fish, birds, etc. will try to control access to their stock or hide their formula for breeding, so that no one else can duplicate that specific variety. If we try to do this with our dogs, we will soon run into trouble. We need as much genetic diversity as we can get, within our target zone, and don't benefit from anyone trying to hoard or control bloodlines that they actually got from others.
Also suspicious are people who do not want to know about the hips and elbows of their dogs and who make excuses about distances and difficulty or focus on talking about bloodlines, hoping that such generalizations will be enough.
Talking about bloodlines is a lot like talking about a certain neighborhood or region. You can make generalizations without knowing anything about a particular house in that neighborhood. Any one house in a neighborhood can differ considerably from the overall character of the others found there. Also problematical is the fact that very little data exists on many individual dogs (with regards to hip production, especially, unless they are very popular stud dogs, and then only after considerable time has passed).. and bloodlines mingle in various ways, so that existing data can be misleading or irrelevant, and impossible to use in a meaningful way.
Ignoring the relevance of a single dog in a breeding program, and abdicating in the selective process, MAY be the right thing to do in a particular circumstance, but usually, there is a price to pay, down the road. The more ears you tape (to stand), for example, the more you will have to tape, later on. Each dog that we use in a long term breeding program can have a profound influence on later generations, and one small departure from the selective process can establish a drift from the trajectory we wish to follow. While we talk about dogs as individuals, and while the German custom was to talk about a bloodline a dog hailed from as an extension of the sire line, the fact is that all of these dogs are a combination of family lines and genetics, which are crossing over from both sides of a pedigree. It is always the combination which is either successful, or unsuccessful! Pay attention to these combinations and exploit them whenever possible!
The most successful combinations can be so prepotent that they put their clear signature on everything they are bred to, and the same lines can be re-combined in various ways, always with excellent results! This is called a "click". I was lucky enough to have come up with such a combination, once, and hope to recreate it again, someday. But I will have to use frozen semen. I have no time for such things as breeding of dogs in my life, right now. It's been nine years since I had a litter, but it will have to wait awhile longer.
Back to the x-raying of hips and elbows...
Congratulations to Brisa vom Ostschutz, who just went OFA "good", hips and certified normal elbows. Judy Dominguez of Arizona is the proud new owner! Her specialty is black German Shepherd Dogs from East German (DDR) bloodlines. You can contact her and see her dogs at Judy's website.
Individual radiographs are the ONLY tool we really have to know whether a dog or bitch is or is not affected by hip and elbow dysplasia. While there are certainly many environmental factors involved, the tendency to sublux a femoral joint and develop hip dysplasia is very much inherited. But, informed choice is the only way to maintain and slowly improve a family of dogs. If we will make choices in breeding partners, then let us make this one selection a priority, and well considered.. not like throwing darts blindfolded.
This is a good time to address ethical considerations, relevant to registration. Dog breeders and fanciers should form trustworthy relationships and benefit from them. The dogs will, too. The idea is that we got something we value from others before us, and we must pass it on. We are like relay racers, passing a baton. We cannot drop it. Some breeders have a very proprietary interest in their own bloodlines, and use AKC's "limited registration" option to restrict breeding privileges to themselves, on puppies sold to others. I believe this to be unethical, unwise, and possibly illegal, on several fronts.
First, there is the reality that while individual breeders make great contributions to the development of bloodlines (and deserve a reward for their hard work and investment), that our dogs are a legacy, borrowed from the efforts of past breeders and carrying forward to those of future breeders. I know that I am repeating myself, here, but this cannot be overstated. We must take great care not to deprive future generations of the best genetic contributions of promising animals, especially if they are from rare bloodlines which offer greater genetic diversity. We MUST be selective in our breeding, and limited registrations can be a valuable tool for breed improvement.
Where registration schemes with breeding limitations were actually intended to allow breeders to deselect puppies with undesirable traits from the gene pool (selling them as pets, only, with no breeding privileges), some breeders are using this tactic to limit distribution of especially good and desirable bloodlines, in a strategic move designed to insure their advantage in trade. That is, by definition, a monopoly. Registries should take care not to aid and abet in such trade protectionist schemes. Trade monopolies and interference with commerce are illegal under United States law.
At this time, there are no possibilities of patenting with animals in the US, such as are provided for with plants ("plant patents").
Not much good can be said about the sincerity of breeders who profess to be "helping" their breed, when they are in fact hindering it by limiting distribution of rare and potentially valuable bloodlines and running down or undermining the efforts of others. Their motivations are clearly self-interested.
While there may at times be legitimate reasons for limiting or restricting propagation of purebred domestic animals and their specific bloodlines, it is a dangerous idea when it is practiced in the absence of comprehensive ethical considerations and responsibility. Trade protection schemes do not characterize breeders who are sincerely trying to assist their breed.
Trust is a funny thing.. To get it, you have to give it. When someone tells you that they are your friend, but they dont't trust you (shown by hiding and doing things behind your back), or when they trash-talk everyone in the business, then they are not your friend, and they are probably not anyone's friend. Don't waste your time with them...Odds are that you cannot trust them, either. There will always be people who are just ordinary, nice, helpful people, who want guidance and help. Help them. Good seed in good soil, well nourished, makes a bountiful harvest!
I would like to give a special mention and thanks to:
Kris Kotsopoulos of "von Forell" kennels, in Australia , a world leader in progressive and scientific breeding of working dogs..
...who did well in continuing with some of my bloodlines when I closed down my breeding program, and who very generously contributed seed money to the founding of an international preservation effort.
NEWS FLASH!!!
Very soon, now, you will be able to come to this site to view original data, never before published on the internet, relevant to the DDR dogs! Included will be Körbücher and Siegershow catalogs! Please check back frequently!
The time has come to save our dogs! E-mail Us at webmaster@tailwag.com!
We support dogs on the web.
It's summertime, and fleas are one of the worst problems for German Shepherd Dogs, causing long term dental wear and tooth breakage, and autoimmune & skin disorders, which can flare up with even a few flea bites! Those steroid shots and pills are NOT the answer! Prevention IS! Stop fleas dead in their tracks with Frontline Plus!
Hint: By treating all of the pets in the house, you will get the maximum control, and the most quickly, but only SOME of the pets can be treated, if you don't want to treat all.
