Chairmen Of
Excerpt: In the further course the most important question always arises…Which males and females are most involved in the current state of shepherd dog breeding in the GDR? The best way to explain the development is if, as in previous years, we bring you a list of the most influential males and females from the 1967 winners’ show.
We award 3 points for each offspring of a father or mother animal that was placed 1-10 with the grade “Excellent” or in the younger classes with the grade “Very good”. For all other animals with the grade “very good” 2 points and for those with the grade “good” 1 point. If there is 1 animal among the offspring which receives “satisfactory” or “poor”, 1 point is deducted.
From column I of the table it can be seen that different numbers of offspring were presented by the individual father and mother animals. To find a common denominator for this, I divided the total number of points (column II) by the number of offspring presented (column I) and thus obtained an approximate index of the inheritance of the parent animal concerned…………..
If one examines now the breeding as a whole body, two nets run through it, which often interlock, often cross and are intertwined with one another. On the one hand there are the influential families with their male offspring and on the other hand the bitches, who exert a significant influence on breeding.
In the breeding circles there is far more knowledge about the males in terms of generation and descent than about the blood structure of the bitches, which is due to the fact that the male is much more accessible to the breeder’s judgment and that he leaves behind a larger number of offspring, while a bitch brings a maximum of 4–12 offspring per year.
In inheritance, however, the same importance is to be attached to the bitch as to the male. Just as there are males who consistently pass on their merits and faults to their offspring even in moderate bitches, we also have individual bitches with good hereditary power, and those who establish very successful bitches.
In order to get a picture of the most successful bitches, we bring a table of the bitches with at least 3 offspring, according to the same assessment as for the males in table I. Breeding practice proves to us again and again what our best males like, and no matter how pronounced they are, they have generally failed with bitches whose type was strange to them and who could not offer them any blood connection.
It is also noticeable that the most successful bitches at the main breed show in 1967 were of their family type and were quite stable in blood. This phenomenon was particularly evident in the mothers of the younger top animals. Let’s look at such a pedigree of the younger top animals, it can be established that not only they themselves, but in many cases their parents were already inbred, and that inbreeding apparently also breaks out in individual potency.
Only with an individual potency achieved in this way will we get the males and females that guarantee us a safe inheritance. They then form the stock of valuable breeding material and are the storerooms of consolidated blood, which also assert themselves more strongly with the offspring from other families. There is no other way to keep valuable lines and families from falling apart than by inbreeding them over and over again To hold together, Everywhere in animal breeding where lines and families with breeding influence have arisen, they have only gained importance through inbreeding. Elevating the bare, thoughtless individual power to a “dogma” cannot lead to the goal if the inbred ancestors behind it are not the driving forces.
It is entirely possible that a certain individual potency can be achieved through a happy merging of a sum of similarities, but on the other hand, every refreshment of the blood with un-selected material, new factors unknown to us must be reckoned with, which one always recognizes only when it is already too late.
The excellent results of canine performances at the German championships in 1967 show with great clarity, similar to the excellent breeding achievements of the last year, that our breeding stock has first-class facilities. Again and again in questions of breeding, which are so difficult to calculate, the breeding principle will prove to be true and assert itself that the most progressive breeding method is primarily based on offspring- the exploitation of the parents and similarity for the best information about the hereditary value of an animal, the offspring assessment remains important. By adding pictures, we try to bring the inheritance tendency of the individual families closer to sports fans, on the other hand we give a cross-section and insight into breeding.
Due to the sometimes very poor pictures it is not always possible to put the individual animals in the right light. Despite all their shortcomings, the photographs are a welcome mediator for us, which also leaves some room for the viewer’s own judgment. Unfortunately, we have to state again and again that some owners of excellent dogs do not always support our efforts to get good stand shots with the same understanding. As far as possible, we procured pictures, unfortunately it did not always succeed in all cases as requested and often with great effort.