4/14/1983
Descended back on DDR lines that do not include, for the most part, female lines that were noted to bring with them Pronounced active aggression brought on via social aggression, or social dominance.
The tail carriage of the Lierbergs is shown in two ways. One is the high tail set on the croup, and high tail carriage you mentioned, accompanied by a gentle hook upwards. The tail is bushy, but does not show the bottle brush, just bushy, with ‘feathers’ flowing most of the way down the tail towards the tip with the ‘feathers’ both thinning and shortening in a somewhat linear manner towards the end of the tail. Theis physical characteristic, coupled with a confident attitude on the trial field, in my opinion, is sufficient enough
The Betty (Betty vom Eningsfeld) line is a line that is well known to produce high social aggression. Twenty or so years ago rumors abounded about how one of the Lierberg dogs had killed at least two dogs on two different occasions at dog shows. I don’t know how accurate the rumor was, but I can tell you from experience that the Lierberg dogs can be dog-dog aggressive as you stated in your question. However, the worst line is the third female line that I have not disclosed yet because I am still sorting that line out via multiple females/ branch lines. My experience with that bloodline, which flows heavily through Umsa vom Bungalow leads me to believe that female line is the worst when it comes to dog aggression. Dogs from that bloodline that display dog-dog aggression get a glazed look in their eyes and cannot be controlled short of knocking them out. They simply will not recognize voice commands when they are in that zone!
The second tail that is found on the Lierbergs, and was viewed a lot on the von der Lindenhalle dogs is a tail that is lower set on the croup, does not have an upward hook, and is not held high. It is usually held at an almost horizontal level to the dog, maybe slightly elevated from the horizontal, and usually is accompanied by a twist in the tail that is found at about 2/3rds to 3/4 of the way down the tail, and that portion of the tail, that remains after the twist, is usually held downwards when the dog is excited.
Some stubbornness can be found via the Lierbergs, but in about 6-8 times out of ten they displayed the desire to work with man, and displayed good obedience, particularly a clear head accompanied by obedience in civil work. Pronounced courage, and firm grip coupled with a hard bite was, and still is the hall mark of this bloodline!
Crok’s pedigree also shows several lines to Betty vom Eningsfeld, as well as Sali von der Krone, a dog noted for founding a significant female line, particularly the line that extends through the female dog Hella von Memmingen went on to produce a significant female bloodline that carries much sharpness and high energy that is still found within the phenotype of many, many SG and V rated dogs on the trial field today. The fusion of both the Sali blood to the Lierberg blood can yield a synergism that produces high energy, moderate to high sharpness coupled with Pronounced Courage and a desire to work with the man obediently. These are in my opinion, the bloodlines, combination of bloodlines that most Schutzhunders and K9 officers are looking for (JMHO).
What combination of those genetics are any particular Schutzhunder or K9 officer looking for, I can’t tell, and even if I could, one can never know how those lines will recombine in a given litter, never mind a given puppy!
I would instead look to Umsa or the Lierbergs. Both the Umsa lines as well as the Lierberg lines carry one of the two significant founding females whose bloodline is expressed with High Social Aggression / Social Dominance. In the case of the Lierbergs (Betty vom Eningsfeld) it is a completely different female line than that of Yoschy/ Yuma, Umsa or Sagus, but still yields trainable but socially dominant dogs, and would give diversity to the breeding while maintaining aggression, courage and grip. In the case of Yoschy / Yuma or Sagus, it is the exact same female bloodline, except for one female found via Yoschy / Yuma that is not found via Sagus. This twist in the tail is a hallmark of the Lierbergs. Bernd Lierberg
First of all Lalit, let me thank you for the very informative post from today. However, I don’t agree with your statement. . ” Most people’s dogs don’t have social aggression and if they did, they would not be goodfor competition ( sports ).”
Social aggression is the portion of ‘active aggression’ that tips the scales regarding what we call fight drive in our breed. Some people believe that social aggression is in fact ‘active aggression’. In any case, without social aggression, we cannot have fight drive. Other breeds have had ‘active aggression’ or ‘social aggression’ bred out of them. I for one believe that we cannot allow this to happen to our breed.
Finally, we are looking for dogs / bloodlines that possess social aggression, but who are also ‘desirably sharp’. Overly sharp dogs that are either high in reactive aggression, or high in active aggression, are simply not desirable, either for the home, or the sport.
The Lierbergs fit the profile of a dog that has high active aggression, or social aggression, and was also desirably sharp. . . PERFECTLY!. However, continued breeding on the Lierbergs delivered oversized dogs with loose ligaments, long wobbly backs, and with front and rear angulation that was not free enough closing up the length of stride and shortening the gait. This bloodline also would get lazy and stubborn regarding the work. So, they needed to be out-crossed into either the Nestor or Claudius lines, such as was Mink vom Haus Wittfeld.
For the most part this was done in an arbitrary manner. Few breeders understood the need for this out-crossing, and fewer breeders understood the need to bring the blood of the Lierbergs back to a male that was out-crossed. One example of this was one of Minks best sons, Lewis von Malatesta. With Lewis we see the sire coming down over Greif zum Lahntal who was from the Old Blood lines of Nestor, Claudius and Junker. He was bred to a granddaughter of Bernd vom Lierberg, over Ignaz.
It should be the general goal of a breeder to bring back the blood of a stud dogs mother where the stud dog fully expresses his mother (remember, we verify genotype with phenotype). Mink, in my opinion, expressed the Lierbergs. So, Mink was bred to Alfa vom Schwarzen Brink, where we find the blood of the Lierbergs carried forward via Pushkass vom Haus Himpel. This is a perfect example of following the breeding model I speak of clips i have saved from posts on the Lierbergs. This twist in the tail is a hallmark of the Lierbergs. Bernd Lierberg. I can tell you i have thin in my Ebony he has Bernd Lierberg in his 5th gen along with multipe appearences further back. He has a super grip and great drive along with High Social Aggression / Social Dominance.
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