I see no reason why you can't get a well rounded reasonably healthy, athletic dog with brains and personality from a show breeder.Thanks Kim. Yeah, an over the top working dog is not what i need. My GSD is just that! I was thinking that i would need to look at companion puppies from show breeders. I'll only be working 3 days a week so i will have a lot of extra time with the dogs, but it's spent running, horseback riding, fetch, dog park, basic obedience...nothing like schutzhund. I just want a well rounded, healthy, athletic dog with an outstanding personality. If i can get all that from a show breeder, i'll take it
I sound like a broken record but all of my dogs start as conformation dogs--when they finish their championships (knock on wood, most of them do) they go on to performance stuff. My biggest would be couch potato is an American, Canadian and Int'l champion and a ROM dog (passed the WAE and has performance titles). He's got a CD, RE, AXJ, OA (some other agility titles in non AKC venues) and if you invite him to go tracking will be up and out to the car in a big hurry--put a tracking harness on and it makes no difference if there is torrential rain, snow, sleet or hail--for a dog that must be pushed out into a drizzle (he'll melt, you know?) he's ecstatic about the idea of going out and getting wet and muddy in the name of tracking. He'd have had more performance titles if we'd gotten around to starting him earlier but he didn't even get into the agility ring until he was six.
I've never done Schutzhund with my dogs mainly because when I was young enough and nimble enough there were no clubs anywhere near me--today--I don't even show my own dogs anymore because of my bad knees and someone else runs them in agility. We share the training. I have no doubt that if I had more time and energy to devote to it any of my dogs could do at least basic level Schutzhund (remember that only 1/3 is actual personal protection--the rest is essentially obedience and tracking). But I don't have enough time or engergy so we don't do Schutzhund.
I firmly believe that most Dobes can and will do anything you invest the time and energy to teach them.
