DDR German Shepherd Dogs the pure GSD

[Hillbilly]

Anyone ever read about these dogs?
DDR GSD's are from the Deutshe Demokratishe Republik or East Germany

DDR DOGS & DDR DOGS IN GENERAL" are extremely interesting and fascinating. The German Shepherds from that region of Germany were definitely the most popular of the working breeds. They were also the most conspicuous breed on the winners podium at the working dog trials there. Being the most commonly used breed for defense duties in all levels of government, they were a favorite and trusted dog as a home companion and guardian also. The groundwork was laid not only for the preservation and development of a working dog, but also for "schutzhund", which is today one of the worlds' most popular and useful working dog sports, which has in turn been the foundation of all successful police, military, and working dog programs in existence and a wellspring of talented animals for use in the public service.

By the beginning of the second world war, the German Shepherd Dog breed become very popular in Germany, and numbers and quality were increasing, however WW2 would prove devastating to the breed by the disruption of food supplies. Plus many dogs were recruited forcibly into the military. Untold numbers were lost, but there were many dogs that did survive by being fed what little food was available.

At the end of WW2, Berlin was split in two, the rest of the country was divided into an east and west zone, the capital city of Berlin was located far into the interior of communist East Germany. East Germany and East Berlin remained under Russian and communist control until 1989 and 1990. During the first 40 years of separation of East and West Germany, the east and west German Shepherd Dogs, began to follow their own different paths out of necessity and circumstance. The East Germans had little or no access to the dogs in West Germany because a combination of political, bureaucratic, sociological, and perhaps most importantly economic separation prevented much intermingling of the bloodlines. Thus the DDR dog remained PURE.

Although now increasingly rare and with many lines unfortunately extinct, there are still enough East German bloodlines in the United States and in Europe to serve to increase the genetic diversity and vigor of the breed of the DDR German Shepherd Dog, and to retain much of the original characteristics of the breed, while offering very good working ability, a more robust and well-pigmented dog, and improvement by a reduction in both the incidence and the severity of hip dysplasia.

 

[dmccarty]

Hillbilly,

My initial reaction is that someone is trying to sell DDR GSDs over "normal" GSDs. Sounds like marketing hype to me. I don't know how a dog can be more pure over others. The dog either meets the standard or does not. I don't know what purity they are talking about.

I would be curious to know more about the dogs though....

I have a "normal" GSD and she is the most intelligent and loyal animal I have every known. She seems "pure" enough for me... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Later...
Dan McCarty
Will this thread spin into My Dog Is Better Than Your Dog? /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif Taking bets..... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Hillbilly]

These are the dogs preferred for the most part along with the Czech bloodlines for police work. I have GSD that is the typical Rin Tin Tin looking dog.The GSD's do not all look like this,the Germans set a higher Standard, each dog over there that is registered has to be by a dog warden and on they have a lot of competiton to screen the dogs called Schutzhand. A lot of people thing the American dogs are bred for showing where as the European are more working dogs.
Go to Leeburg.com and look.
Or go to the web and type in DDR or east german German Shepherd dogs or working German shepherds etc.use a few keywords and you will be suprised what you learn,these strains of GDS are high dollar dogs.

Look at these 4 sites: ddrgsd.com
vonstealth.homestead.com
leeburg.com
http://members.tripod.com/~altaego/
http://www.gillsgermanshepherds.com/

Look it over and see what you think.

 

[PitbullMidwest]

I've owned 2 GSD, the first was a GSD/lab mix and was the best dog I've ever owned. Elsie (my current GSD) is AKC registered is a bit hyper/agressive but is VERY trainable and protective of the family. My understanding of what we consider "traditional" GSD is actually the American bred dog as opposed to the European bred dog which is what is the DDR. Marketing? yeah, probably.

 

[Hillbilly]

well, all GSD's are pure<G>...my oldest DDR dog was born in 1982, before the Berlin wall came down. He came here when he was 5, literally "snuck" into W Germany. (as were ALL our "DDR" dogs)At that time the US gov't and the AKC did not recognize East Germany, so you could not register an East German dog with the AKC. So, what would happen is it would get arranged with a W. german person to register the dog in W. germany, (there WAS contact with East/West)get W. German, or "SV", registration papers and THEN you could register the dog with the AKC, though they were "Breeding Enrolled" only, and had no AKC #, just breeding status (no show, either)
Once the Berlin Wall came down and Germany was unified, they absorbed the DDR dogs into the SV. There were actually 2 East German registries, only the DDR kept its paperwork intact...no dogs from the other registry were accepted, sadly for a number of American (and others) who wanted an import, and after the wall the influx was huge & cheap, because the government border dogs were no longer needed. These were mostly dogs from the other registry and a lot found their way over here. They were NOT like the GSD's we talk about about when we talk about DDR dogs. They were prey man-dogs, bred to hunt & kill. Fortunately, for the most part they were unregisterable.
The Czech registry seems to be in a similar situation, it used to be if you had a Czech dog with FCI (International European regulating agancy) stamped Czech papers the AKC would accept it, like our first Czech dog, but again, the gov't border dog influx and "creative" paperwork, made the AKC put Czech dogs on its "not registerable" list. I don't know how they get registered here, now.

The East German dog was a large, massive, super-pigmented, big-boned, big headed dog, too much bone, but they came along when the Canto Arminius influence had robbed the breed of a lot of its masculinity. A couple of lines were incredible hip producers, though held in high regard as work lines, most lines are very in tune to their handler, not handler hard dogs at all i.e. Don Rolandsteich, Lord Gleisdreick, Robby Glockeneck (I'm blessed to have owned son & dtrs of all 3) Zorro v lagerwall<sp?>, (exception: the Ritterberg dogs, very serious(my toughest DDR lines)). They were a real asset for the gene pool, but please remember...their roots are the same as all GSD's...simply GSD as it started in WG>BG))

 

[Hillbilly]

Not all European German Shepherds are considered DDR.They say the DDR are a harder dog to handle because of the drive and a lot of them are not marked the same.I would say there is more to it than marketing,why else do the trainers of police dogs (a lot anyway go straight to Germany and hand pick there dogs when there is a ton of them here?) I am not an expert on GSD but have been doing a lot of reading and there is a lot of controversy in the GSD club of America,with people wanting them to change there standards to be aligned with the German Standard or a world wide standard.Go figure..........

 

[Hillbilly]

I might add these are borrowed words on the previous post. I do not even own a DDR GSD.I do have an American with German Bloodlines.
Wonderful dog a little over a year old.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

There are actually very few dogs from the DDR left. The system that created these dogs is, in fact, gone (absorbed into the SV). Some of the bloodlines survive, but most have been mixed. E.g. there are several dogs in my schutzhund club with the Lord Gleisdreieck line mixed with the Troll Boesen Nachbarschaft (Fero Zeuterner Himmelreich) line. I think a lot more of a similar system remains in the Czech Republic, which is why so many police departments are shopping there.

My own dog is all West German working lines (Mink Haus Wittfeld, Wicko Karthago, Gildo Koerbelbach, Falco Haus Sindern). He is near the minimum size but very fast with hard, full, calm grips. He will be trialing for SchH 3 this weekend. Wish me luck.

Real German Shepherds Website

 

[Hillbilly]

I am buying 2 DDR pups,I get my male puppy next week,from a kennel here in the states,and I have a female pup coming from Germany the end of November.
I wish you luck............../w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Hillbilly]

I need to follow up,I am not in Schutzhund competition,I just liked what I read and was told about these dogs.Do you know of any good reading material that covers these DDR dogs and there history etc............... And the Czech dogs,all of these old East German lines? How do you like these DDR lines,like I say they have some very good working qualities,not so much for show,but I do like the colors in a lot of them /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
There origins kinda of remind me of the cur hunting dogs of the Southern United State,different sizes and colors etc and a good strain identified and reproduced etc...................and passed on.