it all started about 48 years ago, as a teenager I became highly interested in the terms of "Genetics" in the Dogs breeding program, I started training dogs at a very young age and my instructors were well-seasoned trainers of that time who had the Old Training concept of the "Compulsive Training"! How has time, methods, and Concepts changed!! But what has never changed was the Concept of how to evaluate and read your dog's genetic traits and the different behaviors, abilities, and reactions he would show as a young puppy.
Many clients now a day come to us and ask us if they can choose their puppy, and this is the most difficult question to answer for us ! Why, because we do not know how much expertise, in reality, these new puppy future owners really have, Some say oh, we have had over 10 German Shepherds in our lifetime or may say, we trained all of our dogs, we know how to train, others will simply say, No, this is our first German Shepherd and we would like you to help us and guide us into the correct selection for our family and our lifestyle.
Yes, we have always established we offer you a Blank Slate where you will write and the outcome depends on how you managed that slate and what you wrote in it., Southernwind always says that young puppies come to us as blank slates. Full of promise and limitless potential, ready to be molded into your ideal companion as long as you do your part – provide lots of love, the right amount of discipline, and appropriate Structure and training along the way. If you’re a caring, responsible pet owner, there’s no reason that your puppy should not grow up to be a model canine citizen....BUT..IT’S NOT “ALL IN HOW YOU RAISE THEM”: THE ROLE OF GENETICS is extremely important IN BEHAVIOR AND TEMPERAMENT! This is the reason we have always disclosed the outstanding genetic traits on our composition of bloodlines that we use on our breeding Program.!
Why we have been so strict about the bloodlines and genetic pool who we already know what types of temperaments and traits we can expect from our offsprings.
How many times have you heard of the countless number of fundamentally mismatched dog/owner pairings that we hear about on a regular basis? The gentle elderly couple, with the rambunctious over-the-top energy dog?. The busy young professionals with three children under the age of five, with the spooky. the skittish dog who doesn’t like kids. Or even the lovely middle-aged woman who wants to do therapy work in a local nursing home, with her aloof and introverted dog?
What all of these situations have in common, at their core, is a lack of understanding combined with an unfortunate and excessive sense of optimism and a "Breeder" who has not really taken the time and effort to do complete research and has not been really involved in investing time and money into investigating what are the real genetic traits of the bloodlines in his Breeding Program and make their puppy buyers fall into the unshakeable faith in the notion that any dog can be molded into the perfect pet for the owner’s particular lifestyle, as long as they’re “raised right.” That every eight-week-old puppy is a formless mass of behavioral clay, ready to be imprinted with whatever characteristics and personality traits are most convenient for their living situation and the wishes of their new family.
Unfortunately for all involved in the examples above, this is utterly and emphatically not true.!
I can speak of what we know, of what we had gone through, and what we have achieved! for the last 48 years of breeding, we had our downfalls and our success, and we did learn from our falls, we understood that to be able to create a correct breeding program you have to know your dog genes, have to know where they come from, what the past generations produced, their weakness and strengths, what qualities I wanted for our dogs, and this has not only laid on our German Shepherds, it s proven to be true in the Dobermans we bred and raised in the past, where we still see our 5th generation as a presently Top Doberman in the US! and Our Malinois, who my son, active Military Officer, Franco E Santana, from De Southernwind Belgian Malinois carries the most successful and impeccable Malinois
Breeding Program, achieving titles and highest scores in trials all over the USA. My son has traveled to Belgium where the is the Malinois mother Country and learned from the Best in the World about the breed and their true characteristics, We have also traveled every year to the great Sieger Shows in Germany where we have had the opportunity to check on the Top VA dogs and what they produce, able to see and check on ourselves the offsprings and seen in real the true working abilities and temperament of what is being produced, this way we know where we stand, were are we heading and feel extremely self-confident of our Breeding Programs! Everyone wants that SPECIAL DOG, we know, we understand, we know what you are looking for.
If you have specific personality traits that you need in a dog, don’t choose a puppy based on looks or a cheap purchase price and assume that you can “make it work” – this rarely goes well, in my experience.
Instead, I would strongly encourage you to look into getting a puppy from an excellent breeder, with a good track record of producing dogs with the traits that you want, with great experience and knowledge – this is your very best chance of ending up with a dog that will be a good fit for you and your family. Many owners need a dog that is reliably gentle and tolerant with kids, or with low prey drive because of smaller pets in the home, or easygoing and low-energy because they are elderly or disabled.
Yes, we believe in the Blank Slate BUT, THE BLANK SLATE of a proven genetic makeup where the whole litter brings out the best of temperaments, strong steady nerves, self-confidence, resilience, social attitudes, Remember don't go for looks and size, this is an enormous general tendency we find every day with puppy requests. Size and looks could be a great misleading factor for a dog who will be your companion, your aid, your protector for the next 12+ years. There is no substitute for Temperaments, Health, attitudes, strong nerves, dogs that have the resilience to be not highly affected by changes. we are true believers in making the correct match for it will guarantee a forever strong bond and relationship. whether you want a Service Dog, an Emotional Support, a Family Companion, a Protection dog, or a Dog for all Seasons for all Reasons!!
Comments