4 ms·

It's been tried, perhaps indirectly. There was one kennel that got quite famous for breeding police dogs using the best workers - both drug spaniels and German

It's been tried, perhaps indirectly. There was one kennel that got quite famous for breeding police dogs using the best workers - both drug spaniels and German Shepherds. That was shortly after WW2, but by the sixties and seventies they were first choice for about half a dozen or more police forces, including the Met. No idea if they're still going, but I haven't heard anything of them for ages.

noir_lord 7y ago
Belgian Malinois as well, similar breed bit lighter but incredbily fast, agile and smart, used by militaries around the world.
- NeedMoreTea 7y ago
  Aye, it was more that for a spell their shepherds were first choice for many forces over anyone else's shepherds, anywhere, and they had a permanent waiting list. Can't, for the life of me, remember the name of the kennel though. Malis seem to be becoming more popular as police dogs too, as there's so many hip problems in shepherds.
  - noir_lord 7y ago
    The hip problems where a result of breeding for showing sadly, older dogs of the breeds had much few fewer problems. I personally think it’s tragic that we selectively breed breeds into those kinds of problems for aesthetics.
    - NeedMoreTea 7y ago
      Couldn't agree more, it's horrible, and borders on abusive given the problems that result in many breeds. Show German Shepherds currently look horribly broken, like someone reassembled a kit wrong. When we got ours we found a kennel that had "English" German Shepherds - flat back like a shepherd would be if you saw photos from the 40s or 60s. Far too clever for his own good that dog, I miss him.
  - dmckeon 7y ago
    Not military or enforcement, but well-known, and published: https://newskete.org/dog-training https://newskete.org/dog-training
  - NeedMoreTea 7y ago
    I remembered. Search "olderhill german shepherds" or "ann butler shepherds" for a selection of sites. Looks like there's a few kennels offering a continuation of those dogs, but no one actually continuing the process of bringing the best workers back for breeding. This seems to have the most history: https://olderhill.webnode.com/history-of-the-olderhills/ https://olderhill.webnode.com/history-of-the-olderhills/

noir_lord 7y ago

Belgian Malinois as well, similar breed bit lighter but incredbily fast, agile and smart, used by militaries around the world.

NeedMoreTea 7y ago
Aye, it was more that for a spell their shepherds were first choice for many forces over anyone else's shepherds, anywhere, and they had a permanent waiting list. Can't, for the life of me, remember the name of the kennel though. Malis seem to be becoming more popular as police dogs too, as there's so many hip problems in shepherds.
- noir_lord 7y ago
  The hip problems where a result of breeding for showing sadly, older dogs of the breeds had much few fewer problems. I personally think it’s tragic that we selectively breed breeds into those kinds of problems for aesthetics.
  - NeedMoreTea 7y ago
    Couldn't agree more, it's horrible, and borders on abusive given the problems that result in many breeds. Show German Shepherds currently look horribly broken, like someone reassembled a kit wrong. When we got ours we found a kennel that had "English" German Shepherds - flat back like a shepherd would be if you saw photos from the 40s or 60s. Far too clever for his own good that dog, I miss him.
- dmckeon 7y ago
  Not military or enforcement, but well-known, and published: https://newskete.org/dog-training https://newskete.org/dog-training
- NeedMoreTea 7y ago
  I remembered. Search "olderhill german shepherds" or "ann butler shepherds" for a selection of sites. Looks like there's a few kennels offering a continuation of those dogs, but no one actually continuing the process of bringing the best workers back for breeding. This seems to have the most history: https://olderhill.webnode.com/history-of-the-olderhills/ https://olderhill.webnode.com/history-of-the-olderhills/