[Tina]

I really hope that this 'dog
holocaust' comes to an end.
laura

I have been watching it in this country for over 40 years .. and it only
seems to get worst ;(

just mention the word 'wolf" out here and everyone panics ;(

this happened to my group several months ago, may I share one of the answer
posts that was written by one of our REAL experts out here to my group of
Shiloh owners & breeders?

Little Red Riding Hood syndrome... EVERYONE Please
READ!

I have to thank all of you, and especially the ones who started the
rumors of the Big Bad Wolf infiltrating the Shiloh's. I have been
laughing my butt off going through all the posts. My name is Jim
Hopkin. Rambo McGuire is my dog. He is deceased now, and is sorely
missed. He died from an over-reaction to anesthesia. He was one of the
best dogs I ever had. He is PURE DOG, NOT a drop of wolfblood in him
that VonStephanitz didn't personally put in his ancestors. He is AKC
all the way. Tina now has a copy of his AKC papers. He is Chani and
Elijah's sire, both of which were born in my house, Elijah (OFA
excellent)on my bed in the middle of the night (don't you just love it
when that happens):-). Elijah and Chani's dams are mine too and are
DOGS. Sorry, no wolfblood in these either. Jett, Elija's dam is at my
feet as I type this. She is a solid black GSD, just turned 11 years
old and can still run like the wind, thus her name, Jett. She dates
back to Phantom vonLeberland, a very famous solid black Champion whose
picture is in most of your good GSD books. Susha was neutered due to
her age and complications from her one litter which produced Chani.
She is a sable bitch and a pretty hard bitch. My ex-girlfriend has her
now that she doesn't have me to protect her. She is pure SHILOH.
Her mom is Starr, my FIRST Shiloh that I got from Tina more than 12
years ago and is an AKC GSD. Yes, the OLD Shiloh's HAD AKC papers. I
have got to laugh.... hasn't anyone ever watched Discovery channel or
seen some of the good picture books about wolves? Any dummy can tell a
silly dog from a wolf if they just LOOK at them. Even a Wolfdog
(hybrid is a misnomer as dogs are a subspecies of wolf) retains WOLF
traits down to 10-15% that are undeniable. Take a look at Horand
(Hektor)SV#1 if you have access to any of VonStephanitz old books.
"Word and Picture".. ring any bells? Hektor has a pure wolf
grandmother. Ok, for all you conspiracy freaks out there,
VonStephanitz is the guy who INVENTED the G.S.D.in the early part of
the last century. His favorite dog, Hektor, he registered as the first
dog in his registry. SV#1. ALL decent G.S.D. can trace back to him. So
you all have wolfdogs already and didn't know it? Look at his picture
when you find one... that's a quarter wolf. See any of those around
your house? No? well that G.S.D. or Shiloh Shepherd you have lounging
on the couch is probably the closest you will ever get to a wolf. Be
happy that there was a guy smart enough(100 years ago) to breed out
the undesirable wolf traits so you can have an intelligent, loyal,
strong, protective animal as a family member who doesn't thirst for
your blood while you soundly sleep. I'm sorry, that was a little
sarcastic, but I have heard this all before.. bloodthirsty visions of
danger and havoc because of God's dog. I just happen to know a wee bit
about Wolfdogs and wolves as I have served on the Board of Directors
as Director of Standards for the USAWA, the United States American
Wolfdog Association for over 16 years. In fact, the reason I became
interested in Shiloh Shepherds in the late 1980's was due to the fact
that I was searching for a sound, strong, intelligent and loyal breed
of dog with a high "willingness to please" to put INTO MY Wolfdogs.
You see, generally, Wolfdogs lack one thing...... a willingness to
please. Wolves are timid by nature. Hard to believe but true. They are
horrible at protection and are darn near impossible to housebreak. My
idea was to bring some stable DOG genes into my Wolfdogs and get some
animals with a willingness to please. Since I knew the GSD was already
a breed with recent Wolf heritage I searched all over America for the
BEST "old type" GSD and I found 2 places that had GSD that fit my
strict requirements, Tina being one of them. NONE of the big American
show kennels had anything I wanted. I gave up my "project" when my
last Wolfdog passed away at 14 years of age. I am now thoroughly
satisfied and only have G.S.D. and am thrilled that they are from
wolves, even if it was over 100 years ago that their ancestors roamed
the European continent, wild and free. NONE of my dogs have ANY
wolfblood that isn't 100 years old, not one of them. Neither does
Elijah or Chani or BoDog. As far as I know, and I know a few hundred
wolfdogs personally from my work with USAWA, VonStephanitz was the
last person to successfully create a reliable dog breed using
wolfblood. Too bad he didn't live long enough to see the end result of
his efforts.I know Tina likes wolves, and Lisa too, but like me they
know that adding wolfblood to a dog is not only unnecessary but just
plain dumb if you are trying to improve the best darn dog breed
anywhere, the Shiloh Shepherd. I can document everything above for any
skeptics out there. I have a copy of the ORIGINAL stud books, from
Germany, with pictures and lineage's, breedings and VonStephanitz notes
and charts that I tracked over 2 continents, over a period of 2 solid
years from a rumor I heard once from a GSD breeder. My grandkids,
should I have any (my daughter is 17)will get those books. They prove
the origins of the GSD. I also have pictures off all my dogs and all
their pedigrees and papers from the AKC. Let me know what you need to
understand the truth.
OK, now, I understand the misconception that led to this fun and games
is due to a pedigree of Elijah that my brother e-mailed to someone who
wanted to see it. It lists not only his AKC registration # but also
his USAWA registration #. Let me explain something. USAWA registration
#s have a secret code built into them so that USAWA knows WHAT the
animal IS. Is it a Wolf? a DOG, or a cross? I will not reveal what the
codes are for the Wolf and wolfcrosses (due to legalities) but the dog
codes are as follows. The first digits of the registration # that
start with the letter P are DOGS, the letter stands for "PURE" and the
second digit determines the dog breed, in Rambo's case the "G" stands
for German Shepherd Dog. Were they malamutes or Huskies, they would
carry "PM" or "PH" numbers. "PG" stands for Pure German Shepherd, not
Parental Guidance.
Now, follow me please. Rambo WAS used as stud to a few WOLFDOG
bitches.
OH NO!...... not to worry, he was also the sire of a few DOG litters
too. Pretty cool eh? Look at Elijah and Chani and tell me he wasn't a
great stud dog. Not to mention NOBODY was allowed to drown around
Rambo either. He was a fully functional "BayWatch" dog. My daughter is
a "water rat" and I trained him to make sure she wouldn't drown at the
lake which we frequented when Heather was a little tyke. He was so
good at it, that he was a pain in the butt about it...literally.
Should anyone in our family swim past his "invisible line" from shore
he would come and GET YOU back to shore. If you were cooperative, he
offered his tail as a handle to hold all the way in to shore but if
you weren't, his favorite handle on you was your shorts.... and he
would pull you all the way back. No kidding. No self respecting
Wolfdog would ever be caught working at that job, let me tell you. Ok,
and for all you out there that are stuck in the dark ages let me stop
you right there. One breeding has ZERO effect on another breeding. For
example. Let's say you are Italian and your first marriage was to a
Ukrainian. Your children from that union are half Ukrainian and half
Italian, right? Ok, good, now let's say your next marriage is to a
Martian, ok? So your kids from that union are half Italian and half
Martian, right? They have zero Ukrainian in them right? OK, just in
case someone wasn't sure about that. One more thing.. and I hope it's
the last one or I may have to make this post into a hardcover version.
:-) Rambo, Starr, Jett, all my DOGS have USAWA registration numbers
as do many other folks' regular dogs. USAWA is an international breed
club, like the ones you have for the Shilohs and we require ALL dogs
used for breeding or even merely to compete in our National shows,
even if just for the Olympics, Agility or Fun classes they MUST be
registered to compete. Thus the USAWA #s, but remember, the PG is for
PURE GERMAN SHEPHERD which must be proven to USAWA satisfaction to get
those #s. Take a look at the pictures, if Tina doesn't have any, I do
and will gladly send some to anyone who has any doubts. Then look at
the pedigrees and you will see.
Now please...
all of you... get back to business, ok? You all are part of the Shiloh
Shepherd, the BEST all around DOG... anywhere. How many times have you
been able to take your dogs in public where someone didn't stop you to
ask questions and admire the fine animal you are privileged to have in
your care? ever?
With love for all the fuzzos,
Jim Hopkin
Heatherly Farm, USA