Came across these old / breeding principles from the legendary Raymond Oppenheimer (1971) Thought the list might find interesting. Here goes. Offer your own suggestion to the list. 1 Dont make use of indiscriminating outcrosses 2 Dont line breed just for the sake of line breeding 3 Listen to advise from successful breeders 4 Dont believe the cliché about the brother or sister of the great Ch being just as good to breed from. 5 Dont credit your dogs with virtues they dont possess 6 Dont breed from mediocrities 7 Dont assess the worth of a stud dog by his inferior progeny. All good stud dogs can produce rubbish at time. 8 Dont allow personal feelings to influence your choice of a stud dog. 9 Dont allow admiration of a stud dog blind you to his faults. 10 Dont mate together animals which share the same fault 11 Dont forget it is the whole dog that matters 12 Dont be frightened of breeding from animals that have obvious faults, so long as they have compensating virtures 13 Dont mate together non-complementary types 14 Dont forget the necessity to preserve head quality 15 Dont forget that substance plus quality should be one of your aims 16 Dont be satisfied with anything but the best. 17 The second best is never good enough. 18 An ability to recognize type at a glance is a breeders greatest gift. 19 Ask the successful breeders to explain this subject theres no other way of learning. 20 Dont ever try to decry a great dog. A thing of beauty is not only a joy forever, but a great dog should be a source of aesthetic pride & pleasure to all true lovers of the breed. Nancy Harper- Mulvaney ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2012. All material remains the property of the original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Each Author is responsible for the content of his/her post. This group and its administrators are not responsible for the comments or opinions expressed in any post. ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE PROSECUTED. For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxx VISIT OUR WEBSITE - http://showgsd.org SUBSCRIPTION:http://showgsd.org/mail.html NATIONAL BLOG - http://gsdnational.blogspot.com/ ============================================================================