Because of all the different discussions about health and genetics pertaining to hips/elbows, bloat/torsion, mega, DM, etc., I thought I'd put this scenario out to you. And even though this is just a scenario, I'm sure it happens more than we know. What prompted me to write this is a discussion I had with two well known breeders on different occasions. They both told me about a past GVX (maybe in the 80's??) who was RUMORED, (and I put that in CAPS because it might just be that.....a rumor) that might have had mega??? Her owners tried to breed her after she attained her title unsuccessfully. And no, please don't e-mail me asking who I'm talking about because as I said it could just be a rumor. Here's the scenario: You have a super star male or bitch puppy and you find out the pup has one of the above listed conditons, but not so bad that it will affect the pups life. Do you still show this puppy? When you breed a litter, do you breed for yourself or are you breeding for the future of the breed with your bloodlines? Do you feel if this puppy grows up to realize the potential you seen as a puppy and wins our top honors at the National and you don't breed him, that you've done no harm to the breed by not passing his genes to someone elses breeding program? Is is okay to show just to finish this puppies championship and maybe go higher, or do we owe the fancy when we show these animals that people are going to want to use these bloodlines? So I guess the question is, is it okay to show just for yourself and not breed this animal, or if you are going to show that the animal should be able to bred......even though some bitches never have a litter as the above rumored bitch did not? And before someone says, what about the litter mates? Someone might use them. We'll say that the puppy is an only puppy just to make it a more interesting scenario. Best wishes, Barbara -- Barbara J. Galasso CHIEFTAINS GERMAN SHEPHERDS Visit my website at http://chieftainsgermanshepherds.com ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2006. 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. 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@xxxxxxxxxxxx VISIT OUR WEBSITE - URL temporarily deleted due to AOL issues ============================================================================