The Breed Survey

GSBOC Breed Survey 2005

The concept of the Breed Survey has been well-established in a number of breeds on the Continent for several years. The first surveys in German Shepherd Dogs, for example started in the early 1920s and have continued ever since.

Dogs and Bitches are thoroughly assessed for construction, movement and character and are passed either recommended or suitable for breeding. Dogs with significant and serious failings do not attend or, if they do, are rejected. In this way the Survey acts as a selection process, exerting a degree of control over which dogs are used for breeding.

Since no such organisations of control exist, or are likely to exist in the country, a breed survey here will fulfil another function. As on the Continent, it is an invaluable vehicle for collating detailed information about individual animals. Such information is great value to say serious breeders. He or she can study the survey books and research the dogs behind animals he is using, learning their virtues and failings in a way hardly possible from reading often superficial show reports. This can only lead to more informed breeding practices and, hopefully, an improvement in the breed generally.

So If you bring your dog to a survey, you are making a valuable contribution to the future of the breed. And if you really want to be a pioneer, what about committing yourself to breeding only from surveyed dogs, wherever possible.

Brain Wootton