# Companion Home vs Working Home



## GSDLove (Dec 6, 2007)

While I am not in the market for a puppy yet, I do like going to breeders websites and looking at their dogs and puppies. 

Some of the top-notch breeders of working line/DDR GSDs state on their websites “preference given to working homes”. 

My question is - how someone goes about getting a well breed family pet/companion of WL/DDR pedigree if most go only to working homes? Or is there a percent of every litter that do go to companion homes?

Mary


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## GSDBESTK9 (Mar 26, 2002)

Not all puppies in the litter are going to be the same. Some will be working prospects with high drives and such and some pups will be more suitable for companion dogs. Some however will be in the middle, they could go either way, but obviously working homes will be prefered.


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## martemchik (Nov 23, 2010)

A lot of them do go to companion homes because working households are very picky on the puppies they get. Say there are 6 in a litter and only 2 show the drive to do work of some sort, the people that are going to work their dogs will wait for the next litter until they get the dog they want. This means 4 will go to companion homes. Sometimes people wait years to get a puppy from a breeder they like because litters might not have enough working prospects in them.


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## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

Preference is just a preference - it's not a prerequisite. 

Just because a breeder prefers their puppies go to working homes doesn't mean that they all will. If there's a litter of 8 puppies, what are the odds that all 8 puppies go to working homes? What's the odds that all 8 puppies are suitable to be worked? Some of those pups will probably go to companion/pet homes.


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## bocron (Mar 15, 2009)

Generally in a litter of 6 or 8, you rarely get ALL pups that would be for working homes. You also almost never get that many strictly working home buyers either, so there are always companion homes needed and sold to. Usually when they say preference given to working homes means that if they only get 3-4 pups and have that many buyers looking for working dogs then those buyers get first right of refusal type of thing. No serious working breeder wants to place a dog in the wrong situation if they can help it. They don't want someone who really wants to work and possibly title a dog to get a couch potato and they don't want a family getting a dog that is a holy terror and they end up getting back.
One of the females we have we ended up with because the breeder just knew she was an absolute handful and while she had 3-4 companion homes looking, she just didn't want to place the dog in an untenable situation. When my husband met her the breeder said if he wanted her we could have her, but if not she was going to keep her. She was a special puppy, just totally full of herself and literally bouncing off the walls. Now that she is a year and a half, she is very settled and would make a great family dog, but getting her to this point was work. The breeder would have most likely gotten her back,so it was a good decision all the way around. Now of course you couldn't get her away from my husband, he is totally smitten with her, all 55lbs of her!


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## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

Same applies with the show line breeders. I'd hope that a show line breeder would be interested/involved in the world of showing if they're breeding show dogs.

So they breed a litter and have 8 gorgeous puppies. What are the odds that all 8 of those puppies will either be held back or go to a home looking to show the dog? I'm sure not every single one of them. Some of those puppies will end up going to homes not looking to show their show line dogs.


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## LaRen616 (Mar 4, 2010)

I have a 5 month old female Czech/West German Working line female, she is strictly a pet but I would like to get her involved with agility and maybe do some herding for fun.

I dont really talk to any of her littermate's owners but I do know that one of her brothers is doing Sch training.


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## holland (Jan 11, 2009)

GSDLove said:


> While I am not in the market for a puppy yet, I do like going to breeders websites and looking at their dogs and puppies.
> 
> Some of the top-notch breeders of working line/DDR GSDs state on their websites “preference given to working homes”.
> 
> ...


I love looking at websites too. I think I have been looking at them too long though-some websites make me laugh and I am not sure that is their intention. Obviously their preference is a working home. As a buyer I will decide what my preference is Websites do tell something about the breeder-I believe


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## bocron (Mar 15, 2009)

bocron said:


> they don't want a family getting a dog that is a holy terror and they end up getting back.



I feel I must clarify my own remark . I don't mean to imply that working line puppies are holy terrors, more to mean that to the person looking for a nice family companion, some of the wl pups would be way beyond what they are wanting to work with. To us, the bouncing off the wall pups are a blast, as long as they are engaging and like to be messed with, the wilder the better . That wl pup video on Leerburg always makes me smile since to us that is just the dog we want and love. In my experience, most of them settle into nice dogs to have in the house as well, it is generally a matter of training and time spent. 
I also used to work with a lot of ADHD kids in a former life, so there is that...


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

In Halo's litter there were several puppies that went to people who were looking for a dog to compete in Schutzhund. One of her littermates went to someone for SAR training. A brother was held back a little longer because he needed to go to an experienced working home. Halo was listed as being appropriate for a working OR active pet home, as were a couple of the others. Our dogs are an active part of our life, but we are by not "working" them in the usual sense of the word. Halo is in scentwork and flyball classes.


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

There are some very nice working line breeders in Texas who will sell to active companion homes.


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## Josie/Zeus (Nov 6, 2000)

I agree with the above comments. Koda's litter produced 9 pups. I know about 3 that's doing SchH and Koda is doing PSA. Koda's brothers went to Nass, one of them won VP2, the other was VP9- his sisters placed as well but I can't remember their placement. The rest of the litter are family pet.


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## Mrs.K (Jul 14, 2009)

You know, it would help to clarify what a working home actually is. 

In 90% of the cases a working home is considered a sport home. To a lot of people, these dogs are also companion dogs. When I say sport I'm talking about IPO, VPG/SchH, French Ring, Mondioring, FH, HGH and RH. 
But even Agility can be very demanding and you need a certain drive and speed to get past the regional level. 

And then there are the "real" working homes as in: Police, Military, professional SAR... even Service Dogs I'd call working dogs. 

And then you've got the Companion Dogs. The lines between working sport/companions, most of the time are quite blurry.


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## GSDLove (Dec 6, 2007)

Thank you all for replying. I have puppy fever big time. But it will be a year or two before I am ready for another puppy, with Bailey's issues that takes all my non-working time.


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

Mrs.K said:


> You know, it would help to clarify what a working home actually is. ......................................................................................................
> And then you've got the Companion Dogs. The lines between working sport/companions, most of the time are quite blurry.


Very very very good point, Mrs.K. I consider myself a pet/companion home, but we do agility and are trying to get into PSA. So some might consider us more "working."


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## wolfstraum (May 2, 2003)

The home depends on if I would sell a puppy - not whether it was working or companion...I expect all pups to BE companions, and will go for a "non working" home over a working home where training philosophy is compulsion or deprivation of house time (ie - kennel kept)...as far as pups not being "working quality" when sold....that is more up to the owner than the pup. In one litter, my then training director "tested" the pups when they were tatooed....he handed me a male and said "this one is nothing, sell him in the Sunday paper"...so he went to a pet home - where the owner decided a few months later she would like to see the sport trianing....in a few years that pup was quite a few time Sch3....I thought he was a nice pup and would work if someone pursued it....

Most of the time, IMO, the home determines whether the pup is a 'working' or a companion pup.

JMO

Lee


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## lhczth (Apr 5, 2000)

The SAR people I know (several are FEMA) also keep their dogs as pets. Work does not mean the dog isn't also a pet.


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## holland (Jan 11, 2009)

Rorie just saw an ad where the stud dog doesn't come out to play...she thinks he would be awfully boring:shocked:


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## Barb E (Jun 6, 2004)

Let's say you're a breeder and you have more buyers than pups.

You have a pup that will be an excellent working dog (or sport) and two buyers with everything equal with the exception of one who will work/participate in sport and the other that is looking for a companion.

My guess is as a breeder you would prefer the pup go to the working/sport home, I'm sure most breeders love to see their dogs titled


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## GSD07 (Feb 23, 2007)

Most breeders love to see their dogs live happy healthy long lives in good homes. Titled or not. Well, maybe it's more important for the new breeders to keep count of titles but I think priorities change as time goes by.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

lhczth said:


> The SAR people I know (several are FEMA) also keep their dogs as pets. Work does not mean the dog isn't also a pet.


I agree! A local village LEO has a drug detection GSD. She also competes in rally & obedience with her, and her dogs go everywhere with her. She recently started protection work(not SchH) with her girl and even though her dog is a Police K9, she is doing many other things to keep her handler busy! 
They are trialing at a huge show this weekend.


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## Debbieg (Jun 7, 2009)

I am still not sure of the difference or where the lines are drawn between working and companion. Benny is definitely a companion. He lives in the house, goes hiking, swimming, on hospital visits. He has been trained to provide brace/balance, retrieve dropped objects, find my keys and did well on three herding tests. He occasionally goes to work with me and visits kids in the classrooms.I hope to try flyball with him. Is this considered working, or is working just SAR, schutzhund, venues where they earn titles, being a police canine ?


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## Mrs.K (Jul 14, 2009)

Debbieg said:


> I am still not sure of the difference or where the lines are drawn between working and companion. Benny is definitely a companion. He lives in the house, goes hiking, swimming, on hospital visits. He has been trained to provide brace/balance, retrieve dropped objects, find my keys and did well on three herding tests. He occasionally goes to work with me and visits kids in the classrooms.I hope to try flyball with him. Is this considered working, or is working just SAR, schutzhund, venues where they earn titles, being a police canine ?


If he's a therapy dog going to the hospital, personally, I consider that very much working.
I remember last year Christmas when we went on post to visit the Soldiers on duty to drop of bags of goodies. We've had the dogs with us and afterwards, Indra was mentally and emotionally exhausted. The work of a Therapy Dog should not be underestimated. It can be very tough on dogs.


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