# TEMPERMENT difference between DDR&West working line



## jag1 (Jun 11, 2015)

Trying to understand the difference in temperament between a DDR East German & West German working line dog. Looking for primarily a friendly approachable companion pet family dog that would live in the house. I realize that you can have them all over the map regardless but looking for a general pattern seen by responsible breeders of the working line dogs. Would I be better off with DDR or West German line pup or nothing to be concerned with?


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## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

I'm sure people will chime in, but while there are trends in common, there are also difference plus what a breeder maybe looking for.

Why the more specific dogs/owners you visit with and talk to the better. You can actually start seeing what dogs you would prefer and would fit your background/experience and lifestyle and those that may not be.

Specially because some breeders really WANT their dogs to be great house/family/cat  dogs, while other really do NOT particularly breed for that and just kennel their dogs or like that they are dogs that need to be more isolated from other people/dogs/the world.


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

My DDR dog isn't friendly. He isn't mean or aggressive but he doesn't care for strangers at all. He'll tolerate being petted by them if I ask him to, but you can tell he's just humoring me. He really only enjoys attention from his human "family."


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## wolfstraum (May 2, 2003)

Stereotypes - 

DDR - less prey drive, moderate to high suspicion and civil aggression, bred for this rather than sport

WGR - more prey, low suspicion, high energy


Which is why I like a blend of the two - it can tend to balance out and you get a dog more apt to be social yet discerning and protective...Csabre is nearly 50-50....is very social, loves kids, totally safe in public...but in the right situation, is very strong in social aggression

Lee


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

This is purely anecdotal, but a lot of the WGWL dogs I've known (including my own) are dogs where you can start training pretty quickly, even start some bitework 7-8 months within reason, and go from there, but many of the DDR dogs I've known don't turn on like that right away, need to wait until they are more mentally mature to really start pushing their buttons and getting results. Not saying one is better than the other, but depending on how one trains, one line (or a blend) might be a better fit than the other.


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