The ISSR (International Shiloh Shepherd Registry) is the ORIGINAL and only
registry recognized by the SSDCA, Inc.
The SSDCA is the parent club of the Shiloh Shepherd dog, which is a rare
breed still under development.
Under development means that a specific gene pool of specific dogs with
specific traits is still being created, under the guidance of Tina M.
Barber, the Breed
Founder.
What does this mean?
It means that until the
gene pool is large enough and all progeny are producing specific traits, on
occasion, an outcross (unrelated line or breed) that has been carefully
researched and selected based on certain traits is added to create the
desired outcome.
Shiloh vs. LHGSD
Why is owning an ISSR registered Shiloh so important?
Many other generic registries have come and gone over the years and each one
has randomly chosen dogs to add as
outcrosses. Choosing many different
outcross dogs adds a larger gene pool, but ultimately things such as genetic
faults and diseases can NOT ever be tracked accurately because you will
NEVER know which dog brought the problem in or where it is coming from. It
also allows for too many temperament variations and a
large number of dogs
that do NOT fit the breed standard.
The ISSR carefully monitors all litters produced by an outcross;
experimental breedings are only done to weed out health and temperament issues
and to lock in the aspects that are needed, thus the reason that in the past
two decades, only three outcrosses have been used.
Examples of Real ISSR Shiloh
Shepherd Pedigrees
What are experimental litters?
These are closely bred
litters that will expose any hidden defects.
ISSR Shiloh Shepherd
Health Survey Results
What happens to puppies that do have defects?
These pups are placed appropriately often for much less money or even for
free in forever homes as pets and the dogs that carry the defect carry a
"breed warning" letting other ISSR breeders know not to breed them to
certain lines. All dogs carry some recessive (hidden) defects. Good breeders
carefully select dogs to slowly weed these problems out by breeding to dogs
that hopefully do not carry the same defect in their recessives. If you are
not aware of the potential health issues, you could be in for a lot of
grief.
Due to lack of communication between so many of the various home made
registries, this important data is not shared or is hidden, not to
mention the many different outcross lines each registry has added without a
lot of research. To date, over the past two years alone there are at least
five different dogs, and this is an absolute fact although possibly
many other undocumented dogs have been used. So what you get is a mish mash
of a dog that
may in fact be a genetic or temperamental time bomb.
Pure bred dogs are not cheap and the ISSR is (as far as registries go) like
the AKC, only much more comprehensive. For a closer look, please read
our
letter to the UKC.
Think about this:
If you buy an AKC German Shepherd and pay $1000 dollars for it, would you
breed it to your neighbor's unpapered german shepherd dog (even if it is
theoretically a purebred) which they never bothered to register?
Genetically these may be pure German shepherds, but the pups can NEVER get
papers, so basically, the litter would be considered NON purebred by the AKC.
Do you follow this?
The break away Shiloh registries (sometimes called splinters - which simply
means a piece shaved off of the original and that is only a tiny part of the
whole piece of wood) have done exactly this. Although "some" of their dogs
may have been Shilohs genetically, they are no longer registerable and yet
they are sold for thousands of dollars. Please see
The Shiloh Wall of Shame.
Would you pay thousands for a non papered dog from unregistered AKC line
parents?
Probably not.
You can get one for free from your local rescue. You can get a Shiloh look
alike from many GSD rescues too! Although you will not have the LMX/LMI
documentation that is only available from the ISSR.
Then why would you pay thousands for a non-ISSR shiloh?
Seems very silly huh?
It's that simple.
Also specific paper work MUST be completed to receive your adult ISSR
registrations in order to validate hips, size, temperament, etc of each
individual dog as awell as for his/her LMX data. If this is not done, then the dog
cannot be shown or bred. Please see the
ISSR Rules and Regulations.
The ISSR uses an unaffiliated company to keep their registration records.
ISSR records are accurately stored and maintained by the private company. Other
"registries" are independently owned by one breeder who makes the
rules and changes them at will. Please see
Confusion and our
extensively detailed registry matrix.
So remember... |