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...