It is our desire to ensure that you choose the best quality puppy available, one that will become your best friend for many healthy years to come.

Although our dogs are bred for superior intelligence, the proper selection of breeding pairs is vital in order to attain the qualities that are so endearing in this breed. You have read the Shep story in the Dog Fancy article, but we have many other heroes that are still alive and well. Their stories may be found in our Shiloh heroes pages.  We would like to encourage you to read their stories or to meet them in person at our annual Homecomings. Many of the spurious so-called "Shilohs" being sold could display extremely fearful or over-aggressive temperaments.  The same criteria applies to health issues.  Our Genetic Task Force has been working very hard to collect health data in order to assist ISSR breeders in selecting non carriers for various diseases, as per Dr. George Padgett's recommendations.  It is imperative that you insist on purchasing a puppy produced by a  fully licensed ISSR breeder who is operating under the direction of the Breed Founder, Tina Barber.

Furthermore, we would like to encourage you to visit some of our dogs in person, at any of our upcoming club/chapter events. All of them are discussed on our ShilohShepherdFriends e-mail list and many are listed on our website.  We would also welcome your specific questions on that list.  At this time we have hundreds of owners, from coast to coast, sharing their stories, questions, etc. in a friendly environment headed by Tina Barber ("MaShiloh") herself! If you have a problem joining this group, please contact us.

If you are still reading this page, we would like to take a few moments to clarify some of the information presented in the Dog Fancy article that we feel was misleading and has already caused some confusion among the general public.

The following letter was written to the editor of Dog Fancy Magazine and the author of the article:

December 23, 2002

Attention: Messrs. Resnick and Davis,

I am writing this to you not only as the secretary of the Shiloh Shepherd™ Dog Club of America, Inc. but also on behalf of the scores of legitimate ISSR Licensed Breeders who have produced between them over 360 litters of Shiloh Shepherds™ and over 3000 Shiloh Shepherd™ puppies,  registered in the ISSR, Inc., the original Shiloh Shepherd™ registry.  (Indeed, the Shiloh Shepherd™ Dog Club of America, Inc., noted in your article as the national breed club, is the parent club of the ISSR.)

Thank you for your recent article on the Shiloh Shepherd™ breed.  While we were honored to appear in your magazine, there are several points that we feel needed to be clarified.

The primary breeding goals of ISSR breeders are:

1. Superior intelligence
2. Stable temperaments
3. Large size
4. Good hips

along with sound health in all aspects.  ISSR breeders are encouraged to follow our five star program by attaining OFA Certifications for hearts, hips and elbows as well as earning conformation and working titles. 

The article stated that our breed’s two main problems are EPI and sub aortic stenosis (SAS).  However, the statistics from our  recent Health Survey conducted under the auspices of the national breed club (SSDCA) and registry (ISSR) and analyzed by  Dr. George A. Padgett indicates that the top 3 diseases of our breed were:

1.  Pano,

2.  EPI

3.  Bloat 

This information is readily available on our website; we did send your author a link to the results of the survey.  SAS was reported in only 1.4% of our dogs.  The SSDCA is fully aware that the two other people interviewed for your article have had extremely serious problems with SAS within their various registries,  possibly due to their practice of over-inbreeding with multiple puppies born within such litters having proven to be affected.

Also of concern was the statement “In a nutshell the bloodline is an 'old' German Shepherd Dog line crossed with the Alaskan Malamute.”  This statement can be very deceiving, since it implies that the Shiloh is an equal mixture of GSD and Malamute.  In reality, the specifically designed outcross that the Breed Founder, Tina Barber, used consisted of a combination that included the  Hobo (a type of GSD) line,  a special line of Giant Malamute, and a White GSD line, thus  the “New Blood” dog aka "MAW" only carried approximately 25% "malamute" blood, and his direct offspring in the early 90's only had  12.5% of the Giant Malamute blood in them.  Most of Shilohs of today, approximately 5-7 generations later, have an extremely small % of the "MAW" heritage left in them, certainly a far cry from the impression given in your article!  Furthermore, your article did not mention the Alt Deutcher Shaferhunde line that was blended in during the late 90's nor the Berger Blanc Suisse (White Shepherd) line that was recently introduced.  These lines were investigated extensively by the breed founder over a period of many years with multiple generations of health and hip information collected on not only the chosen outcross lines but also their littermates. Both are European variations of the "old style GSD" that have also been recognized as separate breeds, thus making up the gene pool of the Shiloh Shepherd™ (presently still under development by the breed founder) what it is today! 

As a side note, I would also like to mention that the "breeders" you interviewed do not use these lines, but are instead breeding to American German Shepherd dogs and issuing their own home made computer generated papers proclaiming the offspring to be "Shiloh Shepherds™". By implying that they are breeding Shiloh Shepherds™ you are doing a great disservice not only to all of the honest ISSR breeders that are following the strict protocol of the breed founder, but to your readers as well.

You do realize that these individuals are affiliated neither with the ISSR nor with the national breed club, the SSDCA.  ISSR breeders feel your article is very misleading because you did not specify that Ms. Schaefer and Ms. Richardson, both of whom were quoted in the article and referred to as breeders of Shiloh Shepherds™, are now breeding GSD/Shiloh mixes that would not qualify for registration in any legitimate organization.  Yet, your article failed to inform the public of this, misleading them to believe that they could purchase ISSR quality puppies from these individuals. They are not now, and have not been, members of the national breed club for nearly 6 years and none of their dogs are ISSR registered. Your article however implies differently. 

Tina and I both provided you links to our Licensed Breeder page where you easily could have contacted any of our over 50 respectable breeders from coast to coast, some of who have earned awards through our national club and are listed on our Shiloh heroes pages. Yet, none were interviewed for your article.  Although you did attempt calling me (leaving me a message with no return phone number), you did not call back as promised, and neither returned messages nor responded to the numerous e-mails I sent you as the secretary of the national breed club, webmaster of the 3 club/registry affiliated websites, compiler of the data from our health survey, and the breeder of 7 ISSR registered Shiloh Shepherd™ litters. Many of the numerous smaller errors in the article could easily have been corrected if we had seen it in advance, e.g., the incorrect mailing and e-mail address for the national breed club, the incorrect height/weight information, the juxtaposition of breeding Shilohs for strong hearts with heart problems incorrectly being named as a major concern, etc.  

The Schaefer group consists of a small handful of people attempting to mass produce puppies that they insist upon calling Shiloh Shepherds™ in order to attain sales. I encourage you to verify this via any website that documents their activities. I can assure you that our websites (with over 2000 images and pages) are updated on an ongoing basis. I hope you visited them when investigating your story.

Sincerely,

Karen Ursel
Secretary
Shiloh Shepherd™ Dog Club of America, Inc.

Letter from the Breed Founder
 

In the Dog Fancy article that you have read, much of the information is correct, although vague, and some of it is very misleading! I would like to take this opportunity to clear up some issues that I feel are extremely important for you to consider, before purchasing a Shiloh Shepherd™.

#1.  The author quoted some nice statements made by a person breeding puppies in Pennsylvania, and many people would probably assume that the owner of that kennel is
a member of the SSDCA (parent club listed) and is affiliated with the ISSR (official registry). This is not the case! Ms. Schaefer has not been associated with either the SSDCA nor the ISSR for a number of years, has recently started her "own" registry and is now breeding out to German Shepherd Dogs of her choice. Thus, I do not feel that she should even be calling her puppies "Shiloh Shepherds™".  Please take some time to slowly read the following article about Confusion.  It may save you much heartache later on down the line!

#2.  Unfortunately, things have not been free from politics in our world. Many people could not live up to the strict requirements set by the ISSR, and therefore have created much havoc over the past decade! For a complete history regarding club politics, please visit the History of the Club split and follow all the links. The truth has been available on the Internet for several years now.  Since those articles from '97 were published that "registry" has been dissolved, but many others have been formed in the last 18 months alone.

#3.  You will probably hear a lot of "reasons" why certain folks have been "forced" to start their own registries. Most will tell you that the Breed Founder is a dictator, etc., yet the truth will always stand the test of time. We have documented many of the arguments that caused certain "breeders" to choose another path. Since the Dog Fancy article has quoted Ms. Schaefer in such a nice light, I would like to point out that her main reason for leaving the ISSR was due to an argument over my choice of an Alt Deutcher Shaferhund outcross given that she was not the person who actually imported him. Please take some time to read the Artus posts. Hopefully this will give you some idea of what has been going on "behind the scenes" regarding some of the "players" that you are now meeting! If you take the time to investigate, you will soon discover that these "splinter groups" are not interested in the future welfare of this breed, but only in selling as many puppies as they can get away with! They each claim to have their "own" vision…but those visions only started after they left the ISSR.  If you would like the real background about these dogs, please read What is a Shiloh Shepherd™ (1990).  I can honestly say that none of the people claiming to be breeding these dogs now had even heard of them back then. Most did not even get involved until the mid to late 90's.  The SSDCA was not even incorporated until 1991! For a complete history on all club activities, please read Club History.

#4. If you are honestly seeking a quality Shiloh Shepherd™, please visit our ISSR Licensed Shiloh Shepherd™ Breeders page and contact those that have remained dedicated to my vision by following my guidelines in order to produce the best possible dogs that they can produce! Each of these people have signed the ISSR, Inc. Licensed Breeder Agreement. Each is a member of the Original Shiloh Shepherd™ Academy and have met all of the requirements to become an ISSR, Inc. Licensed Breeder. These wonderful present and future breeders are on our [public] Shiloh Shepherd™ Friends [forum] and will be more than happy to publicly answer any of your questions!

#5.  One last thing, I would also like to address the "health issues" that were stated in the magazine. Although SAS (heart defects causing premature death) has been a horrible problem among those that have done some very heavy inbreeding, it is not as prevalent in the carefully selected pairs approved by the ISSR! We have been using our Relationship Coefficient program for over four years now as well as documenting health issues that affect our breed. For full details, please be sure to read our latest ISSR Health Survey update 2001 reports and be assured that we have already started compiling data for our 2003 update.  Our Shiloh Shepherd™ Genetic Task Force site will also carry full details on all of our survey results. Our Learning Center is already full of reports and updates continue on a regular basis. Within the next few weeks we will be adding all of the 2002 data on these pages: Registered Litters 1991-2002 as well as updating all of our other charts and reports, so please be sure to visit our websites often.