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Customer Review: Great synopsis of the American breed - in its day
I got this book when it was brand new, when I hadn't even bought an AKC dog yet. (Apparently they never updated it, though.) TFH put out just a few "Book of the..." series, and for the sake of other breeds, I wish they had done all! The GSD version is an excellent photo-gallery, giving a nice synopsis of the breed history, and numerous references to contemporary dogs via photos and also numerous pedigree pages. This was a superb reference if you wanted to get boned up on top American show dogs and lines in 1985. No other breed book ever did that. Thus, I learned alot about pedigrees which helped when checking out prospects. In fact, knowing the top dogs and top pedigrees is really the only major difference between breed discussions. Minor differences may be work/sport focus, and diseases/conditions typical for the subject breed. At best, other breed books cover the minor differences. My disappointment, on reflection, is that Nicholas is AKC-oriented, and unfortunately AKC GSDs leave a bit to be desired. (The dog I got was half German and American.) I would love to have a book like this based on "German" dogs so I could get a foothold in the contemporary German side; what are the top bloodlines, who are top dogs, what do they look like, etc. Also, the date on amazon still says 1985; TFH should update it after 15 years if it's still published and sold new!
Customer Review: good summary in pictures
if you're looking for a lot of pictures of champions both good and bad then this is the book for you. the section naming the different kennels in the USA was very informative.


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