[Jennifer Sider]

This is how we train the doggy;
first we give lots of love

Then we make the doggy follow us all around the house;

Avalon 2, Kim is 1 year 1 mos.; loves Avalon.

Avi will be my animal child, she's smooth and confident, she does this leading thing with my horse - he doesn't argue much either :lol: ; Mitch (my son - 6 years) we keep telling him he will learn to be a decoy - he should be about 5'8" and about 165-180 lbs. when he is grown and he has been "bitten" twice by nervy GSD's; he turns them "on" he has no fear; but is very erratic in his movements; loves to wrestle with pups.
He will not be showing up at any schh events; Avalon could; she'd be fine.

 

[Tammy McDowell]

VERY Cute!

 

[susan tuck]

Kim looks as if she would happily follow the girl to the ends of the earth. I wondered from looking at other pictures of your dog if the tail is docked? If so, do you know why this breed has docked tails? I am not all against docking, just curious.

 

[Jennifer Sider]

Ears cropped and tail docked

Hey Susan; not really sure.

Ears are hard cropped back to the head; leaving little flesh - this is to prevent tearing of the ear vein while protecting the flock against wild predators - an ear tear in an area (think Karakum desert or Caucasus mountains) of non-veterinary services would most likely cause a bleed out. Frostbite may be an issue as well; both to ears and tails.

The tail is docked; about 2nd or 3rd digit. I'm not sure why the tails are docked. This is a "traditional" docking, were talking 1000s of years; supposedly the breed is 4000 years old and there are cave pictorials showing cropped ears and docked tails. Link is some breed information.
http://centralasianshepherd.homestead.com/breedinformationcentralasianshepherddog.html

There are apparently many reasons why any breed's tail is docked; and right now the internet is a hotbed of no docking/cropping sentimentality.

http://www.cao.pl/index.php?body=gal&album=36
if you visit that link; the first dog on the page is a black/tan with tail and ears. Very different looking from the cropped/docked look.

Supposedly a line is out there that had naturally short/bobbed tails; maybe someone just thought they looked better/cleaner when they had a natural bob and did the next litter's pups too?

No conformation faults are given to a full-tail or uncropped dog; they are (or at least should be) a performance breed; so tails/ears should be secondary.

If I got another one and there was an option; I could live with a tail; but the ears are really long and almost houndy looking; perfect for tearing while defending against wild animals.

So; didn't really answer your question; but my best guess is;
history (lots of it), protection against predators/elements (ears for sure;maybe tails) and looks (which is probably a bigger component today).