Who has german shepherd doggos

[Rodnok1]

I'm a Husky person, last doggo was husky/shepherd mix.
I was looking for a shepherd when found Noki, mixed was pretty good combo. But looking forward to a pure bred shepard now. Plus I love the looks of them and maybe just maybe they don't shed constantly like Huskies.
Looking for info on what to look for in this breed, particular ones to avoid, known health Issues, etc. I know there's differences in coat length, what do you prefer/recommend.

Web research is only so reliable, I like first hand experiences and not from a seller either.
It'll be a puppy as it's been well over 20 years since last puppy (rest have been rescues or adopted since and some before).
Also I'm not looking for a 100% laid back dog, as it'll be a guard dog also and trained as such.
Thanks in advance

[Yadkin]

With all the shelter dogs looking for homes, why would anyone buy a pure bred?

We had one when I was a kid and she was a great dog, from a reputable breeder. But she didn't live very long and suffered from some hip thing that effects a lot of them.

My daughter adopted a shepherd mix who is now three years old. Some website and she drove several hours to yank him out from under a house trailer in rural SC. According to the DNA it's three kinds of shepherds, German Belgium and husky. Long legs- a great athlete. Smart as heck and loyal.

[Rodnok1]

I've done my rescue and adoption/fostering for 30 years.... Not going to stop either,
I kept every single one i owned until they passed and 1 was a nightmare but I made a promise to keep him safe and healthy so I did.
This time I want a puppy and if I'm getting into a new breed i want to know everything in advance as a good owner should.
75% of people who get Huskies only see the cute n fuzzy, not the holy terrors they become at 1.5 years old.

Shelters are full and mostly of pits and pit mixes.
Just starting my search and building my knowledge base.

[Dan47]

I’ve shared my home with several German shepherds. I love them but I’m getting old and have too many stairs, at the moment. My favorite male was named “Top”. A 135lbs male with a heart of gold and my favorite female was “Weatha”. She suffered the worst of my ignorance being my first pup as an adult out on my own. I hope she forgives me my ignorance.

Great dogs but they can suffer from hip dysplasia which if you haven’t already heard about, you will. I need to buy a deep lot ranch.

[slewfoot]

Over the past 28 years, we have had the small ones. Long Hair Chihuahua's, Papillons and such. We have only Ricky and he is 12 1/2.

I love the big dogs, Labs, GS, Retrievers and such but everyone I have ever known, all have serious medical issues around 8-10 years old and that's it.

Hell, Fredo lasted 19 years.

Granted a GS for protection but a Chihuahua, Papillon, Mini Pinscher types have a set of ears and can alert you better than any security system when you're home. Fkn little things are very protective and don't back off either.

With the cost of food these days, no thank you. We do a can/wet and dry mix. One can will last 2 days.

[snide]

@SnikPlosskin to the white courtesy phone.

[snide]

When I was a kid, we had German Shepherds. Great dogs, always friendly, but protective. If I didn't have four huskies ( ), I'd have German Shepherds.

[Yadkin]

https://germanshepherd.rescueme.org/NorthCarolina

[Rodnok1]

Gee taHnks I never thought to do a google search.

[Yadkin]

Originally Posted by Rodnok1

Gee taHnks I never thought to do a google search.

There's 55 in NC that need homes.

[Don Rickles]

As a kid, our next door neighbor had a huge white Shepherd named Jocko. In the summer time the Mrs. would pay us .25, to pull the shedding hair off this gigantor of a dog! We'd actually fill several pillow cases with fur. Truly amazing the amount of hair that would come off the dog! Talk about shedding!!!

They can be somewhat unpredictable but of course make for great guard dogs.

[Mick]

I have had Miss Belle from a puppy, she is 10 1/2 now. She struggles with allergies most of the year. The only other medical problem she had was when she went to a kennel at 3 years old for a few days, and someone put a choke chain on her and yanked on it so hard it killed a few of the lymph nodes in her neck. Emergency surgery saved her life. That cost me nearly $10,000 for the surgery, hospital stay, medicines, follow up visits etc. Definitely not the dog's fault.

At nearly 11, she is still healthy and strong. Her eyesight is still sharp, although I suspect her hearing isn't what it used to be, but she can definitely still hear me. She is still extremely high energy, but doesn't run around as much as she used to. She has mild arthritis in her knees, which I have been successfully treating with CBD oil the last year or so. She still climbs the stairs normally.

My family has had 2 before Belle, we got Erica when I was 3, she lived 12.5 years. We got Kristy after Erica died. Krisy was healthy and strong just shy of her 11th birthday when she got some kind of infection. The vet missed that she had an abcessed tooth, by the time they realized their mistake, the infection had got into her brain, and she had to be put down.

All three are/were fantastic dogs!

Oh, and good luck with the shedding thing.

Pic of Miss Belle from a few years ago:

[Rodnok1]

Thanks Mick, wow they must have all but hung that poor dog to damage stuff in neck.
Vet techs used some cleaner in kennel and didn't rinse I guess that reacted with one of ours and lost hair on lower legs. I noticed when picked up and made them look at. They hadn't even noticed the raw legs. Wth.
Is Belle a short hair? Are GS prone to allergies? Huskies are prone to seizures and hip problems.
So if I get a GS I shouldn't sell the vacuum and dust catchers then... Damn.

[Mick]

Originally Posted by Rodnok1

Thanks Mick, wow they must have all but hung that poor dog to damage stuff in neck.
Vet techs used some cleaner in kennel and didn't rinse I guess that reacted with one of ours and lost hair on lower legs. I noticed when picked up and made them look at. They hadn't even noticed the raw legs. Wth.
Is Belle a short hair? Are GS prone to allergies? Huskies are prone to seizures and hip problems.
So if I get a GS I shouldn't sell the vacuum and dust catchers then... Damn.

I don't know if Belle is a "short hair" or not. I have seen GSDs with much longer hair, and much shorter. Her coat is very thick, and when you look at it, it looks like it would be wiry to touch, but it isn't, it's very soft. Little kids LOVE rubbing their hands in the thickest part of her coat around her neck!

The Vet I use says that decades of breeding with a focus on good temperments and stronger hind ends has made allergies more common in GSDs the last decade or so in his opinion, that is all I really know about it. Neither of our other 2 GSDs had any significant allergy problems. I have never heard of a GSD that had seizures, so I suspect it is relatively rare. A neighborhood GSD dropped dead on her 6th birthday. The Vet said she had a heart attack. That was a new one on me.

Like most larger dogs, the incidence of things like bloat, leukemia and other cancers, starts going up at about age 7. If you get a healthy 11-12 years out of them, you did well. Some do live to be 14.

All I'll say about the shedding is that a few months after Belle came home, my wife threw away our vacuum cleaner, and went out and bought a Dyson "Animal" vacuum!

[SnikPlosskin]

3rd generation breeding and training German Shepherd Dogs here.

I'm not even sure where to begin.

Contrary to popular belief, GSDs are not all gonzo wild beasts that need 1000 miles a day of exercise or they will eat your children dogs.

They can adapt to highly active or sedentary conditions. In fact, the entire purpose of the breed is to adapt to conditions - whether climate or living conditions (I have a friend who lives in a high rise in Manhattan that owns a huge GSD working line dog).

Believe it or not, the GSD is one of the newest breeds originating in 1899. Some crazy German guy named Max Von Stephanitz decided to make the "ultimate working dog".

He started with what had become Germany's most common wild herding dog. If you had a flock of sheep back then, nature provided the sheep dogs. They were autonomous and needed no human intervention. They instinctively embedded themselves with the flock. They were the muttiest of mutts and, over hundreds of years had taken on a homogenized look.

They called them "German Shepherds" - Max creatively added "Dog" to name his new breed.

This is a photo of the first German Shepherd Dog, taken in 1899 "Horand von Grafrath-

Max single handedly went about line breeding like the German he was and over a period of 20 years or so created what we know as the German Shepherd Dog.

Max described his breed as

“Although untrained in his puppyhood, nevertheless obedient to the slightest nod when at his master’s side; but when left to himself, the maddest rascal, the wildest ruffian and an incorrigible provoker of strife,” Von Stephanitz wrote of Horand, reminding of the breed’s high energy level, which needs to be channeled. “Never idle, always on the go, well-disposed to harmless people, but no cringer, mad on children and always in love.”

This was the start of what is known as the German Working Line dogs. They are intense, high drive mad rascals. Not for the first time owner.

The other main line is the American Show Line. There are working lines from lots of different countries - each a little different.

The Show Line dogs are bred to run around in circles with elegance. This is why their rear leg triangulation is sloped (to the point of it being a problem). That geometry allows the GSD to "float" at a trot.

Show line dogs have lower drive, more hip problems and other genetic issues due to wildly uncontrolled in terms of breeding.

Working line dogs (particularly from Germany) are bigger, wider, lower, high energy dogs with squarer heads. They have far less slope and way less genetic issues because the German SV controls breeding (you have to have titles and hip certifications and genetic testing, etc. to be allowed to breed two dogs.)

Still with me?

I have imported puppies from Germany. They are very special (Shadow is west German) He is very quick to learn, vocal as shit and follows me everywhere. When I shower, he lays outside the tub. (He has tried to climb in.)

The GSD is one of the few dogs that has temperament in it's breed standard. They are bred for physical characteristics like other breeds but also rock solid temperament and intelligence.

In fact they are so smart, they will outsmart you and get into trouble if you let them. They understand a huge number of words so, once trained, they understand conversational commands.

You can mix American and German lines to get a solid dog with a lower drive. This is sort of the ideal pet.

Colors are all over the place. Coat length is from short to long. The only issue with color is to avoid weak pigmentation - pink noses are a big tell for genetic issues. Black colors should be dark.

The biggest drawback is the commitment to training. To own a GSD is to become an expert in dog training. You cannot be casual about it or you will own a giant lawsuit waiting to happen. These dogs are higher on the food chain than us, can jump six feet into the air and run 30-35 mph.

If the dog wants to kill somebody, it's hard to stop. Socialization, mental balance and daily training from 12 weeks onward is mandatory.

This is day one with Shadow after he got off the plane:

Puppy bites himself learning not to bite - YouTube

- he still is exactly like that.


This is day two - training starts. Learning his name and to come on command.

Fluffy Puppy Trips over Big Feet - YouTube

A couple last thoughts -

1. Good on you if you "rescue" or "adopt" a dog of unknown prodigy. For my purposes I can't afford the lack of predictability in terms of mental, physical, genetic issues. Be prepared to drop a lot of cash at the vet if you get one from a shelter or backyard breeder.

2. American Show Line - These can be great dogs, but I'd look for what is called "Pet Quality" - they usually have some fault (like one testicle or long coat) but are awesome. These are almost guaranteed to have problems later in life. 100% of our American dogs died prematurely from genetic problems. Ranger only lasted 1.5 years.

3. Working line dogs - If you commit to learning and doing training and have some patience, these dogs are SOLID. They can still have issues (Shadow has an allergy that causes skin problems) but they are stout, smart, agile and beautiful. It can be tricky to find a breeder and deal with shipping.

4. DO NOT BUY FROM PET STORES - these are puppy mill dogs. They are ****ed.

5. Cost:

Shadow cost $1,750 plus $300 for shipping - however, I got him from a place that doesn't sell to the public. I'm not as familiar with public selling breeders in Germany but there are plenty - Also in America, there are breeders who specialize in these dogs - they are born in America from German stock.

A pet quality American dog can be as low as $400 a show quality dog can run $7,500+

Books:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0047Y0FC8?tag=mus0a-21

Koehler method - these books are out of print but here's a Kindle one - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NFU003E?tag=mus0a-21

Winifred Gibson Strickland https://www.amazon.com/dp/1630269883?tag=mus0a-21

Gotta go - hope this helped somebody. When I have more time I can respond to questions and prior posts.

[SnikPlosskin]

Originally Posted by Yadkin

With all the shelter dogs looking for homes, why would anyone buy a pure bred?

We had one when I was a kid and she was a great dog, from a reputable breeder. But she didn't live very long and suffered from some hip thing that effects a lot of them.

My daughter adopted a shepherd mix who is now three years old. Some website and she drove several hours to yank him out from under a house trailer in rural SC. According to the DNA it's three kinds of shepherds, German Belgium and husky. Long legs- a great athlete. Smart as heck and loyal.

Why would anyone buy a pure bred dog?

Predictability. Professional breeders generally produce sound animals. Physically and mentally. The really serious ones cull puppies with defects, genetically test dogs before breeding and have them xrayed and certified for elbows and hips.

American line dogs still have tons of problems. Shelter dogs not only have the same incidence of problems, you are absolutely rolling the dice in terms of what you are getting.

With a dog that can crush a toddlers head, a mentally unstable dog is a problem. You cannot know why a dog is in a shelter. Many have issues - either from birth or from terrible owners who ended up putting them in a shelter because they ****ed the dog up so badly. A lot of GSDs and other dogs are in shelters because they are mentally unstable.

By mentally unstable I mean:

Vicious or aggressive dogs
Fear biters
Runners
Resource guarders
Timid
Hyper to the point of insanity

They were dogs that could not be handled so they get sent to a shelter. Shelters will tell you anything to unload a problematic dog. Particularly “no kill” shelters.

Another reason is if you are buying a dog for a particular purpose and investing a lot of time and money in training. Again, you want the best odds that your dog will be suited to the work.

I’m totally not against shelters and adopting. I work with the Humane Society here. Just be informed and know what you are getting into.

Backyard bred dogs have the same caveat. Hell, some breeders produce shit dogs.

[SnikPlosskin]

Originally Posted by Don Rickles

As a kid, our next door neighbor had a huge white Shepherd named Jocko. In the summer time the Mrs. would pay us .25, to pull the shedding hair off this gigantor of a dog! We'd actually fill several pillow cases with fur. Truly amazing the amount of hair that would come off the dog! Talk about shedding!!!

They can be somewhat unpredictable but of course make for great guard dogs.

Several pillow cases? You got off lightly.

A good GSD is absolutely predictable. Predictability is practically a core tenant of the breed.

The idea that “well, they make good guard dogs… perpetuates the myth that they are prone to attacking. A well bred and trained GSD is far less likely to attack than a Jack Russell.

All GSDs are guard dogs. That’s their original purpose.

You need predictability for a seeing eye dog, a patrol dog, a search dog, a mobility dog, etc.

On the battlefield, you need to know your dog is not going to freak out from the chaos and predictably put its life down for you without hesitation. Just as a good owner would do in kind.

GSDs are the most versatile breed in existence.

[Mick]

Originally Posted by SnikPlosskin

3rd generation breeding and training German Shepherd Dogs here.

I'm not even sure where to begin.

Contrary to popular belief, GSDs are not all gonzo wild beasts that need 1000 miles a day of exercise or they will eat your children dogs.

They can adapt to highly active or sedentary conditions. In fact, the entire purpose of the breed is to adapt to conditions - whether climate or living conditions (I have a friend who lives in a high rise in Manhattan that owns a huge GSD working line dog).

Believe it or not, the GSD is one of the newest breeds originating in 1899. Some crazy German guy named Max Von Stephanitz decided to make the "ultimate working dog".

He started with what had become Germany's most common wild herding dog. If you had a flock of sheep back then, nature provided the sheep dogs. They were autonomous and needed no human intervention. They instinctively embedded themselves with the flock. They were the muttiest of mutts and, over hundreds of years had taken on a homogenized look.

They called them "German Shepherds" - Max creatively added "Dog" to name his new breed.

This is a photo of the first German Shepherd Dog, taken in 1899 "Horand von Grafrath-

Max single handedly went about line breeding like the German he was and over a period of 20 years or so created what we know as the German Shepherd Dog.

Max described his breed as

This was the start of what is known as the German Working Line dogs. They are intense, high drive mad rascals. Not for the first time owner.

The other main line is the American Show Line. There are working lines from lots of different countries - each a little different.

The Show Line dogs are bred to run around in circles with elegance. This is why their rear leg triangulation is sloped (to the point of it being a problem). That geometry allows the GSD to "float" at a trot.

Show line dogs have lower drive, more hip problems and other genetic issues due to wildly uncontrolled in terms of breeding.

Working line dogs (particularly from Germany) are bigger, wider, lower, high energy dogs with squarer heads. They have far less slope and way less genetic issues because the German SV controls breeding (you have to have titles and hip certifications and genetic testing, etc. to be allowed to breed two dogs.)

Still with me?

I have imported puppies from Germany. They are very special (Shadow is west German) He is very quick to learn, vocal as shit and follows me everywhere. When I shower, he lays outside the tub. (He has tried to climb in.)

The GSD is one of the few dogs that has temperament in it's breed standard. They are bred for physical characteristics like other breeds but also rock solid temperament and intelligence.

In fact they are so smart, they will outsmart you and get into trouble if you let them. They understand a huge number of words so, once trained, they understand conversational commands.

You can mix American and German lines to get a solid dog with a lower drive. This is sort of the ideal pet.

Colors are all over the place. Coat length is from short to long. The only issue with color is to avoid weak pigmentation - pink noses are a big tell for genetic issues. Black colors should be dark.

The biggest drawback is the commitment to training. To own a GSD is to become an expert in dog training. You cannot be casual about it or you will own a giant lawsuit waiting to happen. These dogs are higher on the food chain than us, can jump six feet into the air and run 30-35 mph.

If the dog wants to kill somebody, it's hard to stop. Socialization, mental balance and daily training from 12 weeks onward is mandatory.

This is day one with Shadow after he got off the plane:

Puppy bites himself learning not to bite - YouTube - he still is exactly like that.


This is day two - training starts. Learning his name and to come on command.

Fluffy Puppy Trips over Big Feet - YouTube


A couple last thoughts -

1. Good on you if you "rescue" or "adopt" a dog of unknown prodigy. For my purposes I can't afford the lack of predictability in terms of mental, physical, genetic issues. Be prepared to drop a lot of cash at the vet if you get one from a shelter or backyard breeder.

2. American Show Line - These can be great dogs, but I'd look for what is called "Pet Quality" - they usually have some fault (like one testicle or long coat) but are awesome. These are almost guaranteed to have problems later in life. 100% of our American dogs died prematurely from genetic problems. Ranger only lasted 1.5 years.

3. Working line dogs - If you commit to learning and doing training and have some patience, these dogs are SOLID. They can still have issues (Shadow has an allergy that causes skin problems) but they are stout, smart, agile and beautiful. It can be tricky to find a breeder and deal with shipping.

4. DO NOT BUY FROM PET STORES - these are puppy mill dogs. They are ****ed.

5. Cost:

Shadow cost $1,750 plus $300 for shipping - however, I got him from a place that doesn't sell to the public. I'm not as familiar with public selling breeders in Germany but there are plenty - Also in America, there are breeders who specialize in these dogs - they are born in America from German stock.

A pet quality American dog can be as low as $400 a show quality dog can run $7,500+

Books:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0047Y0FC8?tag=mus0a-21

Koehler method - these books are out of print but here's a Kindle one - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NFU003E?tag=mus0a-21

Winifred Gibson Strickland https://www.amazon.com/dp/1630269883?tag=mus0a-21

Gotta go - hope this helped somebody. When I have more time I can respond to questions and prior posts.

Informative post!

The breeder (Karin)from which we got Belle was originally from Germany, and all of her dogs are from German working lines. Karin sold Belle to us as "pet quality", but because of her lines, she was still a little pricey. $2500 IIRC. She offered weekly group training classes which we attended. She was open about one of the reasons she did that is that she did not believe she could tell at 9 weeks (when she picks the ones to show and the ones to be sold as pets), which dogs could be champions and which not. When Belle was about 5-6 months old, Karin knew were weren't going to go down the show road, and REALLY wanted us to let Belle have a litter because Karin really like the way she looked, moved, etc. My wife decided that she would have kittens if Belle were laying on the kitchen floor squeezing out pups, so we declined.

As with Snik's dogs, Belle is very verbal. She even makes a very human sounding noise that sounds like she is saying "no", and when she makes that sound, she means "no". It shocks visitors when she does that. She does try to boss me around from time to time, mostly I just laugh and ignore her, but she is a spayed female, you might need to be a little stronger if you have an un-neutered male. She also laughs, and cries, but you have to be paying attention to see it. My family thought I was crazy when I said she laughed, but they have all come around to agreeing it is real. I can also ask her questions, and she will answer me, it took years to convince folks around here that that is real. My neighbor freaked out when I asked her what kind of cheese she wanted on her cheeseburger, and she answered me. He has had many dogs in his life, and said he would have NEVER believed that if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes!

[Rodnok1]

Thank you Snik, exactly the information I am looking for.
The best info was difference between show and working lines.
Im not looking for a show pony.
I'm more than willing and able to properly train a new dog, hell I trained the neighbors dogs since they were always in my yard anyway.
I will get those books, already have a Kohler book from long ago but frankly between Huskies being a holy terror and working 80 hrs a week the training wasn't good. I've inherited too many bad habits with dogs luckily those mostly were broken. Noki was well trained though by me.

I'm a bit into The German Shepherd Dog in Word and Picture by Max von Stephanitz and several other books.

I do have one question I haven't seen a good answer for.
Are they runners as in run off if not in fenced area? I have almost 3 acres and not alot fenced in. Noki wasn't a runner like every other Husky I had and I got used to it. He'd stay put if went inside for a few minutes. I'm in the country so rabbits and stray cats the usual chase afters.

Also what kind of height can they clear? I had a Husky could jump slap onto my shoulders from a standing jump. Want to make sure I have a good GSD enclosure also. Huskies requred a 5 ft fence minimum if you want them to stay put.
I keep a fenced yard for play and exercising but also a well built kennel . I don't want it getting out. They sleep and spend most of the time inside of course.

Thank you for taking the time to answer my post, means alot and no i never buy from stores.

[Don Rickles]

Originally Posted by SnikPlosskin

Several pillow cases? You got off lightly.

A good GSD is absolutely predictable. Predictability is practically a core tenant of the breed.

The idea that “well, they make good guard dogs… perpetuates the myth that they are prone to attacking. A well bred and trained GSD is far less likely to attack than a Jack Russell.

All GSDs are guard dogs. That’s their original purpose.

You need predictability for a seeing eye dog, a patrol dog, a search dog, a mobility dog, etc.

On the battlefield, you need to know your dog is not going to freak out from the chaos and predictably put its life down for you without hesitation. Just as a good owner would do in kind.

GSDs are the most versatile breed in existence.

I’ll begin with this, I’ve been the proud owner of Dobermans for a little over 4 decades. Always have had a minimum of two in my home. At this moment we are down to one only. These stereotypes aren’t unfamiliar to me. We bred too many litters to count, well versed.

I witnessed an extremely well trained GSD, bite my mother in the leg. Unprovoked just got up, walked over and bit her.

I’m not going to type volumes here but ANY dog can at anytime inflict damage to a human.
We trained and had professional trainers teach our Dobes, this young female we have now is nicknamed “Kisses”! She kisses everyone and loves meeting new dog friends! BUT she’s afraid of children. So much so we can’t allow her near them! Keep in mind I had three kids that grew up and lived with all the others, we are empty nesters so she never met children…..

My point is and I just love the look of a Shepherd is, even the best well trained, can be and are animals, and be unpredictable …