Your Experience w/ German Shepherds

[I Dunno]

They were bred to guard sheep and kill predators, so it's no surprise that german shepherds will attack something that's a threat to their flock.

[leroy jenkins]

I have a german sheperd/blue heeler mix.

GSDs are great dogs, however they were inbred a bit to create the breed the way the makers wanted, this is why they have lots of hip problems, as has been mentioned.

Might look a GSD mixed with something else if you see any. I think that mixing breeds can cancel out the weaknesses of each a bit.

My pup is TOUGH. He's 14 and is still getting after it. Very smart and easily trainable too. No real defects that i'm aware of, like the weak hips.

Heres a pic,








I'm more concerned about an individual dogs personality than what breed it is. Some dogs naturally want to make their owner happy, some just want to run aoround and raise hell. Walk a few and find one you like, that is at least a big/strong/tough enough to take on adventures.

FYI, mine doesnt have big enough paws for wtrue winter travel, despite the pic above.

[spudbumkin]

I love how protective my shepherd is in regard to my kids and wife. Very loyal! Sweep or vacuum often because I have never encountered an animal that sheds as much, as said earlier 24/7/365 hair deposit all over ones house. Mine doesn't tolerate wheat or corn so expect to pay a premium for quality dog food. Also, Onyx is very vocal. He will try his hardest to speak english to you even if he really can't do a very good job!

[doughboyshredder]

They were bred to guard sheep and kill predators, so it's no surprise that german shepherds will attack something that's a threat to their flock.

That is incorrect.

The German Shepherd dog breed has its origin in the late 1800s when Max von Stephanitz from Germany began developing a breed that would later become the dog we know today as the German Shepherd.Von Stephanitz desired to produce a dog breed that could be utilized as an all-around working dog.

Developed from various farm and herding dogs of his time, von Stephanitz's original German Shepherd was derived from a herding dog he acquired in 1899, and he and his friend Artur Meyer formed the Verein fur Deutsche Schaferhunde which was the first club in the German Shepherd dog breed history. This club and von Stephanitz kept tight control over the breed until his death in 1936.

He determined which dogs would be used to breed based on how well they did in various shows and trials that were the precursor to the Schutzhund tests still performed today. His main criteria for judging a dog's success were both its usefulness coupled with its intelligence. Von Stephanitz also promoted the utility of the breed to the German government for work in both the police and the military as well as other all-purpose uses as a working dog breed.

[doughboyshredder]

My guy is from an East German bloodline. Supposedly the East German bloodlines have less problems with their hips.



He is an incredibly intelligent and outlandishly friendly animal.

[irul&ublo]

Nice looking dog. German line dogs have fewer health issues because of the restrictions in the breeding program. The SV (gsd dog club) has lots of requirements including hip certification before a dog is allowed to be papered.
Lots of re

[liv2ski]

I'd like to get something that will be okay running 3 to 4 miles a couple days a week and capable of longer hikes but nothing that's going to be bouncing off the walls because we don't have a farm. I'm in NJ so it can get relatively hot and humid here in the summer and we don't have central air so if they have a tough time with heat its probably not the best breed for me to adopt. Any other thoughts/comments let me know. Thanks in advance.

Lots of good comments so far. Per your above comments, I am not sure a GS is the dog for you though. Based on the amount you want to run him and the heat, I would go with a much shorter hair dog, lighter in stature, that is a good runner. There will be lots of mixed dogs that fit this description at the dog shelters.
I adopted my guy from www.hua.org
On there site was this cutie: http://www.hua.org/component/animals/?id=543
Love her name: http://www.hua.org/component/animals/?id=533
Or this girl? http://www.hua.org/component/animals/?id=271
There are so many good dogs out there that would fit your needs, Just look around a bit, rescue one and you will have a best friend forever.

[F**k_it_Huck_it]

I have a german shepherd who I run with all the time on 10+mile runs, and also bike with occasionally. Hes super smart and overall a great dog. Hes not aggressive to other dogs at all, usually just ignores them unless with our other dog, but then it's her fighting while he barks. As I said, overall an awesome dog in every way.

[DasBlunt]

Don Johnson has one of those german milatary trained shepherds. It understands german commands, duh.

one of the best examples is when Don lived in Aspen, he would say some command, and the dog would do a full perimeter sweep. There is also a kill command. Don has a young family and that dog was sweet when not in "kill" mode.

My dad had German Shepards on the farm growing up. He said some of them would go crazy and they had to put a couple down.

[irul&ublo]

That wasn't a german shepherd, it was Philip Michael Thomas. And your dad was probably buggering the dogs

[single]

only dog that ever bit me.

not saying anything either way, just a fact.

[skinnyskier]

My friend has a 1-1/2 yo female. Her parents were Eastern European imports, so not the typical American Shepherd look. She's almost all black with only some tan on her legs.

She's very smart and generally well-behaved (they hired a trainer right off the bat) but she has dog-aggression issues and has put holes in three other dogs including my dog (a few stitches), the dog of another friend of mine (bit hard enough to tear muscle, requiring lots of stitches), and one of his neighbor's dogs. The thing of it is, she's somewhat unpredictable in this regard. If a dog gets near her food bowl or tries to pick up one of her balls or toys she gets aggressive and that's predictable but there have been times when she's just running and playing with another dog and suddenly it's like a switch gets thrown and she goes into attack mode.

She's pretty high strung, too. Frankly, not the dog for me as I don't want a dog that's going to be biting other dogs or potentially people.

She needs to be kept away from other dogs, or at the very least muzzled. She probably never had the bite inhibition and socialization as a puppy to interact properly with other dogs. Three bites is too many! They probably should have her seen by a dog behavior expert-there is an excellent group in Seattle if they are interested.

[Touring_Sedan]

I hear they're great with kids.

[doughboyshredder]

I hear they're great with kids.

You're a fucking idiot. Posting a pic of a dog in protection training to suggest that same dog would hurt a child.

[RootSkier]

.....by FAR the best dog I've ever had......she will only tolerate me touching her.

Does not compute.

Unless you're a recluse.

[doughboyshredder]

Had a shepard/elkhound mix that was a great dog, kinda. Great for me, the wife and the guys I worked with. Bit lots of other folks, always sneaked up behind them.

Been avoiding commenting on this, but I can't get it out of my mind.

Any dog that bites humans has to be put down. It was incredibly selfish of you to allow that behavior to continue.

My guess is you liked it. Probably got off on having a big tough dog, huh?

Recently my step dad was bit by a 8 year old shepherd that had not been provoked. The next day the owners did the responsible thing and had it put down. Thankfully some people understand that you can't have big dogs that will bite humans.

It's because of people like you that allow that behavior, that there are people that think like YourMomJustCalled.

[Missing Sock]

Been avoiding commenting on this, but I can't get it out of my mind.

Any dog that bites humans has to be put down. It was incredibly selfish of you to allow that behavior to continue.

My guess is you liked it. Probably got off on having a big tough dog, huh?

Recently my step dad was bit by a 8 year old shepherd that had not been provoked. The next day the owners did the responsible thing and had it put down. Thankfully some people understand that you can't have big dogs that will bite humans.

It's because of people like you that allow that behavior, that there are people that think like YourMomJustCalled.

Take a lesson from your boy Keith Sheppard right?

[doughboyshredder]

Bear Bear did NOT bite anyone.

If he had then he should have been put down. Not shot in a dog park.

Way to misconstrue events.

[I Dunno]

That is incorrect.

"As part of the Herding group, the German Shepherd is a working dog developed originally for herding sheep."

straight from the #1 source of all truth, wikipedia.

[doughboyshredder]

wiki is wrong.

http://www.nsgsdc.com/breedhistory.shtml

[AbsolutStoli]

i got attacked by a german shepherd when i was 4, which traumatized me to the point of avoiding dogs at all costs until i was about 23. they can definitely be scary, especially if you get an adult and its been trained by who knows who. they are great guard dogs, but at the same time that could be a red flag, all depends on the background of the dog i guess. not saying they are bred to be guard dogs, but they're definitely used as such.

my last roommate had a husky, german shepherd, yellow lab mix and that dog was super sweet. tons of energy! pretty quick to learn things, but be careful what dogs he hangs out with, because his started eating EVERYTHING in our house. i mean, couches got torn up, books got eaten, countless plastic household tools (brooms, plunger, toilet brush). i learned real quick not to leave my room door open, but the living room was a disaster at least once a week.

[I Dunno]

wiki is wrong.

http://www.nsgsdc.com/breedhistory.shtml

"With advances in transportation and communication came the forming of societies of herders and the first trends toward selective breeding of herding dogs, record keeping, and a gradual trend toward one type of dog which could work equally well under all conditions."

taken from your website.

[doughboyshredder]

"With advances in transportation and communication came the forming of societies of herders and the first trends toward selective breeding of herding dogs, record keeping, and a gradual trend toward one type of dog which could work equally well under all conditions."

taken from your website.

reading comprehension, work on it.

The GSD was bred to be an all around working dog, not a herder. It was bred from herding dogs that had desirable characteristics for a working dog. The first GSD was a dog owned by Max von Stephanitz, and he was responsible for the start of the breed.

I don't dispute that they were used for herding, but that was not the focus of the breeding program that created the GSD.

[irul&ublo]

I don't dispute that they were used for herding, but that was not the focus of the breeding program that created the GSD.

What was the focus of the breeding program that created you?

[XXX-er]

I met a dog handler who had a sheaprd in early Nam (before anybody knew where Vietnam was) he said they are ok with heat while dobermans couldnt take it

we get lotsa of rescue dogs up here ,there are 2 rescue shepards living next door and they are the most fucking useless dogs I ever met ,be careful with "rescues" those are big dogs to not be able to handle