What do you know about German Shepards?

[cabron]

I've recently taken a real liking to the breed and am seriously considering one for my first dog. My gf has a 13y.o. Chocolate Lab that I love to death and have been around for about seven years. From what I understand they make great, loyal and protective pets and highly intelligent. What do you know about them? Owners?

 

[JJS]

I had a female shepherd for a long time. She was a great dog...extremely loyal and good-natured. A guy up the street had a dairy farm, and some of his cows would get loose sometimes. She would chase them out of the yard. They're extremely smart dogs, and I'd love to have another. Go for it.

 

[e9999]

beautiful looking dogs, the ones I'm familiar with were friendly.
can be trained to be serious guard dogs I guess
the pure breed looking ones are often highly inbred with brain and hip problems?

 

[White Shark]

Great dogs, but they need training and watch for the history of hip dysplasia. The aggressive ones sometimes try to chew on people, so you have to watch them. I had a german shepherd as a kid and he was a great dog, really gentle, never chewed on kids, etc, but I wouldn't have put it past him. The ability was there.



..

 

[cary]

Great dogs, bred for herding, adaptable to everything else.

There are three basic lines of German Shepherds:

1) American lines. Bred for AKC shows, looks, and gait. Tend to be taller and leaner, also less driven. Covey Tucker is the one that really brought about this look. DO NOT buy a Covey Tucker dog, they have a lot of problems now.

2) German line dogs. Stockier, more driven, bread in accordance with Shutzland, and are primarily working dogs.

3) East German Shepards, aka Chzek Border Dogs. The East germans bred seperately from the west for 50 years. During that time, their dogs evolved into more of a guard dog, and got bigger. A typical german shepherd should be 75-90 pounds for a male, the East German dogs are 110-130 pounds.

I would encourage you to look at a German line dog, or a dog from a breeder that is mixing german and american lines. Here is the first breeder I would consider if I were looking for another shepherd:

German Shepherd Puppies - German Shepherd puppy breeders - German Shepherd Puppies for sale at TeMar German Shepherds web site, TeMarShepherds.com


In memory of my Shepherd, Tucker:

 

[ducktapeguy]

German shepards great dogs. Extremely intelligent, very good with people and kids, and they make great watch dogs. Their size and looks alone can be a deterrent to most strangers, but for some reason kids don't seem to be scared. They can be extremely territorial, which is one of the reasons they make great watch dogs. You do have to be careful with them (or any dog), no matter how well trained or good natured they are, they are capable of doing a lot of damage very quickly. If you've ever seen any police dog videos, you can see just how agressive they can be. As with any dog, training is very important, if you don't train them early you'll have a really hard time getting them under control.

Females seem easier to train and shed less fur, and IMO look better, but I guess it also depends on the indiviual dogs. My current shepard happens to be an alpha bitch (vets description), which means she doesn't get along with other female dogs in her home turf. Outside the house though, she's fine with other dogs. I'm guessing its the territorial instinct. Hip dysplasia is a common problem also.

 

[Trunk Monkey]

in accordance with Shutzland

I think you mean Shutzhund training. I've worked with handlers that have Shutzhund trained dogs and they are just amazing.

But, kinda creepy to hear the commands barked (ha!) out in German.

Oh, and awesome dog (cute kid too).

 

[KingBeeIII]

This is Karma (and Kimber). Absolutely loyal, very intelligent. It's a toss up between me and a new tennis ball of who she loves more. When there's a lot of people over, she won't leave my side. She sheds like crazy and the hip displasia is setting in after 7 years. It kills me to watch her get up sometimes as she does struggle. I would not own another German Shepard unless I knew how the hips of her parents were. It's too painful to watch, you know, the usual hurts to care stuff.

 

[SteveO]

The other issue I didn't see mentioned with GS is an eye diesease that's common in them and only affects shepards. Ours is going blind from a cataract-like issue (can't remember the name now) but it's basically scar tissue that forms on the eye. My dog's 9 and the specialist figures she'll be blind within a year. Otherwise, she's great with our kids, has a loud bark and is very loyal and protective. Very social with other dogs as long as they don't approach my girls. Incredibly protective of my wife and girls, it's interesting to watch at the dog park. ...Steve

 

[cary]

Since we are talking German Shepherd health issues, I will go through some of the main ones:

1) Displasia. This is the least of your worries. Displasia is genetic and by getting a dog who's parents and grandparents have had good or excellent hips (OFA certifications), you have less than a 2% chance of getting a dog with displasia. Note that it is not GSD's have the problem, but most large dogs.

2) Degenerative Myopathy. Think MS in dogs. It effects the spinal cord causing lack or control in the rear legs, eventually leading to paralesis. There is no conclusive study about it's genetic inheritance, but I am convinced it is genetic given the large number of Covey Tucker dogs that have it.

3) Epilepsy. Seems to be more prevalent in dogs that are linebred and closely bread.

4) Gastric Torsion. Comes from eating to fast and exercising right after. Kills most dogs that get it. All large dogs are susceptible, GSD's more so than some other breeds.

 

[OregonCruzer]

I've recently taken a real liking to the breed and am seriously considering one for my first dog. My gf has a 13y.o. Chocolate Lab that I love to death and have been around for about seven years. From what I understand they make great, loyal and protective pets and highly intelligent. What do you know about them? Owners?

i've had three--great dogs. Try to get a breeder who breeds for work dogs and not show. less problems with hip displaysa.

 

[cabron]

Thanks for all the info so far guys, those pics are great!! How about personality, aloof or very affectionate? I hear some tend to be loner dogs and not giving alot of affection, is that just a false sterotype? Is it an "all how you raise and socialize it" kind of thing?

 

[splitshot]

When I was 7, a couple of guard dogs (Shepards) dug out from under a fence and sent me to the hospital for a spell (broken ribs, puntured lung, etc). I was pretty traumatized and afraid of the breed for quite some time.
That being said, my next door neighbor has three of them, great dogs, but they do bark a bit

 

[OregonCruzer]

Thanks for all the info so far guys, those pics are great!! How about personality, aloof or very affectionate? I hear some tend to be loner dogs and not giving alot of affection, is that just a false sterotype? Is it an "all how you raise and socialize it" kind of thing?

All my shepherds have been very affectionate. They tend to be big sissies, tho--kind of funny in a 120 lb dog. My big male Bosco would roll over and submissive pee if I was upset at him.

 

[cary]

Thanks for all the info so far guys, those pics are great!! How about personality, aloof or very affectionate? I hear some tend to be loner dogs and not giving alot of affection, is that just a false sterotype? Is it an "all how you raise and socialize it" kind of thing?

They are a pack animal. They tend to be very affectionate and caring with their owners and people they are familiar with and once they determine a stranger to not be a threat, will tend to ignore them. With mine, when in public, kids would come up, pet him, pull on him, and he would spend the entire time looking around to see if any threat was coming. As a herding dog, their drive is to protect their flock.

Some people claim the females are more pack protective, males more property protective.

Aggressiveness vs. passiveness is very much dog and breeder dependent. Also don't confuse dominance for fear aggression. The most dangerous dogs are those that are shy and afraid, as they will snap when they feel threatened. Remember police dogs are not acting agressive, they are trained to do what they do as a game, the reason they can be called off with a command. An overly agressive dog would not do that. A good breeder will assess your needs, do temperament testing on their puppy and suggest accordingly. You can have a litter of dogs where some are very alpha and some more passive. I would suggest reading the book "The Art of Raising a Puppy" by the Monks of New Scete, which goes into the psychology of dogs to help train them.

 

[RavenTai]

I have always liked Shepard's, had a small part Shepard mutt that died a few years ago, the neighbors dog got knocked up, they managed to cook all but her (the runt) in a closed up cardboard box on the porch. I found her roaming around in the yard and basically confiscated her, they did not put up much of a fight to get her back. she was about 7 weeks and fit in my palm at the time. she grew to 35 pounds.

She was very smart and very protective, she did have vision and hip problems later in life,

I have been afraid of gettign another Shepard because of the health problems, glad to know that can be gotten around,

 

[SunTzuMD]

I've got a 11-12 yo GSD. She is a saint with the kids aged 1 & 4. Extremely affectionate and pack driven.

I work rotating shifts. When I get home at 2 AM - she's up to see me. When I go to bed at 7 AM she's at the foot of the bed.

She is very pack "aware" - not aggressive unless somebody approaches the truck when she's in it! About gave some guy in Telluride a heart atttack a few years ago. She's great with dogs / people outside of the home.

She's travelled coast to coast several times and does great. Loves to go camping / hiking with the family. She can't stand to be left alone - want's to be with her pack all the time.

GSD are a great breed. I'm hooked for life.

 

[PhrogsPhorever]

My Shepard was the best dawg I have had. Got him at 1 1/2 years old from the pound, we finally has to put him down last year at a ripe old age of 15. No dysplasia, no real health problems until he just got old. Ours was the tan shepard, mostly light tan and black, which was the lighter end of the breed (was still 85+ lbs)
Great pooch, one helluva personality, didn't chew shoes or furniture. Well mannered and even tempered.
S/F
Kush

 

[Cruiserhead05]

Another positive vote here.

We've owned two, one of which we had to put down this last monday, he was only 5 years old. He was pure german lines but evidently was a genetic nightmare the vet said. I'm sure we'll try to find another and this time will look harder at breeders in an effort to avoid something like this.

We have some close friends who owned shepherds for 20 years and just recently started getting dobermans. In their opinion, the dobbies were as good as the GSD's if trained and shed a hell of alot less hair.

Go for it!

 

[sirenmoses]

What all above said, including hips & eyes. PRA: progressive retinal atrophy.

My buddies GSD's were very affectionate w/me: even handled them in agility a couple times. The Czech dog was VERY intense, and required very firm commands, etc. Not for the novice owner/handler.

Find a pet quality from a herding line if you can.

I have dobers: hips & heart are the problems there. they still shed, but the hair is much shorter.

good luck, and show us pix when you get a pup.