Where the hell can I get an old fashioned German Shepherd?

[Loulouuz]

Hi everyone,

I've begun my search for a GSD and cannot for the life of me find breeders in the UK with old fashioned straight backed pups.

I found a zombie thread on here but unfortunately it didn't help a great deal. Does anyone know of any reputable breeders anywhere in the UK with all health checks/scoring etc?

They're such beautiful dogs but I'm so wary of breeders, hip problems and the like it's proving difficult! We're in no hurry whatsoever until we find a good breeder so happy with wait lists etc.

Any help, advice, fb groups would be a god send!

Thanks all

[SushiTime]

Where about a are you? I know some friends of a friend have a gorgeous "old fashioned" type and he's just amazing. I could ask where they got him/breeder is etc.

[MsMightyTitanAndHerTroubadours]

It's the one thing that puts me off getting a GSD!

We had two ex guide dogs, but we did puppy walk them, so we did have dibs (as it were) in the event of them failing. Even so with their excellent breeding stock the first one had an iffy hip and came from a litter of six or seven, of which only three made the grade, others in that litter had dodgy elbows and an optic disc issue probably resulting in tunnel vision. That was not a repeated pairing!

The second one was just too much of a mamma's boy to bond properly with anyone else!

If they don't make the grade after final training they would be 18-24 months and supremely well socialised, some can be withdrawn earlier. If you live near any of the centres it might be worth looking into adopting one??

Good luck!

[TheRattleBag]

I have a friend who is looking for the same - a proper, straight-backed GSD.

He's considering these breeders in Donegal:

Alsace Royal

Beyond that I don't know anything about them - we've always been a poodle family!

[Loulouuz]

We're in the North East, I'm willing to travel anywhere in the UK though to be honest, I even considered flying to Ireland! That'd be brilliant if you could ask them?

I'll have a look at guide centres too, thank you! It's felt like so long since I raised a puppy I don't think I could miss out on the early days though, even the potty training 😄

[Loulouuz]

X post therattlebag, that's who I was looking at too. I'll have to look into it a little more, the Irish seem to have more straight backed breeding lines

[Fucksandflowers]

I don’t think you’ll find one.
The only ‘proper’ old fashioned, straight backed, short coated GSDs I’ve seen tend to be working bred, intended for security, police etc.

There is a breeder, Sheikanah I think, who health test and do straight backed but they are long haired.

[Loulouuz]

Fucksandflowers I'm not opposed to long haired, I just want a healthy well conformed dog. I've had a look at Sheikanah breeders, they're absolutely beautiful! I'll pop them on the list and find out if they still produce litters as can't see any up to date postings

[Helga55]

Have a look on Champdogs, you can see all the breeders within a selected distance, links to their websites (if they have one) available puppies, pedigree, pictures etc, this, at least will give you some foundation on finding what you're looking for. You can also see if the parents have been health tested, hips etc & what the results are. Obviously this isnt a guarantee that a puppy will have no health issues, but it shows that the breeder takes their breeding more seriously than a BYB

Or, if you have time & are prepared to travel, you could go to some dog shows to actually see some dogs, the only thing with this is knowing which shows have 'Germanic' or 'English' type judges. If you're looking for a straight backed gsd, you'd want to go to a show with a judge looking for 'English' type

[nipontuck]

A friend of mine was searching for the same a couple of years ago..one of the breeders she looked at was Bright Meadow GSDs..will see if I can dig out the others..

[nipontuck]

And akin taro was another she found she liked the type of. Health tests paramount though above all else! Good luck 🍀

[nipontuck]

Kintaro not akin taro!!

[NormaTallulahPorchaBest]

@Loulouuz

Can you pm me so I can reply to you , I can't figure out how to send a private message on my mobile

[Helga55]

@nipontuck the Kintaro breeders are lovely people, known them years through another breed

[Scattyhattie]

My friend has a lovely looking working bred GSD, owner had Schutzhund plans but got busy doing other things so dog very much lives pet life & is surprisingly chilled.

I guess like most the working/ sport bred tend to be less extreme than show type in order to meet physical requirements.

[Maneandfeathers]

Nyrvana GSD?

[Loulouuz]

Brilliant thanks everyone you've all helped and I've got a lot more to go on, I'll look into all mentioned!

Norma of course! I'll try and figure it out too... Might be a while

[CurlyhairedAssassin]

I hope you find what you’re looking for. I think there needs to be a bit of a revolt on this. I am shocked when I see Golden Retrievers these days as they all seem to have much shorter dogs than ones from even just 30 years back.

When we had our Goldie in the 80s we actually used my dad’s old dog breed book from the 50s I think it was. Even then in the 80s, dogs looked very different from their breed standard from the many years earlier.

What the hell are we doing to our dogs???

[CurlyhairedAssassin]

Much shorter legs!!

[Xiaoxiong]

We have a rescue from Romania who we think is a GSD Cross, probably x Lab(?). It's interesting how similar she looks to some of the gorgeous "old fashioned" straight backed GSDs linked here, if they had short coupled ears and shorter hair (though our girl has the GSD double coat).

She looks nothing at all like our neighbour's pedigree GSD, it has such a sloping back it looks like it can't walk properly

[Fucksandflowers]

I think there needs to be a bit of a revolt on this. I am shocked when I see Golden Retrievers these days as they all seem to have much shorter dogs than ones from even just 30 years back

That is the showing world for you.
I too am disgusted.
They (kennel club/breed clubs) have created a ridiculous divide between working dogs and pets, tricking people into thinking a working line can’t be a pet and turned so many beautiful dogs into caricatures appearance wise. Ruined their health and temperament aswell.

Fortunately my breed (border collie) hasn’t been made too extreme yet but there is already a shocking difference between your typical show/pet bred border collie and your typical working line.

The show/pet lines are short, stocky, horrible big wide heads, ludicrously long thick coats and the worst thing is a lot of them cannot herd..
Is it still even a border collie anymore if it has no natural herding instinct?!

[RamblingFar]

Does it have to be a puppy? The military rehome their retirees and the ones that don't make the grade in training. My friend ended up with one that that needed rehoming.

[Fucksandflowers]

The military ones are Belgian Shepherd Malinois though?
Not GSD?

[Loulouuz]

I know exactly what you mean, it's really awful. My background is in animal health/veterinary and honestly the information I've picked up along the way is depressing. We're continually facilitating genetic disorders by breeding for apperance/morphological features, I don't know if anyone's interested in the topic but it's interesting, a few lesser known examples of genetic disorders/other issues we make no attempt to breed out of bloodlines or prevent:

• Border collies have a gene mutation that makes them more sensitive to common drugs (Mdr1 gene)
• Bulldogs can ONLY give birth via cesarean
• Golden retrievers are genetically susceptible to cancer (about 60% die of cancer)
• Labradors are susceptible to a gene variation (POMC variant) that essentially removes the 'switch' from hungry to full so that it doesn't 'turn off' so basically dogs that have the variant (found in around one quarter) are starving all the time. We all know how greedy labs are! Imagine the torment of never feeling full

I could go on and on, it breaks my heart but the general population just don't know are ignorant to it

Brachycephalic dogs, loads of breathing issues = common nose operations to open airways. Dachshunds are prone to disk disease.

Crikey sorry, I feel strongly on the topic

[Loulouuz]

I'd like to get a puppy this time as it's been so long since I had a dog, but I'd already considered ex police dogs and its a big possibility for the future.

fucks It depends, both GSD and Belgian malinoirs are used in police/military, I'm not sure what determines their choice of breed but both are common. Malinoirs are gorgeous too I love them, just so clever and the ones I've met have been more of a demanding dog than average GSD

[Bookworm4]

There are several GSD rescues who get dogs of all ages in. Here’s a few;m.facebook.com/GermanShepherdRescueScotland/
m.facebook.com/ukgsr/