German Shepherds - yay or nay?

[Salamamca]

I grew up with German shepherds but I’ve seen and heard so many horror stories lately about crazy, neurotic, nervous, reactive and aggressive lines.

Has the breed gone down the pan? We’re considering our next dog but unsure what to get.

Picking mine up in 2 weeks. It’s a yay from me. Lots of socialisation and training - they thrive on it. I can’t wait.

I think the breed has declined a LOT in recent years.

I thought you wanted a Doberman Op?

I like them. I think it's important to get all of the breed specific health checks and to check out the breeding lines.

hopefully with a bit of a bump, someone with more knowledge (wouldn't be difficult!) will be along soon!

my neighbours did get a puppy earlier in the year, he was gorgeous! Seemed fine at first, but once he settled in he became very over protective of 'his house' & 'his people' & they couldn't have anyone visit.

he went back to the breeder who had wanted to keep him in the first place anyway. She's experienced & im sure she'll sort him out, as soon as he got there he was a different dog.

otgrr friends have one & he's the most liveable, gentle giant & plays Daddy to her cat & kittens! SOOOO cute.

I’m really torn, you said yourself they are hard work and not sociable 😞

I said on a (maybe your?) Doberman thread earlier that people need to be mindful that a dog of this type (associated with being a guard dog) will put some people off socialising at your house, especially sending kids. May not matter to you but it is the reality.

Start with what you want. What size of dog do you have space for? How much grooming, training and walking can you do? What traits would bother you? Eg prone to separation anxiety and what could you cope with?

If you want sociable dont get a GSD. Some are but loads aren't. They are a dog for experienced owners.

I’d like something big and intelligent, low prey drive, mid level energy, child friendly

I really don’t want to deal with reactivity

Maybe start with discover dogs.

You can't predict reactivity but I've only ever met a handful of friendly German Shepherds. All the ones around here are severely reactive to other dogs.

If you swap intelligent for biddable, which is what most people actually mean they want when they say intelligent.

you’re describing a lab tbh.

Get a Labrador. My family has had GSDs since I was a toddler and while I adore them, I don’t think they will tick the boxes you want.

You don't want one.
If you sourced a great one from healthy lines and were able to put in an immense amount of work for about two years and a considerable amount of continuing training and exercise time thereafter, you could have the best dog in the world. Anything less and you are likely to have a really hard 12 years.

Don’t get one

I've got a GSD, he is beautiful and beyond intelligent, however he is so reactive to other dogs. He is three tomorrow and I am completely unable to walk him now. He has made some progress but it's ingrained into him unfortunately. Not his fault but at his peek socialisation phase we was in hight of our first lock down so all classes where shut and people actively avoided other people, this may have played a factor who knows.

He is an amazing dog in the house and with my children but he's not the dog we thought we would get.

I wouldn't get another GSD,

In general they can be a bit nippy.
they need strong leadership and in my experience on family farms they do well with women owners

This may be outside the box for you, but a Standard Poodle fits your description perfectly. They are fairly big dogs, exceptionally intelligent, have a real sense of fun, no major guarding instinct (so not reactive, though they have a big bark if anyone comes around the house), are friendly, with a great sense of fun. Also, since there are not overbred like many other breeds, they have not major health or temperament problems. They had an eye issue decades ago, but this has been bred out of the breed now.

I got my first after a Rottweiler situation. I’d always had big dogs. I had a Rottweiler bitch for 12 years and lost her in old age due to cancer. She was fabulous. The house felt so empty after she had gone. After a while, my ex and I decided to get another. Weirdly, we couldn’t find a bitch puppy anywhere, so we bought a dog. I raised and trained him just as I had done with all of my big dogs. Unfortunately, even as a young puppy he was showing signs of aggression. By the time he was 15 months, he was proving difficult to control, was threatening me and if he had got to anyone coming to the house, he would have had them (and he was a very large strong dog). It was heartbreaking, but he needed to be put to sleep. I returned him to his breeder (big successful on the show circuit) and told her that. A couple of months later, the breeder who had put me onto the litter because she had no puppies, let me know that he was the 4th in that litter that had become aggressive in experienced homes - one had bitten a judge in the show ring (so much for its always the owner).

That was all so distressing that I just didn’t want another ‘guarding’ breed. The ex (a Prison Officer) did some research and he said “Standard Poodles” meet all the criteria”. So much for them being girly dogs. We bought 2 pups and I’ve never looked back. This was over 20 years ago. I have had 3 Standards since then and now have 2 Toy Poodles (due to age and arthritis). They are fabulous dogs.

I also don't think you really want a GSD.

Mine is GSD x Dobie (rescue but no abuse, she was born in a rescue centre).

She is super intelligent - I'm not always sure people think this through. I think people hear intelligent dog and think of them performing tricks and acting to command beautifully.

What it actually means is that she's like living with a velociraptor.

She worked out how to open all the doors.
She's worked out how to open the bin.
She learns how to press your buttons to get what she wants very quickly.

Yes, she learns new tricks in record time for treats. But if you don't have treats then she'll look you up and down and decides whether she pities you enough to bother.

Most of the time the answer is no...she yawns in your face and then ambles off giving you a side-eye look that says 'no chicken...no tricks human, I'm not stupid'

She's unpredictably reactive with other dogs. Sometimes she can be nervously sweet, other times (especiallly if anything yaps at her first) she goes full on Ronnie Kray.

She's absolutely adorable, very affectionate, is like my shadow and my best friend.

I wouldn't change her for the world (I lie...I wish she'd be more bloody obedient) but she is not the dog you're looking for!

I have the biggest , softest, dopiest gsd ever . He is 9 next month and yesterday I realised I have never ever heard him growl .

He does his job - barks if anyone is hanging around or knocks at the door but he is soft as butter .

My vet was from Sweden and told me he was the only one he had seen in this country with the temperament they're meant to have.

He is my baby bear . I adore him .

He looks lovely @stillvicarinatutu!

Mine is great with humans...terrifying bark when people knock but then genuinely over the moon to meet new people.

She always has a great big happy smile too

GSD is likely to be high drive, high energy, and not child / visitor friendly. Trainable and biddable only if you are willing to put hours and hours of work in for the rest of the dog's life.

Some type of retriever or gun-dog is likely to be a better fit for for you. Poodles might be an option. Old English sheepdog might fit the bill - they have a lot less energy than you might expect.

Other things to be aware of...

My GSD x Dobie has high prey drive. She's okay with our four cats but I wouldn't trust her for one second around any other cats, she goes mad when she sees any on walks wanting to chase them.

We had her on a long line until her recall was amazing....first couple of times off lead she was great. Then she realised she'd lulled us into a false sense of security and was a full on bellend the next time. So she's now back on a long line again for the foreseeable.

She loves children on toast (joke!) especially young ones but she's very giddy and appears not to understand the length of her legs at all.

I frequently get a paw quite hard in the face, and I do mean hard! There's zero malice in it, just over exuberance for pets (and a lack of strong boundaries from us because we don't have DC and are fine with it) but she'd easily knock even a decent sized child flying.

Also...they whine. A lot. About everything.

She whines if I have food she likes. She whines to be petted. She whines if I stop petting her. She whines if she's bored. It can be a lot!

Both Dobies and GSDs are whiners so perhaps she's twice the whiner?!

My boy never ever whines ?

He talks to me like if I've been out and he's happy I'm back . But doesn't whine .

He's super clever and quick .
He's as
Playful as a puppy .

He's mr obedient but that needs daily work .
He learns tricks super super
Fast . He will work for
Food

He's very lazy . And he has no idea he actually weighs 56 kilos . He likes to sit in my knee . He also likes to share a bed . Tho I have to say my scottie takes up
More room and is far grumpier .

Guess which ones boss
Dog !

(Clue . It's not the bear )) !