First time dog owner - thinking of a German Shepherd

[VanGoSunflowers]

Hi all!
I’ve been researching the hell out of this and still undecided. I want to be absolutely certain before I take the plunge!

So, I want a dog that is loyal, doesn’t love absolutely everyone (like a lab) requires a lot of training (the training part interests me the most) I will be planning on going to training classes, as well as training each day. I work from home, so will be around most of the time. I love going for long walks but I want a dog that will be obedient when trained well and be able to walk off lead in the right places.

I prefer larger dogs. I have a garden but plan on doing long walks each day (I love walking)

I have a 7 year old son (the main reason why I deliberating) who lives with me for half of the time

I I keep reading that they do not make great first time dogs but I cannot find any other breed I would prefer. I don’t want to make a huge mistake!

Another point, not to sound crass but money isn’t really an issue either so regular visits to the groomers, dog walkers should I need them, insurance etc etc. I also have a few friends that have and love dogs and would be eager to house sit for e if I was to ever go away without them (although not sure I would)

Any thoughts please?

I would avoid shepherd crosses too

I have also had 4 - once you’ve had one…!

Going against the grain here OP, I wouldn't rule out a GSD for your first dog as long as you're willing to do the research and put the work in.

Based on my own experience, that's what I picked for my first dog after doing literally a year or more of research on the breed. Took him to some classes but also trained a lot on my own. He was the smartest, most loving big dog and loved kids. We had family kids round daily, and the neighbourhood kids would come into the garden to play football with him, he never once showed an ounce of aggression towards anyone. We did have spend time on training him not to jump up, as he could have accidentally hurt the kids that way.
I would say don't focus on specifically training protection, mine looked fearsome enough to make me feel safe when out, and he wasn't trained to protect or attack in any way.

Another thing to consider is the health problems though, mine had hip dysplasia and degenerative myelopathy (both common in the breed) which meant about two years of regular vet visits, pain medication, blood tests and eventually a very hard decision to make when he could no longer stand. That was about four months ago and my heart is still broke. He would have been 12 this month 💔

I’m so sorry for your loss 😞 he sounds like the best boy x

I have a cardigan corgi (the late queen had Pembrokes) I would say they are pretty dim but this makes them very easy to live with no neuroses. I think they are trainable although probably not as easy as a gun dog (used to own those). Mine is aloof with strangers rarely if ever goes up to people he doesn’t know when out for a walk and generally ignores other dogs.They were originally herding dogs and he cannot be trusted around livestock mine if given a chance will go under a gate and look for livestock three fields away.Recall is good but he once he’s on hunt the for livestock it’s gone.
They are big dogs personality on short legs they make you laugh without being barmy, not overly demanding or needy no issues with seperation anxiety will walk for a couple of hours or round the block. Their big downside is that they shed BADLY and they can be a bit barky the current one isnt too the previous one were better.
They are a rare breed there is a breed club and they have a list of puppies generally bred by very dedicated to the breed breeders.

We have a Cockapoo. It was my son's choice. We got him at 5 months as he proved to be too energetic for the previous owners. He is the sweetest thing ever and will go to everyone for cuddles. However we as a family are absolutely his priority. If we leave him for 1 hour upon you return he will greet you like he hasn't seen you for a month.

My mum used to run a shelter for homeless animals. So I have lots of experience with dogs. Once a bond is made it's unbreakable. It doesn't matter which age, breed or size.

I do agree that dogs shouldn't be treated as humans. However when you see such unconditional love you do forget. Unless you happen to be a professional trainer.

I would recommend a cross bread over a pedigree anytime. They are much more robust health vise. I suggest you approach a shelter and ask to be matched with a dog. People running these shelters are very skilled in matching dogs to the right people.

I grew up with German Shepherds, and have owned 3. I had to have my last beautiful boy put to sleep at 23 months because he was so aggressive to everyone but me that he was incredibly dangerous. I tried 2 specialist behavioralists, 2 vets & a prison officer who was a dog trainer andnone of us could train/support/stop the extreme guarding which meant he went for everyone. It was devastating & I would never recommend a GSD as a pet because they're unrecognisable as a breed from the 70s, 80s, 90s. They're still my favourite dogs in the world but I can not stress how unsuitable they are for a first time owner!

Love a GSD, but have you thought about a nice GSP instead ? similar size, need a lot of exercise, lots of potential for training and are great family dogs ?

I agree with @Stegochops and think a standard poodle would be great.
Re the German Shepherd, you seem to be thinking on the right lines re training, but what do you actually mean re 'training'. The big standard puppy classes aren't nearly enough for a GS, you would need to follow on with something like scentwork or agility.
In my experience (I've worked in welfare and rehoming etc..) as puppies they are friendly with other dogs, quite sociable, but this changes as they sexually mature and they very much become a one man/pack, guard dog - what they are bred to be. So your son, as part of the pack, should be extremely safe.
But..
Can you imagine in 5 years time, as a teen, when DS may have friends to visit that the dog doesn't know, what you would do if he turned on one of them?
Re friends Dogsitting
Unless the friend (s) knows the dog well, they are not dogs who will accept strangers happily onto their territory.
Re working from home
I am currently semi retired and bringing up my latest pup in a 40 year 'career' of dog ownership/fostering, a 10 month old (working line) Labrador.
I can tell you I get literally nothing/zero/zilch done during the day when she's not asleep. She's well trained for her age, with a couple of 'issues', but it's like having a 2 year old toddler needing your attention most of the day. That's because she is a from a working line (show line are much calmer once mature) and she needs a 'job', to do, just like a like a German Shepherd.
So, we walk, do scent work, swim, play chasey, tug, and hide and seek, puzzles, fetch etc.. do social training with other dogs and today I taught her to remove my socks and give them to me 😁
I chose a Lab because they are absolutely bomb proof around children. A Golden Retriever would be another great choice. Think children, rather than what you want as an adult.
Yes the 'friendliness' of a Lab/GR can piss you off a bit as they just line as humans when little, for affection, but then so did my Newfoundland-she's 5 now and has finally grown out of it.
Discover Dogs is on at Crufts soon and if you could get to the stands there, you could get an idea of what you may have excluded - Italian Spinone, Flat Coat Retriever, Setters, Boxer, there's lots to consider.
Whatever route you go down, contact a breed club of Great Britain for that particular breed and ask them for reputable breeders. Just because the dog is KC registered does not guarantee health.
www.champdogs.co.uk/
Is a good place to start as they only list breeders who health test both mum and dad - vital with the skeletal issues that GS's had a few years ago which have hopefully been bred out by ethical breeders now.
Will Atherton is a well respected canine behaviourist and he has just got himself a GS puppy to add to his pack, and it's great to see how he's getting along training his own dog.
Sorry for the essay; I wish you well in finding your new best friend!

This-especially the behaviour aspect.

I have a White German Shepherd and she is the soppiest thing ever. She adores people and wants them to constantly make a fuss of her.

My kids were 6 and 8 when we got her as a puppy and she was a bit bitey, as all puppies are, but we made sure she was always supervised around them. She's 4 now and is really chilled and well trained. The only problem is that she thinks she's a human and takes up half the bed and sofa.

BIL also has a GS and he's daft as a brush. Really friendly with people and other dogs.

Obviously I can't speak for other GS's, but mine is a really easy dog, she's no trouble at all. She gets a lots of compliments as well because she's so gorgeous 😍

I'm sorry but you thinking your dog is as daft as a brush is a worry. GSDs have potential for a lot of damage as they have a high bite force.

I would not let my DC go to a house where the parents didn't see the potential danger of a GSD and just thought they were a soppy spaniel.

Some wild turns taken in this thread.

I do believe that a first time dog owner, willing to put the work in and with a good and genuine understanding of what that work entails, could make a good job of raising the right GSD. I also think that the utter minefield of sourcing the right GSD would be incredibly hard to navigate as a first time dog owner and not somebody already 'in' the dog world.

The stakes are too high in potentially ending up with a dog who is temperamentally or comformationally unsound, of an unsuitable level of drive or nerves, or having chronic health issues. There are a handful of people producing dogs like the OP describes but they are rare as hen's teeth and likely to baulk at a first-timer. Besides which, you can still do everything right and end up with an outlier (ask me how I know... 😒) and without significant experience and a 'village' to fall back on it can go wrong very quickly.

IME, cutting one's teeth on something like a not too sharply bred working type labrador would have far less chance of an unhappy outcome.

Can I suggest you look at Eurasiers?
Not many people know of the breed, but they are similar in looks (fluffier tho!) but easier in temperament and without the hip issues.
https://www.eurasiersociety.org.uk/index.php

They are a bit smaller...my girl is 26 kg, so a biggish dog but not as tall.
She is utterly loyal to her family, totally uninterested in strangers (would never run up and scare a child!) incredible with babies and little ones and she's easy. Has two good walks a day and has never chewed up anything, was fully toilet trained by 11 weeks...

Her downside is she has her own mind (if she doesn't want to walk in a particular direction she just plants her feet and she has a high prey drive to chase deer and rabbits, no kill just chase, so she wears a tracker. She always comes back...in her own time! Some don't have any prey drive at all but mine missed that memo.
She's goofy but calm, and absolutely chilled in the house, likes the dogs she knows, but has a couple of NOPE breeds we avoid (will bark at a few)
They come in a variety of colours!

I have had my first dog for 4 years now and have learnt so much in that time. She's an easy, small, companion type dog, but I still feel like i'd be much better equipped with puppy stage and training for my next dog! I think a german shepherd would have been incredibly hard as a first dog, and because the puppy years are so important for later life, you need to make sure you get those right.
It definitely sounds like you've given this a lot of thought and plans, which is great, and an intelligent dog would no doubt have a great life with you! Personally, i'd suggest an intelligent breed that is less of a guard dog OR as suggested earlier, spend a year or two volunteering at a rescue. You could even register as a foster carer for a rescue so have different dogs in your home to get some experience of different dogs and personalities and how to read them.

Possibly not right for you if you want a larger dog, but i'd love a Papillon. Such clever dogs and small enough to handle if needed!

Good luck, i'm sure you'll make a great dog owner and the dog will be lucky to have an owner that has given things so much thought

Thank you. So strangely, you’ve articulated the exact conclusion I came to today - I have been thinking about this a lot as you can imagine!

Basically, that having a GSD as a first time dog owner could work if all the stars aligned… but the severity of the repercussions if it doesn’t are so high that it’s more sensible to opt for a different breed and not take the risk

She’s an absolute beaut! Going on the short list pending more research 🙂

I am obviously aware of what German Shepherds are capable of, having had them all my life, I'm not stupid! This is why ongoing training is so important, luckily GSDs are one of the most intelligent and easy to train dogs. Her behaviour is carefully monitored around children.

GSDs are very social dogs and want to be with people all the time. I WFH and she barely leaves my side. Maybe a dog lying on you whining for belly rubs isn't what you would call soppy, but it's how I describe it. She's been amazing for my mental health and is very intuitive. She instinctively comes over and offers a paw if I'm upset, and we've taught her to go between our legs if she's nervous or unsure. And yes German Shepherds can be very daft, as all dogs can be, especially when your kids teach her silly little tricks.

In the 4 years I've had her, she has never been aggressive or irritable. That's not to say that we won't come across a situation where she will be, if she's feeling unwell for example, but we have spent a lot of time and effort training her. Her recall is amazing, she has good bite inhibition and she responds to being told off by lying straight down by your feet, head on her paws.

Maybe don't make snap judgements about people's dog ownership skills after reading one post.

FWIW and from a total novice, it sounds like you have a wonderful relationship with her ❤️
Any chance of a pic? 🙂

Have you considered rescue? We have a Dutch herder age 8 and GSD age 5! Both rescues so temperament was figured out by the places we rescued from! Both great dogs with my 3 kids aged 12, 11 and 9 and their friends! The GSD barks when people come over so we keep her on a lead close by until she settles which happens fairly quickly!

My DH grew up with German Shepherd crosses, I think his Mum only ever had shepherds. They always got them from rescues and other than one who didn't turn out to be a good fit and was returned after a couple of days, they didn't have any issues.

Our first dog together and my first ever dog was a greyhound. I know you're not keen on greyhounds, but they do have fanatstic personalities once you get to know them, even if they may seem aloof when you first meet them. They tend to be quite low maintenance in terms of exercise and grooming if you go for a short hair. For me our's was the pefect choice for a first dog.

Since then, we ended up adopting his Mum's GSD after she passed away. It was definitely a big step up in effort in terms of her needing more exercise, the noise and the endless amounts of hair everywhere! Absolutely lovely and affectionate dog though so it was worth it. After she passed I looked at getting a GSD puppy, but the amount of potential health problems in purebreeds really put me off. We ended up getting a GSD cross from the RSPCA and she's been amazing from day 1. I would probably go down the route of a rescue rather than a puppy from a breeder as a good rescue will offer support and do their best to make sure the dog is a good match.

My best friend's parents had a couple of GS's when I was at primary school. I didn't like to go to her house as they'd bark like crazy as we'd approach and I found them very intimidating and scary.

I think you'd do well with a lab/collie cross OP. Our rescue one was friendly but aloof and very clever and trainable.

There seems to be a mixed bag in terms of opinions on adopting an older dog
Can anyone give me a bit of info about the process you went through when you adopted please? What sorts of things are shelters looking for in terms of a good owner? I’m think things like, for example, I need to get a better garden gate - do they come out and inspect these things so would I need to sort things like that out before I approached a shelter?

The garden would need to be secure I would imagine. I don't think rescue people would be looking for style.

Rescues don't only offer older dogs, they also have youngsters like a few months old, a few years old.

I would personally never go for a dog younger than 3 months. I have toilet trained lots of puppies when my mum was running a shelter for homeless animals out of our house. Weeks and weeks of endless toilet trips outside in all weathers and accidents to mop up are simply not for me.

Rescue people would try to match you with a suitable dog. They don't want the adoption to break down. However you do have an option of bringing the dog back if you realise it's not working. I would listen to their advice. They would also give you advice on dog proofing your house and garden

Unless the dog is very used to DC then any herding/shepherd type dog will either herd or guard children (and this often includes nipping at heels/elbows). We got Border Collie no 2 before DS and she struggled with groups of children (park/garden). Border Collie no 3 got as a puppy when DS was a child, absolutely bomb proof around children.

I really support Rescue/Rehoming but unless you are v lucky then its v difficult with children in the family.