German Shepard opinions...

[Caleb]

I would never have an purebred dog. I used to train German Shepherds and the problems Meat said happens to almost every one that's purebred, along with the seizures Blacksheep mentioned, VERY common in purebred dogs because of the inbreeding. The AKC people are psycho, they don't see a problem with inbreeding. My dog I have now is a Black Lab/Australian Shepherd mix. wouldn't give her up for anything. Dogs are awesome but I'd never have a purebred. (and the cost has nothing to do with it, granted I'd never pay that much for a dog either).

 

[sbr]

Then I guess all dogs are inbred but I know on my dogs pedigree there is no moose.

How do you think purebred dogs were made?

This is where ALL dogs came from

 

[cruiseroutfit]

...My dog I have now is a Black Lab/Australian Shepherd mix. wouldn't give her up for anything. Dogs are awesome but I'd never have a purebred. (and the cost has nothing to do with it, granted I'd never pay that much for a dog either).

Thats actually what our dog is now... a black lab/Aussie mix... and as mentioned he has been the best dog Its gonna be a sad day when he kicks the bucket (mind you he is fourteen!!!)

The hip thing does worry me... the seller claims his line doesn't have issues with those, and he has the mother & the father around for inspection? I'm also against getting such an $$$ dog, but from my limited readings your paying for less problems. As mentioned they are all imbred, but the ones fetching the higher $$$ are "supposed" to come from cleaner lines.

PS, Candace mentioned that these pups are "OFA Hip & Elbow Certified"?? I guess they get x-rayed for hip problems? The seller guarantees the dogs to not have hip problems indefinetly? He said he does a bill of sale that guarantees no hip or eye problems? This guy has a "breeders code of ethics" (sounding a bit overboard yet?). He is on the board of the German Shepard Club of America and the state affiliate...

 

[going commando]

dog food

Just get a couple of cats. Why? Because cats rock and take care of themselves.
But German Shepards are gorgeous dogs.

and makes cheap dog food J/k

 

[CrawlerCraig]

I had 2 GS growing up and they were awesome............NOW I have 2 of my own......I wouldn't trade them for anything......

We have 1 that we paid 800 for and came from a breeder in Lindon......We have a guarentee that the hips will be good and they are.......you are supose to get a X ray at 6 months and 2 years to make sure all is well......The guy also gave us a Family history chart of the dogs family back 5 generations to guarentee how PURE the bloodlines are. All his parents have been dog show champions.......

Our second GS comes from who know what but both parents were on hand to look at both Pure bread.......he was only $200 and you tell a HUGE difference in the build of the bodies, tempermeant, overall personallity...

Are champion bread dog wants to be with you all the time, follows you eveywhere and is very protective of his masters...........the other just hangs out and wants to play fetch all day......His body is not built up to GS standards but we got him to play with are first dog and they get along great!

The build of your pure bread GS body is very importand you will want to do some online research which i am sure you have done already and get a book from petsmart or somewhere that can show pictures of what is condsidered a perfect build to the common build..... you will want to make sure there back gets lower as you get to the hind legs......if there back is straight that is not as good and will cause problems down the line......which also indicates that there blood lines are not as pure or have some inbreeding........

this is just the begining of some of the research we did before we bought.....like you said 800 $$ is a lot of money to spend on a dog......I would also tell you to go to more than 1 breeder to compare not only price but the dogs history......see how each breeder is the same and different....

one other thing to consider is color.......our champ is a Sable and the other is Saddle......the saddle is more the traditional GS dog look as the Sable has more black in his coat......Stay away from white GS kinda rare but still out there....

kinda long but I hope it helps......

 

[Tacoma]

My eyesight is really bad this morning.
I first thought this said you "had a very exciting set of English teachers"

Well, one of them WAS actually pretty exciting, but I can't talk about it.

 

[Meat_]

Thats actually what our dog is now... a black lab/Aussie mix... and as mentioned he has been the best dog Its gonna be a sad day when he kicks the bucket (mind you he is fourteen!!!)

The hip thing does worry me... the seller claims his line doesn't have issues with those, and he has the mother & the father around for inspection? I'm also against getting such an $$$ dog, but from my limited readings your paying for less problems. As mentioned they are all imbred, but the ones fetching the higher $$$ are "supposed" to come from cleaner lines.

PS, Candace mentioned that these pups are "OFA Hip & Elbow Certified"?? I guess they get x-rayed for hip problems? The seller guarantees the dogs to not have hip problems indefinetly? He said he does a bill of sale that guarantees no hip or eye problems? This guy has a "breeders code of ethics" (sounding a bit overboard yet?). He is on the board of the German Shepard Club of America and the state affiliate...

That's a nice sales pitch. Too bad almost ALL large dogs will eventually get Hip Dysplasia. German Shepherds are the worst followed by another breed that I can't think of atm.

A cross between a wolf and a moose?

Then I guess all dogs are inbred but I know on my dogs pedigree there is no moose.

Too bad that's a cow elk.

Go talk to a vet, ask him what kind of dog is the most healthy and longest lived.

 

[I Lean]

Too bad that's a cow elk.

Eh, what do I know? It isn't very dog-like, either way.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

...We have 1 that we paid 800 for and came from a breeder in Lindon......We have a guarentee that the hips will be good and they are.......you are supose to get a X ray at 6 months and 2 years to make sure all is well......The guy also gave us a Family history chart of the dogs family back 5 generations to guarentee how PURE the bloodlines are. All his parents have been dog show champions.......

Don Willett?? Thats who we are working with... sounds like he's a man of his word? You sound like you've been happy with the guy, we are meeting him on Monday I'm told

 

[cruiseroutfit]

That's a nice sales pitch. Too bad almost ALL large dogs will eventually get Hip Dysplasia. German Shepherds are the worst followed by another breed that I can't think of atm...

I too have always heard that... but my fathers German Shepherd never had an issue with hips... Nor have any of my wifes families Golden Retrievers... supposedly they have big hip problems too. The common factor is all of these dogs came from high $$$ breeders, papered, etc. This guy has been selling ger. shepherds for 35 years now... Even the best of sales pitches won't keep you around that long I suppose??

 

[Meat_]

I never said you shouldn't get a German Shepherd, I just stated the problems with getting a pure bred dog.

For a work dog that will be worked I can see spending money for the breeding (they are made good at their jobs by taking dogs with favorable traits and breeding them, which just so happens to narrow the gene pool tremendously) and training... BUT for a dog that is going to hang out with you and be your friend until the day it dies, I cannot fathom paying money (a lot of money) for a dog that is going to live a shorter life, with more costly (emotionally and financially) health problems over getting a mongrel. That's not to say that there aren't worthless muts, but if you know dogs that is an easy thing to avoid.

 

[CrawlerCraig]

Don Willett?? Thats who we are working with... sounds like he's a man of his word? You sound like you've been happy with the guy, we are meeting him on Monday I'm told

that is the guy!! His dogs are pretty good!! We are extreamly happy with ours.......Plus he gives you free dog school for life! He wanted us to put ours in all the dog shows but our scheduals didn't work........his classes were the nights me and my wife both had school and then by the time school was out they were over......but he still keeps in touch and encourages us to compete.

He knows everything about GS and has all the paperwork to back all his dogs for generations.......You will be extreamly Happy!!

 

[Catherine]

Do you want a weimarner named Daisy? She is a beautiful dog...

 

[Cody]

Do you want a weimarner named Daisy? She is a beautiful dog...

you're already getting rid of your dog?

 

[Caleb]

Do you want a weimarner named Daisy? She is a beautiful dog...

Greg goes out-of-town and you get rid of the dog

 

[Cody]

oh yah, and FWIW, we had a good family friend that had 2 GS growing up. Beautiful mellow dogs, extremely smart. Both had the hip problems and died relatively young.

 

[Catherine]

Cody do you want her? She is a great companion, and now that you have your own house...

 

[Maverick]

Kurt,

We had a malamute/GS mix....big, beautiful and strong but dumb as a rock. He bred with a keeshound (sp?)/eskimo mix and that litter produced the smartest, most well behaved dogs ever...medium sized, 60 lbs or so, and they all (the ones we could keep track of) lived 13-14 years. Awesome dogs.

I've been thinking lately of getting a siberian husky. I wanted a malamute but don't want a dog that big. The husky is the perfect size for me. The fam wants a lab or a retriever.

GS's rock...I wouldn't mind one of those either, as long as it was big like it should be, I love those dogs. Sounds like you are doing all the research...8 bills is a lot to pay for a dog though.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

We attended the Great Salt Lake German Shepard Club meeting last Monday (VERY reminiscent of an early U4WDA meeting )... they are a great bunch of folks and are very wise on the dogs. Don the guy we are getting our pup from (yup we gave a deposit) has dogs in the Air Force (mine sniffing?), avalanche rescue, and some police K9 I beleive. We were able to chat with some of the other dog owners after the meeting, they all spoke very highly of our breeder and the quality of his dogs. Our dog comes from champion lines on both sides... I can't remember all the mumbo jumbo they were talking, but they did say "my *****" alot which made me giggle!

I get the impression there are a bunch of bad breeders giving GS's an overall bad reputation as far as the hips, etc. Don assured us it won't be an issue with his dogs, and he has some old ones to prove it?? All dogs are going to have some issues I suppose... our famed Aussie/Lab mix had bad arthritis for that last 5 years... my mom gave him pills every morning so he could get out and chase the cats

I think we will be happy... we get to go pick our pup (the litter is just 2-3 weeks old) sometime in the next couple weeks

As Craig mentioned, the breeder includes free obedience lessons, as well as a free membership to the GS club, they do organized meets, shows, agility, obedience, etc... might be cool to watch anyways?

Thanks for all the replies folks.... my wife spent the last couple months reading, calling & researching... I just had to talk to my pepes!

 

[hambone]

i have owened many mongrals and one pure breed and since buying a pure breed i will never buy another mongral again moose has been the best dog i have owened