GSDs for SillySally - LONG

[sillysally]

What do the title abbreviations mean?

[sillysally]

Originally Posted by Aleron

GSDs make absolutely great only or one of two opposite set dogs. Some people have luck with more and some do well in multi-dog households too. I just think because of their nature, most would prefer to be an only dog or have a girlfriend/boyfriend LOL Jora loved her male housemates but the girls were another story!

If I were going to get another GSD, I'd get one from here: http://www.vomhausweinbrand.com/

I'd say your "type" very much tends towards German working lines with good structure Only a couple of the dogs you posted were German Showlines. Good places to see those dogs in action would be SchH clubs and trials.

Yeah, two seems like a good number for us, especially since I will likely always have at least birds and possibly a horse at the same time.

What lines are the dogs at the link you posted? I like their look...

[FG167]

First, I want to point out that I was looking for a *very* specific dog. I'm also a *very* aware handler due to a past aggressive dog and am careful in all situations. However, I wanted a dog that would excel at IPO (and my trainer thinks I should be able to make it to Nationals with Kastle and not make a fool of myself), but also be 100% my family pet - and be small and athletic/agile enough to also do flyball and agility and the myriad other sports I like to dabble in. I found a dog that seemed to have the marvelous, tolerant, happy temperament (Jason's Ike) and imported Kastle from the same breeder in Belgium. The Belgians tend to want very, very stable, solid, happy dogs that can work with a lot of pressure but also respond well to positive methods. I've been beyond impressed with what I've seen coming from my breeder's kennel - and I've seen quite a few dogs from there.

driven to DO something, but won't go insane if we skip a couple days without training

A solid GSD should be able to do this. Kastle frequently goes several days without training now (I was allowing him to "mature" so we've been doing more "together" things rather than training things). He is content to wander the yard with me and hang out in the living room playing with his toys in the evening. I do frequently interact with him while he is playing though, rolling a ball for him sometimes but his fave is to put a bone on my leg and then I give it back to him LOL over and over. He also *loves* to sleep and is not a morning dog, he wakes up with his hair all amuss and with these big, slow, sleepy blinks and he's also pretty crabby before he fully wakes up - he doesn't like the other dogs herding/nipping/barking in his face LOL

up for anything and can go all day, but can chill too-has an off switch

Kastle does *everything* with me. Everything. We walk, we hike, we bike, we run...He is my "go everywhere" dog. We travel extensively on a frequent basis. We visit family, friends, training sites, various training teams.

is good with children

A solid GSD should be fine with kids. They tend to be a lot more caring/gentle/understanding of children than some of the other shepherd-y breeds I've been around/owned. We get a TON of attention too since Kastle is a long coat, kids always want to pet his silky ear hair LOL

can do agility

Also a requirement for me and I while I haven't focused on this with Kastle, he will be good when I get around to finishing his foundation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuhtSy2SCNY

Just a little bit of toying around there but I think he's going to be fast (and hopefully accurate!). However, we are pretty good in flyball (as in, he is actively competing in tournaments on teams) and he's running around 4.2s right now (that's really fast for a big dog!). Several people told me they expect him to break 4 seconds once he's physically mature (around 3 is what I am told), which again, is spectacular for a dog this size. People are always shocked that my GSD can run that fast

can go anywhere in public safely, is very tolerant of strangers. Doesn't have to love everyone, but does have to be able to deal with what strangers can dish out in public (unsolicited touching, etc)

Have you ever been to a flyball tourney? It is the EXTREME in expecting dogs to cope with crazy. Barking dogs, screaming people, toys everywhere, balls EVERYWHERE, kids running, food all over - it is an insane atmosphere. What did Kastle have trouble with? Me taking Eden instead of him out of the crate LOL He never blinked at all of the crazy people - although, in the beginning, we did struggle with leaving tennis balls alone - now I just give him his own bowl to carry around. I have taken him to a half-marathon filled with gobs of people in those weird crinkly silver blankets flapping around after the race and *everyone* wanted to pet the fluffy dog - no issues. Never. I *never* worry with him. I am aware (b/c better safe than sorry and I've had an aggressive dog in the past so it's second nature to me) but he has never given me cause to worry. Ever.

can tolerate other dogs. Doesn't have to be a dog park dog, but does have to be able to dog tolerant enough to go on hikes, walks, and events where other dogs will be

Hiking/walks etc is no issue. I am careful how I intro dogs I want him to "be friends" with and foster dogs but only to make sure everything is positive - nothing has ever happened, but I want to make *sure*. Kastle is extremely tolerant of the family dogs and ignores everyone else. Including dogs lunging, barking, and running up to him - to a point. He will allow one sniff but if the other dog keeps coming, eventually he will tell them to leave. He is also good about giving a signal and using dog body language vs going straight to the teeth solution. Also, see above answer regarding flyball. These dogs are INSANE and usually screaming, lunging, barking and generally being crazy and again, never had an issue.

We have 5 intact males in the house - two of them adult GSDs and have no issues. None. The girls (who are spayed) are much more riot-inciting than any of the boys. Kastle gets along fine with everyone but really prefers just to interact with me. He is not a "play with other dogs" kind of dog. He will for 10-15 min and then that's the end of that, he waits for me to come back for him.

will tolerate kids friends coming in to the house

Kastle will alert like a crazy dog at the door, and then when I open and greet, he goes totally silent and is either uninterested or welcoming depending on who it is. He flips that switch so fast. He has *never* given me an issue with bringing people in our house. I've even had a friend go and pick him up to bring him to a dog event and he was thrilled to see her. He *knows* his people and is willing to welcome more into the fold if I want.

The other night Jason was in the backyard, way in the back, with the pooper scooper and I let Kastle out. He CHARGED across the yard, hackles up, roaring, came close enough to get a wiff of Jason (about 7-8 feet away) and immediately switched to "hi Dad! Didn't see you out here!" and went on his merry way to go potty. He is *clear* which is another demand I made on my breeder. I wanted a dog that had the right drives for IPO (aggression, protective, pushy) but wouldn't whip them out for no reason. He has yet to alert on someone with no reason.

is not so guardy that the dog would go crazy living in down town area

Our dogs are all "city slickers". We lived in a huge MI city (Grand Rapids) downtown, off of the busiest road in the city (28th street). Could not get any more loud - and we were one block from the fire department. Never had any issues with the GSDs and the city. At all. In fact, I am so glad I got to raise Kastle there, he is soooo well acclimated and there are few things he hasn't seen a person do (rollerblades, biking, strollers, running, skipping, singing, screaming, tricycles, loud music, cars honking, other dogs in various states of obedience etc etc etc).

The RIGHT GSD is amazing. So amazing. I cannot even fathom living my life anymore without Kastle in it. I've had some amazing, amazing dogs in my life, lots of breeds, and he is just...it for me. I spend as much time with him as I possibly can, and do as much with him as I can possibly do. He's just amazing. My breeder nailed my HUGE laundry list of "must haves"...besides the stupid, long, fluffy coat! haha

[monkeys23]

I love Kastle! His breeder would definitely be one on the list I personally would consider going to.

The fluffy coat isn't too bad. I find it a lot easier to rake Scout out than my parent's BC. Of course she's eating a lot higher quality food than he is too and that does show in her coat quality. I don't think I'd necesarily want another floofy one in the future, but it sure is comforting to bury your face in that thick soft fur.

Other than the curly tail, Scout pretty much looks all GSD. She gaits a lot too, but this pic doesn't really show it.


We've done a lot of foundational agility exercises for confidence building, but honestly agility hasn't grabbed me (yet). But she's been on the A frame with starting 2 on 2 contacts, through the tunnel, over the totter (proped up), and the dog walk. She's matured to be faster and have more endurance than Lily, who is a pretty cracked out husky/GSD mix. Funny given that when I first got her she couldn't keep up.

And for token cuteness, I have a pic of Scout as a pup from her first owner. She was really cute.



Some breeders I personally really like:
http://www.schraderhausk9.com/
http://www.vongrunheideshepherds.com/index.html
http://www.wildhauskennels.com/
And Judge and Trent's breeders respectively produce some real nice dogs too.

[Maliraptor]

Kastle's breeder is one of the few GSD breeders I would take a puppy from.

Kiptin's breeder, also.

Here is more video of Kiptin:

http://youtu.be/Iw4aC13xlPo

http://youtu.be/CTn1lnqOuQA

He also has a TDX tracking title.

[sillysally]

So I have kind of a dumb question, but how do I go about learning about lines, breeders, etc. How do I go about finding out what type (as in temperament and abilities) of dogs a breeder produces?

[release the hounds]

get involved. there's no other way. you can read till your eyes go blind, but till you go experience it you won't know. One person's "suspicion" is another person's nervy and anothers "guardy" and anothers "whatever" One person's "drivey" is another's "insane" or is "dead" to another.

Go out and see the dogs, meet them, watch them watch the training and find the dogs you like, then find out who's producing those dogs and get one from there.

[Aleron]

RTH is right, experience will help a lot. I found my perfect GSD by getting a puppy from a bitch I really, really liked that i knew from training.

Originally Posted by FG167

The RIGHT GSD is amazing. So amazing.

I couldn't agree more

Originally Posted by sillysally

Yeah, two seems like a good number for us, especially since I will likely always have at least birds and possibly a horse at the same time.

What lines are the dogs at the link you posted? I like their look...

They are mostly West German working lines.

[Maliraptor]

Originally Posted by release the hounds

get involved. there's no other way. you can read till your eyes go blind, but till you go experience it you won't know. One person's "suspicion" is another person's nervy and anothers "guardy" and anothers "whatever" One person's "drivey" is another's "insane" or is "dead" to another.

Go out and see the dogs, meet them, watch them watch the training and find the dogs you like, then find out who's producing those dogs and get one from there.

Yep. 100% yes. Learned this one the hard way.

[monkeys23]

Originally Posted by release the hounds

get involved. there's no other way. you can read till your eyes go blind, but till you go experience it you won't know. One person's "suspicion" is another person's nervy and anothers "guardy" and anothers "whatever" One person's "drivey" is another's "insane" or is "dead" to another.

Go out and see the dogs, meet them, watch them watch the training and find the dogs you like, then find out who's producing those dogs and get one from there.

Yep this a million times over.