If you enjoy the intelligence of a poodle you'll love a German Shepherd. They're smart, loyal and just a good fun dog! Pandora loves to play games with me and the other dogs. She likes being active but knows at night it's time to come inside and sleep. She's the only one of the dogs that sleeps up on the bed with me and stays there all night long.
She's also very protective but also very gentle and loving. I have an elderly neighbor who loves to come outside and feed the dogs some ham or turkey and Pandora is very gentle with her.
Her only issue is dog aggression. She has to be introduced to other dogs slowly, she's fine with puppies but other big dogs intimidate her. About a year ago I was walking and a lab/pit looking dog ran up to us, it was growling and Pandora was still a pup at only about a year old or so. They dog went for me and Pandora grabbed the dog. She had two big wounds on her neck and needed stitches. My neighbor came out and was able to get the lab mix off of her and put him in his truck to take to the local animal control. SHe was fine with other dogs until that happened. She did manage to split that poor labs ear, i felt a little bad for that dog as well but it did need to be off the street.
German Shepherds are great dogs but you have to keep their mind working, i did a clicker training class with Pandora and it was probably the best thing i've done. She can do so many fun tricks and loves to show off for people. She'll speak, whisper, shake, do high 5 and 10, crawl, sit pretty, roll over, walk backwards, etc..
She's also the most "talkative" dog i've ever had. She'll grumble when I wont give her food she wants or she'll "huff" at me when I make her stay when company comes over. She also likes to roll over and expose herself to the world when we have people over. I'm pretty sure she thinks this is funny.
You have a beautiful puppy and I bet you'll have a lot of fun with this new one!