[Fenris-wolf]

I haven't announced it really on here, but I have been interested in getting a working line German Shepherd (I'm also considering a Hokkaido Ken if it is a dog breed that can do everything) so I joined a German Shepherd forum and asked about breeders and people told me to check out a Schutzhund here in Washington. I talked to the lady in charge and we talked about why we like working lines better, what breeders to stay away from and which ones to get a German Shepherd from, and even Sisko starting Schutzhund!😀 Sisko can do it and we will be starting after we are done with basic obedience and advance obedience classes. This is going to be awesome!!!!!

 

[Whoiscoconut]

Sounds exciting!!!! I’m not super familiar with German Shepard’s but they’re beautiful dogs!

 

[Fenris-wolf]

Sounds exciting!!!! I’m not super familiar with German Shepard’s but they’re beautiful dogs!

Aren't they?! I have loved them ever since I was a kid, and I have only petted 2 so far.

 

[cowpony]

My sister had a love!y German Shepherd (or German Shedder, as we joked) and did Schutzhund for a bit. The first club did some really solid obedience training. My sister could have walked her dog with a piece of string afterwards. The second club, not so much. It was full of cop wannabees who loved doing arm work and didn't want to be bothered with boring obedience work.

 

[Fenris-wolf]

My sister had a love!y German Shepherd (or German Shedder, as we joked) and did Schutzhund for a bit. The first club did some really solid obedience training. My sister could have walked her dog with a piece of string afterwards. The second club, not so much. It was full of cop wannabees who loved doing arm work and didn't want to be bothered with boring obedience work.

Whoa! That is amazing😎 do you have any pics? see, I can't stand people who are like: I'm a bad*** look at me with my bad*** dog. I only want to do Schutzhund because I was already interested in doing it with Sisko because it's a cool and fun sport, and the lady at the club said that I will have to do it if I want a working line German Shepherd.

 

[cowpony]

Whoa! That is amazing😎 do you have any pics? see, I can't stand people who are like: I'm a bad*** look at me with my bad*** dog. I only want to do Schutzhund because I was already interested in doing it with Sisko because it's a cool and fun sport, and the lady at the club said that I will have to do it if I want a working line German Shepherd.

No, unfortunately no pictures. Schutzhund as done by my sister's original club is fabulous.

 

[Mufar42]

Years ago when I was young we always had German Shepherds, good one & bad ones. When I first married our first dog was from a imported working line of GSD who were trained in Schutzhund. We didn't train ours as such, however I did join the GSD dog club and trained in obedience. It was a great club and the dog was super smart. One wouldn't think so at first though as we had to repeat the first class 2x., then we had to mix it up as he got bored really easily. A working line dog is that..they need to work and are more difficult to train and you must buy from a truly reputable breeder. Even if you do this won't be a dog that can lie around doing nothing all day. You will have to work it and you will need to be his alpha person. He will need to respect you. Once he does you will have the bet dog ever. The vet we used at the time always had a full office, I could take him in there, place him in a down stay, say head down where his snout would go flat to the floor, people could come in and out and walk over him including other dogs and he wouldn't break. My parents had property in NYS at the time and we would go on weekends, and how he loved running off leash up and down the mountain sides never going more than 100 feet from us and having excellent recall, even if a deer poopped out of no where. We lost him at only 7 as he had stomach cancer. I must tell you I put in a lot of work with him back then and honestly never had another dog that I trained as well. I learned a lot from that experience.
Now on another note I have a neighbor who about two years ago bought a beautiful well bred working line GSD, she wanted a pet. She didn't put much training into the dog and had her children walk it around the neighborhood, and basically had it in her backyard. By 8 months she had to regime it. If this is what you want I'd say cool but you must be committed . Just keep in mind that schutzhund training isn't for the inexperienced or non committed as this is protection training. Your dog must always obey your command, so obedience plays a major role. Good luck in your endeavors, you will learn so much.

 

[lily cd re]

Our third dog is a GSD, not bred for working, but rather to be a good companion and reliable in temperament to be around children and really anyone who we engaged with. GSD can very much be aloof around strangers and tend to be one person dogs, so our Peeves runs pretty counter to that one person, nobody else is welcome kind of dog. He is a great house dog and chicken guardian.

I also have a friend who is a retired NYPD (New York City) canine officer. He bred GSD and since he spent his entire childhood on a farm in Germany he has a really sharp eye for a good dog, most especially GSD who will work in protection and scent detection, etc. He bred a couple of dogs that worked as police dogs over the years. Most of his dogs had work drives and needed daily intense training so he mostly just did AKC obedience with his average dogs and Schutzhund with his work prospects. He will tell you they are not dogs for anyone but the most dedicated owners who can provide the brain work to keep them truly obedient and 100% reliable. He is the only (former) breeder I know who ever took more than one puppy back from a buyer and those few people told him the dogs were just more than they imagined as far as even basic training. I trained Peeves to get through lower obedience and rally classes, BF could have taken him further, but as far as me training him further it was not going to happen unless he was our only dog. As a pup he decided BF was his main person, followed by my mother (she handled him in his 2nd obedience class at an age where she made a tremendous connection to him) and then me.

 

[Mufar42]

Absolutely what Cathrine said. They definitely are one person dogs. We had one that would drag you down the street if my dad was driving down the street. He was my dads dog, and if dad was coming he wanted no part of anyone else in the household. My brothers tried some schutzhund training early on, not good they weren't experienced and did it on their own and the dog wasn't reliable. However we lived in a more remote area and we had GSD to keep out intruders. That dog once put 6 stitches into my arm when he grabbed it like it was a rag doll, when someone rode into our driveway and I went to the open window in between the dog and my dad. That didn't stop me from GSD but I learned from that too, be sure you buy from a good breeder with sound dogs.

 

[Pytheis]

Well, I kind of see where that person was coming from when she said if you get a working line, you have to do IPO/IGP (which is what Schutzhund is in America), but she is not correct in that statement. I have a working line shepherd as you know, and he will not be doing any kind of IGP. This is a solid working dog with parents that went to IPO 3. Of his litter, four are doing IGP. One went to an AKC obedience and agility home, and two went to service dog homes.

In my breeder’s next litter (again, working dogs with IPO titled parents) a couple of them went to active pet homes that won’t be doing any kind of sports. It’s definitely not required that you work your working line shepherd in a sport and certainly not in bite sports if you’re honest with the breeder and get the right puppy. They absolutely do need solid training and lots of mental stimulation/exercise, but you do not HAVE to do sports.

 

[Fenris-wolf]

No, unfortunately no pictures. Schutzhund as done by my sister's original club is fabulous.

What club is it? I'm going to be joining Cascade.

 

[cowpony]

What club is it? I'm going to be joining Cascade.

This was a while ago. The dog passed on about 8 years ago.

 

[Fenris-wolf]

Thank you, Catherine, @Mufar42 @Pytheis for your input and advice. I really appreciate it. Is it okay if you guys could PM me if you know of more people who either breed German Shepherds or work with them please? I would like to see if I could gain some experience working with some before getting one. All the dogs I get from now I would like to do at least 1 sport with them, and work with them as much as possible for me. I'm going to be a very committed owner😁

 

[Fenris-wolf]

This was a while ago. The dog passed on about 8 years ago.

I'm sorry

 

[lily cd re]

Fenris our third dog is a GSD and since BF favors them over poodles (although there were mpoos in his family when he was a kid) we will probably always have one I like poodles as working partners over GSD. I did PM you about some of our considerations with the two breeds. I know some pretty snappy GSD but as far as our three current dogs, Lily and Javelin are like sailing America's Cup yachts and Peeves is rather more like trying to turn the Titanic after the iceberg has been spotted. He has his own pace in the world, but is a very gentle and lovely boy, with a sort of atypical GSD temperament.

 

[Mfmst]

I believe we had a PF member whose Spoo had achieved a lofty level in Schutzhund training. You can do it with Sisko

 

[PeggyTheParti]

He has his own pace in the world, but is a very gentle and lovely boy, with a sort of atypical GSD temperament.

He sounds like such a dream!

 

[Fenris-wolf]

Fenris our third dog is a GSD and since BF favors them over poodles (although there were mpoos in his family when he was a kid) we will probably always have one I like poodles as working partners over GSD. I did PM you about some of our considerations with the two breeds. I know some pretty snappy GSD but as far as our three current dogs, Lily and Javelin are like sailing America's Cup yachts and Peeves is rather more like trying to turn the Titanic after the iceberg has been spotted. He has his own pace in the world, but is a very gentle and lovely boy, with a sort of atypical GSD temperament.

Okay, thank you. I just PMd you back.

 

[lily cd re]

He sounds like such a dream!

He really truly is a great dog, funny and very good at reading people. He will be 12 in October and although in general good health he is as deaf as can be and slowing down. I hope we have a couple of more good years with him, but he is really getting old. His muzzle, ears and feet have gone grey and he now has mainly two speeds, slow and slothy.

 

[Fenris-wolf]

He really truly is a great dog, funny and very good at reading people. He will be 12 in October and although in general good health he is as deaf as can be and slowing down. I hope we have a couple of more good years with him, but he is really getting old. His muzzle, ears and feet have gone grey and he now has mainly two speeds, slow and slothy.

Can you share pics of him please?