German Shepherd Dog Breed Guide
Come on. Hey.
I’ve had German Shepherds, I’ve had six German
Shepherds over a period of 31 years. As a
breed, they’re absolutely fantastic. If you
bring them up in the right environment as
a puppy, get them all socialised. If you can,
go to a reputable breeder, try and see the
mother, if the mother’s nice and friendly,
you’re halfway there.
German Shepherds, they’re medium exercise
dogs. They don’t need loads and loads but
they do need plenty to keep them satisfied.
They’re very loyal and they make really good
friends.
When you think about a German Shepherd, very
often you’re thinking about a police dog.
And they are a superb multi-purpose service
dog. So if you want to get one as a pet, you
need to see that that’s got its heritage in
possibly guarding. So look very carefully
at your breed lines. They are some show lines
as well, but they’re still going to have that
guarding ability. Because of that, they can
be noisy. They alert to let owners know that
there’s someone entering their property. So
you’re not going to get the quietest dog.
You’re definitely not going to get a couch
potato. And you’re going to get a big dog,
so you need to be thinking about early training,
getting some control in there before you get
to nine months old and you’ve gone adolescent
big dog.
A lot of people that there’s a Shepherd that
are Border Collie type herding dogs, but a
shepherd and a Shepherd guards its flock.
If you just bring up normal. Don’t encourage
any aggression whatsoever, do a bit of training,
they’re like any other dog. They’re a nice
family dog. The first puppy that comes running
over to you, people go, oh, that it chose
me. Be careful, because if you want it as
a pet, it’s that confident that it comes running,
it’s no fear, maybe that could be the working
police dog.
I know a lot of people that’s had to get rid
of them because they’ve said suddenly they’ve
turned, when they haven’t. What they’ve been
doing is they’ve been slowly, from puppyhood,
growing dominant. Little things like going
near the food or stuff like that, they’ll
growl and pull your hand away. Trying to get
on the sofa at the side of you. Same level
as you. Little things like that. Then when
it’s fully grown, about 18 month old, it goes
yes, you try putting me down or taking my
food. The best thing you can do is join a
reputable dog club. A lot of obedience training
can alleviate behavioural problems. But that
can happen with any breed, it’s just that
if if these bite you it’s a bigger bite.
German Shepherd dog is a double-coated breed,
with harsh top coat and very soft, dense undercoat.
A German Shepherd is not a high maintenance
breed. When the double coat is dirty, we can
feel a oily film on top of the coat, which
we can also smell. It’s very important to
keep the dog’s coat clean with regular bathing
or using waterless spray.
You can always tell, a puppy who is going
to be a long coat will have tufts of fur behind
his ears. They might not look long on the
body, but that’s how you know it’s going to
be a long coat. It has these tufts. There’s
also what they call a mole type, which is
very, very short. When you do get a puppy,
most people think because they’re a big puppy
and they grow quick they need loads and loads
of exercise. It’s actually the opposite. They
grow that fast they have growing plates in
between the joints and you can damage them
growing plates. Keep down the exercise, don’t
have them running up and down stairs, don’t
have them jumping out of cars. Lift them down,
help lift them into cars and stuff like that.
When you’re throwing the boy and your toy,
throw it uphill so the puppy’s running uphill,
building strength rather than throwing it
downhill and they’re jarring their joints
as they’re going down. Just those. By the
time they’re 12 to 18 month old, they’ve got
the skeleton, they’ve started developing the
muscle and the ligaments, they’re a lot stronger.
Speak. It’s a burglar, speak. Oh, speak. Burglar.
Yeah.
They’re just absolutely dual purpose dogs,
they are good family pets, there’s no problem
with them so long as, like any other dog,
you treat it correctly and if you can, go
to a dog club, get it well socialised with
people and other dogs.
