I'm thinking about adopting a new dog...Now can I please have more advice!!!

[MikeB]

Right now I have a yellow Labrador , she is great . Now that I've been living in a new house for a year, the landlord is my uncle , so we can pretty much do anything we want. Now if I can make my mom change her mind about having a 2nd dog, I'm thinking about getting a male german shepard puppy. But? here's the issue, people tell me that they are mean dogs and are only for one person to own, besides a family. My neighbor up the street has one , and he's a very pleasant one for a puppy. Are these people right or does it just matter how you raise the animal?

[SLCPUNK]

People say that about Pit bulls and I totally disagree. I think those are just plain bad dogs.

Sheppards can be both ways, I have seen very gentle ones and others raised to kill. LOL

I have two, and they are lots of work. Mine are Lab/Australian sheppard mix. Killer dogs.....

The next dog I get will probably be a full blooded Lab.

[Where is Hassan Nasrallah ?]

August 2nd

get a Nintendog !!!

http://www.heretodaygonetohell.com/board/index.php?topic=21470.0

[MikeB]

umm...no thanks. I'm not laughing "Wat-Ever" I'm serious about this , I want a new dog very badly.

[Surfrider]

German Sheppards are very intelligent loyal dogs.  I think they are great pets with one caveat.  I would not get one if you have little kids.  Since they are extemely loyal and protective dogs sometimes they mistake kids playing with kids getting hurt.  I have heard many stories of GS protecting young ones and attacking friends while playing.  However, if it simply for yourself or for you and older people, then GS are some of the best dogs out there.

[Prometheus]

Im all about the Newfoundland's they are awsome very good with kids and people ingeneral. very protective of the family unit.. and love to swim


there is a story from a few years ago here that a newf dog died while saving a tourist from rough waters at cape spear. never even met the tourist till it was dragging her towards the shore..... dog got her out but deied in the surf after

[C0ma]

Surfrider is right on target, German Shepards are loyal to a fault. The one thing that people for some reason just brush off is instinct.

German Shepards for decades have been bred as protectors, they are not going to "unlearn" that becuase you "know what you are doing" or took your dog to a PETCO puppy pre-school class.

Choose a puppy carefully and reasearch all of the breeds traits (I reccomend checking out www.akc.org or www.dogbreedinfo.com), also look at possible medical issues. You need to know that down the road you are dealing with a dog that has severe hip issues (German Sheppard).

Another thing I would research is where you are getting the dog from, you want to steer clear of a "puppy mill" or a mall petstore. If you are dealing with a breeder, make sure they are a reputible breeder that doesn't over breed or breed non conforming traits. That is where you begin to run into expensive heath issues.

[Prometheus]

Surfrider is right on target, German Shepards are loyal to a fault. The one thing that people for some reason just brush off is instinct.

German Shepards for decades have been bred as protectors, they are not going to "unlearn" that becuase you "know what you are doing" or took your dog to a PETCO puppy pre-school class.

Choose a puppy carefully and reasearch all of the breeds traits (I reccomend checking out www.akc.org or www.dogbreedinfo.com), also look at possible medical issues. You need to know that down the road you are dealing with a dog that has severe hip issues (German Sheppard).

Another thing I would research is where you are getting the dog from, you want to steer clear of a "puppy mill" or a mall petstore. If you are dealing with a breeder, make sure they are a reputible breeder that doesn't over breed or breed non conforming traits. That is where you begin to run into expensive heath issues.

 and dont just look at the spca info for bad breeders... i think they are worse...... go and check out teh dog your self the adult ones check to see if they seem over under fed if they are kept in small kennels.. etc..... if they are in a cage filled with ther own shit... steer clear.... but if there is one or 2 droppings dont worry namely if other ones are clean... a dog s got to do what a doogs got to do

[gilld1]

My wife and I took a mutt puppy from a shelter and it has been the best dog.  I think they appreciate a second chance and will love you forever!

[MikeB]

German Shepards for decades have been bred as protectors, they are not going to "unlearn" that becuase you "know what you are doing" or took your dog to a PETCO puppy pre-school class.

So it doesn't matter how you raise them? They follow what they have in their blood? I have raised Labs and Golden Retrievers. What if I got a German Shepard tomarrow, I raised him/her like retrievers, would he/she act like them when grown up?

[Sterlingdog]

I don't know much about German Shepards specifically.  I do know that while how you raise a dog matters, certain breeds have common personality traits.  If you are used to Labs and retrievers, you may not be really happy with a German Shepard.  Labs and retrievers are known for being friendly and tolerant of children, while shepards are not.  But Shepards are very trainable. 

One other thing to think about - there are some homeowner's insurance companies that list German Shepards with the "dangerous dogs" like Rotts and Pitbulls.  Even though you don't have to get insurance, your uncle does and he could run into problems. 

[Lisa]

I think they may be only in temperment....I believe there are no 'bad' dogs, just bad masters..you treat your pet as a member of the family, with love and respect ,almost like your own child and it will love and respect you back...you treat it with violence by punishing it by hitting or harming it and it will get back at you somehow...whether it is crapping on your bedroom carpet or turning on you if you hit it.

[Aava]

People forget that German Shepherd are breed an all purpose working dog. They need to be trained well and they need something to do everyday. German shepherds are large dogs with a lot of temperament, especially males can be quite hard. But well-trained G.S is a loyal buddy you can do almost anything with.

Labs and other retrievers are made for hunting and they are a lot more easygoing and not as active as G.S are. These days retrievers are populas as family dogs, because their friendly nature. Retrievers are a bit lazy breed, that G.S are very high energy.

You should contact to few german shepherd breedrs and ask more about the breed and ask for a good breeder. You should remember, that german shepherds has lot of health problems too.

[journey]

I have a male German Collie. He's half German Shepherd. He's very gentle with people, especially children. However, he's very aggressive towards other dogs. I have a hard time taking him for walks, because he likes to fight and chase every creature in sight. I guess that's just his protective nature.

Here's a helpful website about dogs:

http://www.aboutdogsonline.com/

[C0ma]

I think they may be only in temperment....I believe there are no 'bad' dogs, just bad masters..you treat your pet as a member of the family, with love and respect ,almost like your own child and it will love and respect you back...you treat it with violence by punishing it by hitting or harming it and it will get back at you somehow...whether it is crapping on your bedroom carpet or turning on you if you hit it.

There are no bad dogs but, I don't care how well you train a Pit Bull, when the "right" situation presents itself it is going to turn on someone. They are only so smart..... Instinct always kicks in somehow.

[Butch Français]

there's nothing wrong with german shepherds, my brothers got a family, wife and 2 kids, and they have a german shepherd and it's the nicest dog Ive ever come across!
they don't have any problems with it whatsoever.
the dog is a female though, males might be a bit more difficult, I don't really know.

[Surfrider]

Surfrider is right on target, German Shepards are loyal to a fault. The one thing that people for some reason just brush off is instinct.

German Shepards for decades have been bred as protectors, they are not going to "unlearn" that becuase you "know what you are doing" or took your dog to a PETCO puppy pre-school class.

Choose a puppy carefully and reasearch all of the breeds traits (I reccomend checking out www.akc.org or www.dogbreedinfo.com), also look at possible medical issues. You need to know that down the road you are dealing with a dog that has severe hip issues (German Sheppard).

Another thing I would research is where you are getting the dog from, you want to steer clear of a "puppy mill" or a mall petstore. If you are dealing with a breeder, make sure they are a reputible breeder that doesn't over breed or breed non conforming traits. That is where you begin to run into expensive heath issues.

 and dont just look at the spca info for bad breeders... i think they are worse...... go and check out teh dog your self the adult ones check to see if they seem over under fed if they are kept in small kennels.. etc..... if they are in a cage filled with ther own shit... steer clear.... but if there is one or 2 droppings dont worry namely if other ones are clean... a dog s got to do what a doogs got to do

I agree look in the cage: Too much shit, do not commit!

[Surfrider]

I think they may be only in temperment....I believe there are no 'bad' dogs, just bad masters..you treat your pet as a member of the family, with love and respect ,almost like your own child and it will love and respect you back...you treat it with violence by punishing it by hitting or harming it and it will get back at you somehow...whether it is crapping on your bedroom carpet or turning on you if you hit it.

There are no bad dogs but, I don't care how well you train a Pit Bull, when the "right" situation presents itself it is going to turn on someone. They are only so smart..... Instinct always kicks in somehow.

I think that is true.  But if you look at the type of people that tend to own pit bulls you realize why there are so many accidents.  I hate the macho fucks that buy these dogs to try and act tough.

[MikeB]

I just spoken to my buddy about German Shepherds, who knows a lot about them very well. I think I can trust him because it sounds very reasonable , the reason they have a reputation for being over-protective and being more alert is because people who want to own mean and protective dogs respect the german shepherd's strength, they matched very well to the bad master's dream of a trained-dog how he would want him/her.

I hate the macho fucks that buy these dogs to try and act tough.

They also try to sound tough by naming their dogs kujo.

[Mr. Dick Purple]

I used to have A German Shepard but my mom doesn't like dogs so I think the reason why he was lost was because my mon just didn't want my dog around anyway since that event I didn't get any dogs. But next year Im planing to buy a dog to my nice she's 8 years and I'm thinking a German sheppard for their loyalty, they are so great!! or perhaps a terrier nut they are so tiny.
To advice you, I rather stay for the German Sheppard cause they are way easy to treat, as for the Labrador I don't know much about them but I don't think that there are evil dogs, there are just wrongfuly treated dogs