German Shepherd info please General Chat

Right as you know hubby wanted another pup,we have decided to research this breed,we both really like the breed so need as much info on it as possible.
We also need to know what health tests Breeders should do,we know Hip Scoring is a must,but need to know what score is acceptable within the breed.
We are planning to bring in a pup next summer,so want to research throughly before hand.

Any info will be greatly appriciated. ;-)

Have you looked on the many tears website? : http://www.freewebs.com/manytearsrescue/catslookingforhomes.htm
They have these on at the moment, just a thought, but i realise they might not be right for you.

GSDs



15-08-07 All these dogs and Fell and Fortune (below) were in the back yard in one home. They were all incredibly hungry and some emaciated. They have fantastic temperaments and deserve a really loving happy new life. If it was not for Trudy, CARA and volunteers these dogs could not have been saved. We are truly grateful to all.


MINTY

Minty is 6 months old. She is the only dog in this group who is not a pure shepherd. She is craving for love and like all the others has a fantastic temperament and is good with other dogs.

MALABU

Malabu is a 5 month old GSD pup. She has a strange condition where the eye lashes have grown on the cornea of her eye. She is charming, bouncy, friendly and very hungry.

MORGAN

This is Morgan. He is 18 months old, tall, very very handsome and a sweetheart. He is the most scared of this bunch and will need a lot of TLC. He is happiest around other dogs.

MAX

Max is about 6 years old. He is steady, gentle and nudging for affection. He has manners and is a gentleman. He must be very very sad as I think he was once loved.

MISSY

Missy is 2 1/2 years old she is the friendliest GSD I have ever met. She is desperate for attention and surely must have been truly loved once. She is thin and was covered in flees.


18--8-07 Maniche and Mercedes are now reavailable because their potential adoptee changed their mind before meeting them. We would love these two to go as a pair if possible.

MERCEDES

Mercedes is 3 years old and is the mother of many of these dogs. She is charming, skeletally thin, good temperament both loving and giving. Mercedes is as precious as can be. The second photo is of Mercedes with her baby boy Maniche (below). She loves his company and, of course, he loves hers.

MANICHE

Maniche is Mercedes baby from her last litter. He is a big but thin 9 week old GSD pup. As you can see he will be long coated.






FELL




13-08-07 Fell is a 10 month old GSD bitch pup. Lovely temperament but very insecure without another dog around her. She is very thin she will need a lot of TLC. Reportedly all the dogs she lived with lived out in a garden.

16-08-07 being home vetted





FORTUNE




13-08-08 Fortune is a 10 month old GSD bitch. She is painfully thin and very insecure if her sister is not by her side. She is however very loving. Her home before here was not too great and she was removed by the authorities to a pound. She is one of a number from the same house that we have agreed to take in.

18-08-07 being home vetted



Sorry the pics didnt come out, but look on the website its amazing even if your not interested.
Thanks

Thanks for the thought,but we want a well bred puppy from a recommended breeder.
The reason for this is we've previously had two rescue dogs,one had to be returned to rescue because of issues we could not solve,the other we had PTS because he attacked my eldest son very badly,so therefore having three children in the house we would prefer to know the dogs history etc......

We want to bring in a puppy and raise it along side our children and our other two dogs.

I understand and thanks for replying, but just to say one is a pup and they do have the history.

Good luck anyhow.

We are not looking to bring in a pup for a least 12 months but thanks

hiya! im reading a really great book at the moment called 'The everything German Shepherd book' by Joan hustace walker.

it has things in there i didnt even know!! like female german shpeherds are more likely to protect people and males are more likely to protect property....!

always make sure that the dad is Heamopilla (spelling) tested & both parents are hips & elbow scored.

if people say certain colours are 'rare' and charge more....id stay away from them to because those colours arent rare! and people who charge more for girls, i didnt know why people did this, so when i asked a certain breeder they replied 'because people can breed and make money from them'

so i tend to stay away from that! i like to see people who actually do work and training and shows with there dogs, as apposed to just breeding there pets, not saying thats bad if both dogs are fantastic, and health tested etc. thats just my opinion (even though ive only just thought about that in the last few months!)

its late and i cant think of much more to write, im sure i will as i fall asleep in bed!

heres a little bit more on hip & albow scoring: http://www.germanshepherd.org.uk/page8.html

Joan Hustace Walker isn't a GSD specialist & the above statement is one of the signs. GSDs are a breed bred originally to work & protect sheep or cattle(not guard dogs as many people erroneously think) & they retain the natural protection in both sexes equally

If you want to research the breed try breed specialist books by experts in the breed far better than books written by "general"dog book authors

Interesting thread, we looked at getting GSDs (as well as a brief look at a couple of other breeds,) before we fell in love with the NID. Goodluck in your research.

Are you interested ina nything specific, long coat, short coat, colour? Haven't got any practical advice just being nosey
Becky

Not really Becky,
Just a well bred pup from good breeders.;-)

Good luck in your search.
Becky

I know nothing about GSD,but do know one who we walk with and she is gorgeous.Good luck with the research.

Interesting thread as we have been speaking about rehoming a GSD (perhaps) at some point in the future...interesting to hear other peoples experiences of owning them.

well i have read lots of GSD books and i am enjoying this book! i know what they were breed to do, i nevber said any different.

i never said she was a specialist, i dont know her!

Ooh Sal - great choice

How are your staffs with other dogs?

You want the breeder to hip score both parents (average hipscore is a total of 19 for both hips), males should be haemophilia tested, and some breeders also elbow score.

Temperament in the GSD is mega important and so it is a good idea to visit a few possible breeders and meet their dogs (and possible previous progeny) to assess their temperaments for yourself and check they have temperaments that you could live with!

I am currently looking for my next longcoat GSD pup and have found a couple of possible breeders, so if you like I could PM you the details.

As some of already pointed out, make sure Hip and Elbows are scored, average for hips is 19 you need the sire to be 10 or less, make sure the score for both RH and LH are pretty even for example if total score is 9 make sure it is 4:5 not 2:7, elbows you need 0 score or clear, as even a clear breeding to clear can produce a pup with ED. The male should be Heamo tested. First of all you need to decide type English, Continental, or working line. If you want the continental a good place to start would be to visit this years English Sieger show on the 15th Sept as they will also have progeny groups so you can see offspring, and all adults will have to be breed surveyed and most of the top UK breeders will be there.

You beat me to it Wildmoor I was going to suggest they visit the British Seiger in Solihull. I'm hoping to go this year as I haven't been well enough the last two years.

HI Sal,

We have a lovely male GSD, and he is gorgeous. Just thought I'd add a couple of things that we considered; firstly we decided on which type of German Shepherd we wanted, as there appear to be two distinct types of body, you get the Germanic ones which tend to be taller and finer build with a sloping back, then you have the english ones that tend to be squarer and larger built. UNfortunately it does appear that some breeders seem to charge more for rarer clolours, such as whites (although these seem to be pretty common these days), blues (the debate whether blue really exists is for another page), silver sables etc etc, so if you are after a particular colour then you might need to pay a little more, we were fortunate with ours, he was the same as the rest of the litter, so not all breeders are like that.
You also need to think about what you want from your GSD, are you planning on showing it, working it or will it be just a pet. If you are showing, Judges seem to favour the normal coloured Germanic Type, if working it (either obedience or agility) then it purely depends on your tastes, but can be useful if coming from working lines.

One piece of advice we were given when looking at pups, was that you will instinctively know when you've found the right one. This was the case with both our GSD and our collie, we had looked at a few puppies and it was difficult walking away from them as they were very cute, but when we saw our GSD we knew straight away that he was perfect for us. It was the same when we saw our collie pu too, there was no way we would walk away without her.

So in short my advice to you is, when it is time for you to get a puppy is to decide if there are any particular characteristics you want, then look at a few litters until one puppy really jumps out at you, so that you can't possibly not have it.

Hi Everyone. Please forgive me if my post is off topic on this thread but I'm a newbie and still finding my way around.

I agree with everything that's been said on the subject of selecting a GSD puppy but I do have a query re something Wildmoor said regarding hip scores - "RH and LH are pretty even for example if total score is 9 make sure it is 4:5 not 2:7,"

According to Malcolm Willis in a statement published many years ago, a large variation in scores between left and right hip might be the result of either one hind leg being slightly shorter than the other, a spinal problem or trauma. At the time he raised this topic he intended to do future research to determine if dogs with such uneven scores tended to breed to the worse or the best hip.

In 1995 I contacted Dr R Wyburn (Murdoch University, WA)
asking if he had any results from MW's research. He replied that he'd been unable to find any recent information on dogs that had a big discrepancy between the scores of their hip joints. He noted that Dr Joe Morgan of the American Orthopaedic Foundation reported that unilateral hip dysplasia was not uncommon but he'd made no comment on the genetic implications. Dr Morgan reported that 30% of GSDs in the USA had a pattern of hip dysplasia that is not symmetrical.

Dr Wyburn mentioned that there were a number of conditions, either congenital or acquired, that could result in changes to the hip joint that imitate hip dysplasia. Some of these could be picked up by careful examination of the x-ray film and others were impossible to sort out, particularly if some time had elapsed since the original insult to the joint.

Perhaps members of the forum might know where I can find more recent statistical information regarding this subject, particularly with regard to how the progeny of these dogs score. :smt102

Sorry dont know where I just collect data from the BRS, and look at the scores of dogs, progeny aswell as sibblings.
This is a quote from Malcolm Willis:
Unilateral Hip Dysplasia:

In all breeds some 80% or more of dogs differ by four points or less between hips and thus HD largely a bilateral state. However, some dogs score unevenly. At times this is a positional feature but in some it is not.

Dogs can score unevenly because of trauma (injury) or due to transitional segments on the spine but a proportion of dogs are uneven and will breed this feature on.


if its only 1 or 2 points it shouldnt matter but when they are more than 4 points then you need to be careful, also dont just look horizontal in the pedigree but take into account sire and dams sibblings scores.