GSD breeders recommendations
Discussion
Evening all
I'm looking to purchase a GSD pup. It's been many years since I've owned a dog but had two GSD dogs as a teenager and then in my 20s.
Now that my kids are a bit older and I work less I feel like I finally have enough time again to give a dog what it needs.
Having researched at length on the internet I get the impression that there are many unscrupulous breeders out there.
I'd preferably like to purchase from somewhere that would also be able to give me support in terms of training.
London/Home counties or a 100 or so miles from would be preferable.
Thank you
I'm looking to purchase a GSD pup. It's been many years since I've owned a dog but had two GSD dogs as a teenager and then in my 20s.
Now that my kids are a bit older and I work less I feel like I finally have enough time again to give a dog what it needs.
Having researched at length on the internet I get the impression that there are many unscrupulous breeders out there.
I'd preferably like to purchase from somewhere that would also be able to give me support in terms of training.
London/Home counties or a 100 or so miles from would be preferable.
Thank you
Luna came from Videx. They’re properly passionate about their dogs.
I cannot get that sodding picture the right way up.
Don’t expect breeding and training to come from the same place, find a local “dog school”. Training a GSD is a very serious amount of work, be prepared. Mrs rxe does about 10 hours “dog work” a week with Luna. They’re a proper handful when not trained well enough.
I cannot get that sodding picture the right way up.
Don’t expect breeding and training to come from the same place, find a local “dog school”. Training a GSD is a very serious amount of work, be prepared. Mrs rxe does about 10 hours “dog work” a week with Luna. They’re a proper handful when not trained well enough.
rxe said:
Luna came from Videx. They’re properly passionate about their dogs.
I cannot get that sodding picture the right way up.
Don’t expect breeding and training to come from the same place, find a local “dog school”. Training a GSD is a very serious amount of work, be prepared. Mrs rxe does about 10 hours “dog work” a week with Luna. They’re a proper handful when not trained well enough.
I found a lot of dog schools were not taking on clients face to face due to covid. In the end I resorted to YouTube and found some fantastic trainers on there. I don’t have a GSD (I have a young lab) but I found Robert Cabral’s videos fantastic for training. I recommend checking them out. I cannot get that sodding picture the right way up.
Don’t expect breeding and training to come from the same place, find a local “dog school”. Training a GSD is a very serious amount of work, be prepared. Mrs rxe does about 10 hours “dog work” a week with Luna. They’re a proper handful when not trained well enough.
rxe said:
Luna came from Videx. They’re properly passionate about their dogs.
I cannot get that sodding picture the right way up.
Don’t expect breeding and training to come from the same place, find a local “dog school”. Training a GSD is a very serious amount of work, be prepared. Mrs rxe does about 10 hours “dog work” a week with Luna. They’re a proper handful when not trained well enough.
My sister has two GSD. Based on experience of the first she thought second would be okay but was a nightmare. She has spent a small fortune on private one to one training for the second one (although I understand it has worked) and the rest of her money on medical treatment for the first one because of bad hips/back. She doesn’t have children so the dogs are a substitute but not sure she needs to match the cost of having human offspring!I cannot get that sodding picture the right way up.
Don’t expect breeding and training to come from the same place, find a local “dog school”. Training a GSD is a very serious amount of work, be prepared. Mrs rxe does about 10 hours “dog work” a week with Luna. They’re a proper handful when not trained well enough.
If I were getting a GSD I would be checking hip scores. Annoying that because of people breeding in a sloping back (for stupid aesthetic reasons) GSDs can have serious back and hip issues.
Our first is a bit of a nightmare because we didn’t really understand shepherds. I was a cat person and Mrs rxe had Red Setters all her life - very different. The puppy lolloping after squirrels in an amusing way soon turns into 40 kilos of dog with an insatiable prey drive. The older dog is always on a lead outside the house - recall is OK, but once the rest mist comes down you have no chance. Luna, the younger dog, is a different creature - she will start chasing deer, but return almost instantly when called.
On slopey backs, remember that the show position for GSDs seems to be this weird “back legs out” thing, and they train them to run with a longer gait. Luna sometimes stands like this (particularly when stretching), but when she’s standing normally, she has a flat back. She’s been thoroughly inspected by an animal physio after breaking a toe, and her elbows were pronounced to be “the best she had examined on any dog for years”.
On slopey backs, remember that the show position for GSDs seems to be this weird “back legs out” thing, and they train them to run with a longer gait. Luna sometimes stands like this (particularly when stretching), but when she’s standing normally, she has a flat back. She’s been thoroughly inspected by an animal physio after breaking a toe, and her elbows were pronounced to be “the best she had examined on any dog for years”.
rxe said:
Luna came from Videx. They’re properly passionate about their dogs.
I cannot get that sodding picture the right way up.
Don’t expect breeding and training to come from the same place, find a local “dog school”. Training a GSD is a very serious amount of work, be prepared. Mrs rxe does about 10 hours “dog work” a week with Luna. They’re a proper handful when not trained well enough.
Thank you. Again, gorgeous dog.I cannot get that sodding picture the right way up.
Don’t expect breeding and training to come from the same place, find a local “dog school”. Training a GSD is a very serious amount of work, be prepared. Mrs rxe does about 10 hours “dog work” a week with Luna. They’re a proper handful when not trained well enough.
Your comment regarding separating the breeder and trainer is useful.
Chubbyross said:
I found a lot of dog schools were not taking on clients face to face due to covid. In the end I resorted to YouTube and found some fantastic trainers on there. I don’t have a GSD (I have a young lab) but I found Robert Cabral’s videos fantastic for training. I recommend checking them out.
Thanks. You would have thought dog schools would have been ok ie a lot of the work takes place outside and it should be easy to socially distance. Unless we're in full lockdown I can't see why they couldn't operate...but we are in strange times I suppose.Yep, serious breeders don't have time to train dogs - I suspect that their training if they did it would be good behaviour in a show ring rather than not chasing every damn thing in front of them. Thankfully we have a really good trainer near us - and despite our slightly ASBO older dog, the young one is frequently requested at training sessions as a "the calm dog" to show them how its done. Covid is hammering their capacity, as well as increasing the demand as everyone has got puppies for lock down.
Have another dog photo.
Solstice in the foreground, sire was a Videx dog which is how we found them for Luna. She's 10 and still in reasonable condition. Her only health problem is that she is "itchy" - hence the wrecked ears, which used to stand up!
Have another dog photo.
Solstice in the foreground, sire was a Videx dog which is how we found them for Luna. She's 10 and still in reasonable condition. Her only health problem is that she is "itchy" - hence the wrecked ears, which used to stand up!
If you can get the right GSD from a rescue, it would be a great route, but I really wouldn't underestimate the work required as they all come with the "does not like other dogs, must be the only dog in the house" warning. It is really, really hard to reliably train it out of them - we've been working on ASBO dog for years, and she's good, but not reliable. Actually, she's perfect with humans, she just hates other animals. It's taken her a year to share the house with Luna....
Both of our GSDs are rescued, one from VIGIL GSD Rescue in Surrey and the other from Holbrook, which is a 'normal' rescue center i.e. not GSD specific. As you can see they are completely different!
Amber on the left is now about 5 and was rescued from Greece, she is the nicest natured GSD we have ever owned, friendly with all other dogs and humans, a happy, happy dog. She's 5 but acts like a pup. Here she is on her back wagging her tail like a loony.
Tala on the right is very different, much more staid and serious and although she is only a few months older she always acts like a much older dog. She can be bossy with other dogs and always barks at visitors (which is quite handy living in the country). You can see she is a little fed up with Amber's tail repeatedly hitting her on the head!
There are plenty of rescue dogs out there, please consider rescuing one, many of the breeders are the ones responsible for the horrible hip/back problems that the breed can have. Certainly VIGIL would be able to help you with training advice as well.
We've had five GSDs, all rescues and ranged in age from 19 months to 8 years.
We lost our all black, deaf as a post Shepherd last September after 5 years, Luanne was a lovely gentle girl.
We then went back to GSD rescue (who we had got all our dogs from) but ended up falling out with them as they failed basic checks on a dog and we ended up with, what we can only politely describe as a schizophrenic and dangerous dog which, despite our best efforts ended up in a sanctuary for dogs that cannot be rehomed.
Anyway, we had also registered with Guide Dogs for the Blind as we had learned that they sill use GSD's and occasionally they don't meet the grade so are rehomed.
Meet George:
Guide Dogs were very helpful and great to deal with. George was withdrawn from training for medical reasons so we asked for his veterinary records which they happily supplied and we discussed with our vet. We then arranged to meet George and we were immediately smitten.
He's a gentle soul, well socialised and despite me saying I didn't want a male GSD I am so glad I caved.
He is now the darling of the close and all of the neighbours love him. Some even order dog treats with their weekly shop.
George can't wait for the postman to arrive so he can go outside and play with him. Postman thinks he's wonderful (whereas he hates next door's Chihuahua as it bit the relief postie. There is note on our round walk saying "Beware of the Chihuahua but the German Shepherd is friendly"
We told our friends who also lost their 12 year old shepherd around the same time as us and they have now also got a guide dog withdrawn
from training who is also a well adjusted and gentle soul.
The only downside is that it can mean waiting for several months for a dog to become available.
It really is worth the wait as you will be able to guarantee that you will get full disclosure on any medical issues and the dogs have been bred for Guide Dogs so hip issues and other GSD maladies should be minimal.
Good luck.
Oh and to minimise the waiting time tell them you don't mind travelling to get a dog otherwise you may only go on the local centre's waiting list
We lost our all black, deaf as a post Shepherd last September after 5 years, Luanne was a lovely gentle girl.
We then went back to GSD rescue (who we had got all our dogs from) but ended up falling out with them as they failed basic checks on a dog and we ended up with, what we can only politely describe as a schizophrenic and dangerous dog which, despite our best efforts ended up in a sanctuary for dogs that cannot be rehomed.
Anyway, we had also registered with Guide Dogs for the Blind as we had learned that they sill use GSD's and occasionally they don't meet the grade so are rehomed.
Meet George:
Guide Dogs were very helpful and great to deal with. George was withdrawn from training for medical reasons so we asked for his veterinary records which they happily supplied and we discussed with our vet. We then arranged to meet George and we were immediately smitten.
He's a gentle soul, well socialised and despite me saying I didn't want a male GSD I am so glad I caved.
He is now the darling of the close and all of the neighbours love him. Some even order dog treats with their weekly shop.
George can't wait for the postman to arrive so he can go outside and play with him. Postman thinks he's wonderful (whereas he hates next door's Chihuahua as it bit the relief postie. There is note on our round walk saying "Beware of the Chihuahua but the German Shepherd is friendly"
We told our friends who also lost their 12 year old shepherd around the same time as us and they have now also got a guide dog withdrawn
from training who is also a well adjusted and gentle soul.
The only downside is that it can mean waiting for several months for a dog to become available.
It really is worth the wait as you will be able to guarantee that you will get full disclosure on any medical issues and the dogs have been bred for Guide Dogs so hip issues and other GSD maladies should be minimal.
Good luck.
Oh and to minimise the waiting time tell them you don't mind travelling to get a dog otherwise you may only go on the local centre's waiting list
otolith said:
Awful shape dogs.BoggoStump said:
Awful shape dogs.
Really, they aren’t. They’re being put in the weird “show” position that I mentioned earlier. I have no idea why they do it, it looks horrible. Look at the back feet, they’re way out behind the dog’s arse. Let the dog stand normally, and it looks like a normal dog. There are definitely some breeders getting it badly wrong, but you can’t really make that judgement until you physically see the dogs acting normally. We frequently get comments from people on how nice it is to see proper GSDs - I have pics of both our dogs parents in that show position and they look awful.
My reference picture for a GSD is this one - clearly you’d expect Hitler to have a decent dog:
Compared to our two, it has a lot less fur, really looks quite skinny, and has a slightly squarer rump. Overall the shape of its back is no different.
Some friends of ours parents got a “working line blah blah” dog from a dubious breeder, no show pictures, but the bloke apparently wittered on about straight backs and was convincing. Poor dog has been on painkillers since it was 4, and is likely to die of liver failure before it is 10.
Enut said:
Both of our GSDs are rescued, one from VIGIL GSD Rescue in Surrey and the other from Holbrook, which is a 'normal' rescue center i.e. not GSD specific. As you can see they are completely different!
Amber on the left is now about 5 and was rescued from Greece, she is the nicest natured GSD we have ever owned, friendly with all other dogs and humans, a happy, happy dog. She's 5 but acts like a pup. Here she is on her back wagging her tail like a loony.
Tala on the right is very different, much more staid and serious and although she is only a few months older she always acts like a much older dog. She can be bossy with other dogs and always barks at visitors (which is quite handy living in the country). You can see she is a little fed up with Amber's tail repeatedly hitting her on the head!
There are plenty of rescue dogs out there, please consider rescuing one, many of the breeders are the ones responsible for the horrible hip/back problems that the breed can have. Certainly VIGIL would be able to help you with training advice as well.
Someone mentioned hip scores above. The problem with this is, the parents' scores are no guide or guarantee to what the pup will grow up like (our Otis' parents scored 0 and 6, which is extremely low, but pretty meaningless really re his prospects). As also mentioned, the over-bred varieties with the very sloping backs, apart from (in my eyes) looking odd anyway, do tend to be those who suffer worst with hip problems later on. Otis came from a breeder (long and personal story about why we had a pup, we've rescued lots of others over the years and we have a rescue here with him) who had bred Sheps for 7 generations and she had selectively bred in order to keep the backs straight and avoid hip problems as much as possible.
I echo pretty much all the comments on here about behaviour, traits, etc, good and bad! Please do bear in mind that you can get some amazing GSDs from rescues, although I would definitely recommend going to a breed-specific one so that they have a deeper understanding of you, the breed, and the dog you choose. Vigil have had some absolutely amazing dogs through, but in fairness some have also been problematic. Those usually end up fostered or adopted by a Vigil volunteer.
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