Posted on 04/18/2009 6:49:01 PM PDT by the OlLine Rebel
German Shepherds may be intimidating at first blush, but they have hearts of gold. I've always had a soft spot for this smart and cheerful breed, which is why this week's post is a shout out to the Alsatian.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
A friend of mine from NZ sent me a video of BC’s herding ... when I was 16 I went to NZ (Queenstown) and went to a sheep station. I saw my first BC there ... when I got home I pestered my folks to get me one. Didn’t happen. Later when I was on my own I bought Roxie ... got her as a two month old pup ... 2002 ... been close friends ever since .... my girl!!!
Doggie Ping
Funny, I thought only Boxer owners had that curse LOL
I had three Dobies growing up. My grandfather trained dogs for the police force, and he preferred Dobies. Those dogs could kill on command, I’m sure, but they let me do anything I wanted to them. Excellent dogs. I would love one now, but I can’t get my hubby past the bias.
I’ve always loved GSD, but the hips and health problems stopped me from getting one. There is a women in NY, Tina Barber who has been working on re-creating the old fashioned GSD for the last 20 years. Huge, very smart, loving and great hips! She calls them Shiloh Shepherds, they are considered a rare breed (still in development).
I just got a Shiloh puppy 2 weeks ago :-) Moriah should weight around 90-100 pounds.
Tons more information on Shilohs here - http://www.shilohshepherds.org/
Pictures here - http://shilohshepherdpuppies-issr.blogspot.com/
Shilohs are “infamous” in Shepherd circles. Old GS were not huge at all (and I think too many regular GS are too big), but lithe and agile. Shilohs (along with the later-date Kings) have been accused of mixing in large breeds to get the size, but I don’t know (which could be why they use separate names rather than just “huge German Shepherds”). GS should really not weigh more than 90 lbs, but many “elite” dogs do.
For me, I really don’t care what their bloodlines are as long as they have decent conformation (even if they are huge), good health and good temperament (that DOESN’T mean “Golden Retriever dopey”).
Good luck with your new doggie!
That’s OK; just keep using the same pix! The original DogPinger didn’t bother with different pix for every breed - in fact, she had a distinctive comic character - remember?
Hi! As a kid we had black labs, a beagle, lab mixes and a wonderful St.Bernard-Shepherd mix. When I was a teenager I went to CO and spent 2 weeks with my aunt, uncle and cousins. They had 2 dobermans. When I went to enter the gate to their little place in Black Forest that first time, I was petrified. I was used to big dogs but never met a doberman before. That 2 weeks so impressed me, that 20 years later after I was married, I lobbied my own husband to get a doberman. He wanted a chow, the fluffy dog, I wanted a doberman like my aunt’s Ranger, the most impressive dog I’ve ever known. He was amazing.
Well, I won and we got a doberman pup, and 17 years later, now my husband won’t consider any other breed of dog when one of ours passes away.
There is such an undeserved reputation for dobermans. Oh, one thing we do, which makes the doberman less imposing, and is humane to the dog, we do not crop the ears. Our first dobie we did that, since we foolishly did what we thought one did with a doberman, and we regretted it greatly. It is so painful. Anyway, you might consider leaving the ears natural and that takes away the fierce look of the ears up dobie. They also look like humongous puppies all their adult lives to us.
Recently I was in the vet waiting room with our red and rust dobie Bart, and a little old lady with her cat asked me what breed Bart was. She had no fear at all of my 100 pound dog. They are just way less imposing with natural ears, and he is the red color, less known than the black and tan.
Since you have all that experience with them as a kid, you will do well raising one. We just establish that the dog is the submissive one in our family pack, treat them with a loving hand, but firm if needed, and they are just the most affectionate dogs I ever had. They beg for human attention.
I would get one at a time. If you get 2 as puppies together, they form more of an attachment to eachother than to you. I’d leave at least a year between purchases, if you want 2 like we have. I like to have “an heir and a spare”, and when we are gone, they don’t get lonely. They like to play together.
One is fine too, we did that for the first 3 years of our first dobie’s life. He lived to be 14 1/2, an unusually long life.
I don’t know how to convince your husband, I have my own bias with pit bulls for instance. There are people who love that breed but I would not try one. You know from your own experience that the doberman is a wonderful companion animal.
I would say that if a person, a bad person, treated a dobie harshly and mean, the dog would eventually defend itself. I think bad treatment of this breed is the only way a doberman would be a bad dog. Any dog turns out bad if treated bad though. It’s just that a dobie can do real damage if trained badly and if provoked.
The safety factor is big for me too. Nothing like 2 dobies to make a gal feel safe. They are my first line of defense if something goes bad here on my farm, next is the arsenal of course, but the dogs are the very best at alerting to trouble as you know. We always get male dobies and have them fixed. Good luck!
A hundred twenty pound doberman? LOL
What a beautiful animal. He looks a lot like my best friend’s dog (female) who is named Reagan.
Reagan is my dog’s “girl friend” — looks intimidating, but is really a sweetie pie. Reagan’s housemate is another female — a yellow Lab named Tess.
Reagan hates it when my male Golden pays any attention at all to Tess. Last week, my Golden followed Tess into a shallow stream of water at the beach. Tess bounced out to continue on the trail, but Reagan would not allow my Golden to come out of the water — just to “show” him. He had to back track upstream to get out after Reagan had turned her back.
I used to be deathly afraid of all dogs. Then a stray Schnauzer showed up, wet and bedraggled, on my front porch and I allowed him to stay after we had had no luck finding his owner.
I had long been active in local politics, passing our flyers in the neighborhood, etc. Dogs used to come after me sparking dread in my heart.
Funny thing, after I took in the Schnauzer, dogs left me alone -- no barking or lunging at me.
The original ‘Rin Tin Tin’ was first noticed for scaling a nearly 12’ fence. The pictures show a lithe dog, not a huge one.
http://www.rintintin.com/story.htm
The only GSD I owned was a female, about 65 lbs...about what my male Border Collie will probably hit. She died at 2 of a rare blood disease.
Hey! I KNOW some of the people at that rescue!!!
Good on you for fostering!
My Beloved GS was 60 lbs, got a bit extra weight when old and died about 65 lbs.
My current GS has been all over the place from 70 to 85 (she has alot of problems which contribute to a bit extra bulge, including not enough exercise this last year with the baby).
My Beloved was definitely “small”, but very big of heart, and could’ve done just about anything as they are supposed to.
Then, I had a pup who was destined to be small - when I sold her at 6 mos she was still only 40 lbs and small-boned, clearly never going to be big. But boy, she would’ve made a great Schutzhund, I’m sure. STRONG as all get out and very bold.
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