I just saw a report on training one of these dogs the trainer said the cost was $250,000.00 and the dogs could work for 8 years then they are turned over to a place for kind of deprogramming and put up for adoption!! After the dogs are retired it is hard to get them to NOT want to work takes a special owner AND the adoption agency screens the people wanting to adopt these dogs to the enth degree!! When the dogs get used to being retired they are wonderful pets EXTREMELY protective of their owners and new family!!! Shepard’s don’t usually have a long life span so after all of this the dog probably wouldn’t be with their new family for a long period of time that would be difficult for the adopting family!!! Some Shepard’s are retired early because of hip problems, the Belgian Malinois don’t seem to have the hip problems the same as Shepard’s do!!!
Thanks for the info! Very informative :)
“Some Shepard’s are retired early because of hip problems, the Belgian Malinois don’t seem to have the hip problems the same as Shepard’s do!!!”
Hip dysplasia is a common issue with almost every large dog breed. It used to be a very big problem with German shepherds but because of better breeding practices the rate of HD is about half it was 30 years ago.
Degenerative myelopathy is still a big problem with German shepherds There is no cure nor cause for DM.