Come on.
Hey.
I've had German Shepherds, I've had six German Shepherds over a period of 31 years.
As a breed, they're absolutely fantastic.
If you bring them up in the right environment as a puppy, get them all socialised.
If you can, go to a reputable breeder, try and see the mother, if the mother's nice and
friendly, you're halfway there.
German Shepherds, they're medium exercise dogs.
They don't need loads and loads but they do need plenty to keep them satisfied.
They're very loyal and they make really good friends.
When you think about a German Shepherd, very often you're thinking about a police dog.
And they are a superb multi-purpose service dog.
So if you want to get one as a pet, you need to see that that's got its heritage in possibly
guarding.
So look very carefully at your breed lines.
They are some show lines as well, but they're still going to have that guarding ability.
Because of that, they can be noisy.
They alert to let owners know that there's someone entering their property.
So you're not going to get the quietest dog.
You're definitely not going to get a couch potato.
And you're going to get a big dog, so you need to be thinking about early training,
getting some control in there before you get to nine months old and you've gone adolescent
big dog.
A lot of people that there's a Shepherd that are Border Collie type herding dogs, but a
shepherd and a Shepherd guards its flock.
If you just bring up normal.
Don't encourage any aggression whatsoever, do a bit of training, they're like any other
dog.
They're a nice family dog.
The first puppy that comes running over to you, people go, oh, that it chose me.
Be careful, because if you want it as a pet, it's that confident that it comes running,
it's no fear, maybe that could be the working police dog.
I know a lot of people that's had to get rid of them because they've said suddenly they've
turned, when they haven't.
What they've been doing is they've been slowly, from puppyhood, growing dominant.
Little things like going near the food or stuff like that, they'll growl and pull your
hand away.
Trying to get on the sofa at the side of you.
Same level as you.
Little things like that.
Then when it's fully grown, about 18 month old, it goes yes, you try putting me down
or taking my food.
The best thing you can do is join a reputable dog club.
A lot of obedience training can alleviate behavioural problems.
But that can happen with any breed, it's just that if if these bite you it's a bigger bite.
German Shepherd dog is a double-coated breed, with harsh top coat and very soft, dense undercoat.
A German Shepherd is not a high maintenance breed.
When the double coat is dirty, we can feel a oily film on top of the coat, which we can
also smell.
It's very important to keep the dog's coat clean with regular bathing or using waterless
spray.
You can always tell, a puppy who is going to be a long coat will have tufts of fur behind
his ears.
They might not look long on the body, but that's how you know it's going to be a long
coat.
It has these tufts.
There's also what they call a mole type, which is very, very short.
When you do get a puppy, most people think because they're a big puppy and they grow
quick they need loads and loads of exercise.
It's actually the opposite.
They grow that fast they have growing plates in between the joints and you can damage them
growing plates.
Keep down the exercise, don't have them running up and down stairs, don't have them jumping
out of cars.
Lift them down, help lift them into cars and stuff like that.
When you're throwing the boy and your toy, throw it uphill so the puppy's running uphill,
building strength rather than throwing it downhill and they're jarring their joints
as they're going down.
Just those.
By the time they're 12 to 18 month old, they've got the skeleton, they've started developing
the muscle and the ligaments, they're a lot stronger.
Speak.
It's a burglar, speak.
Oh, speak.
Burglar.
Yeah.
They're just absolutely dual purpose dogs, they are good family pets, there's no problem
with them so long as, like any other dog, you treat it correctly and if you can, go
to a dog club, get it well socialised with people and other dogs.