Reply to Best Family Dog?

Forum Index » Pets

Reply to "Best Family Dog?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I would stay away from German Shepherds. Those dogs have a way of looking for a fight. I have trained many dogs, and those concern me. Other breeds that are worrisome are Dalmatians, Akitas, Samoyeds, Rottweilers, and Vizlas.

In general, the herders are the "smartest" (they listen to us more). The hounds tend to be less intelligent ( they listen to us less).

[/quote]

Just for the record, German Shepherds are herding dogs, which are among "the smartests" (as pointed out above). As the loving owner of a 5 year-old German Shepherd and a 9-month old baby, I cannot imagine having any other breed. DH and I got our Shepherd as a 4-month old puppy and spent lots of time and resources into training him. Now he is terrific with our DD! But these dogs are not for everyone.  [/quote]

Just had to respond as well.  Saying that a German Shepherd Dog is "looking for a fight" is ridiculous and tells me that you are not really a dog trainer. Also, any dog trainer would know that a German Shepherd IS a herding dog.  Any reputable trainer will tell you that GSDs are some of the easiest dogs to train because they are so smart and so anxious to please.  They are fantastic with children!  They adore kids!   In all of our years of parenting (we have five kids ranging from age 9 - 22) we have never had an issue with any of our German Shepherds.  They love to play with the kids and with their friends.  They can be a little suspicious of strangers, but that's a good thing.

Our GSD is obedience and protection trained.  In other words, if you are a threat to me or my family, he will attack on command.  But he is also a certified Canine Good Citizen.  If you get a Shepherd, you do want to make sure you buy from a reputable breeder.  And it's critical to begin training and socialization early.  But they learn very quickly. They are also really easy to potty train. But, they tend to have a long puppyhood.  They don't really "grow up" until somewhere between 2 and 3 years old.

We'll never own another breed.  [/quote]

I have to put in a word for a new relative of German Shepherds:  Shiloh Shepherds.  We have always been cat people, but when we bought our house on some land, we put years of of careful research to work and chose a Shiloh.  They look like huge wolves, larger and softer and more upright than German Shepherds.  They were bred for size and temperament, and they are extremely gentle, obedient, smart, and superb with children.  They only shed twice a year, and while their puppyhood does last a couple of years, once they are grown, they are very laid-back, though they will do as much or as little activity as you want.  Ours never barks without a specific reason, so when he does, we know he smells trouble.

I truly love our Shiloh.  I wish more families knew about them.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics