The GSD - a phase-out model - Page 2

There are so many things that do just come naturally to a dog
Far to many people totally underestimate this breeds desire to please and be connected to his family.
I don't t care if you have one shepherd or more than one, his loyalty belongs to it s family.
He has a natural instinct to protect. Just about every pup i placed in homes with children, I am told how guarded of children they are . no special training needed.
My own dogs are so happy and excited to patrol the boundary lines it s like they have a duty to do so
It done t matter where they land they all maintain that need to do their job what ever that job may be.
I have been told by two officers their dog the best partner they ever had.
I never tire of being thanked for the best dog they ever owned.
Yes they are a working dog and needs job. They need to be maintained Ina fashion that preserves their natural abilities
No shock collar or any amount of training can do more for a dog that WANTS to do his job because he loves it.
Generations of kenneling detracts from the natural born instinct

Double click

If someone doesn't want to deal with the German Shepherd Dog needs/mentality, then a different breed of dog should be chosen that will fulfill the human's desires and ability to care for. If it is only that the human wants a dog that looks like a guard dog, but isn't, then a good burglar alarm with appropriate signage would be a better choice for safety/security, fairness to the dog, and fairness to the humans. If someone wants a status symbol and can afford it, then part of the cost should be hiring someone to take care of the dog's needs.

If people want a dog with traits that no current breed fulfills, then they should develop a new breed, not mess up an existing breed.

Just leave the German Shepherd Dog, Siberian Husky, Greenland Dog, Malamute, Doberman Pinscher, Rottweiler, Bloodhound, Labrador Retriever, Norwegian Elkhound, Malinois, St Bernard, Mastiff, etc. working and sporting breeds alone. There are bonafide uses for these working and sporting breeds, and altering these breeds will render them useless/less useful for their bonafide uses, necessitating redevelopment of these breeds (AKA reinventing the wheel). Along the way, perfectly good specimens of these breeds will not have been bred because they didn't conform to the revised breed standards and couldn't win AKC and other competitions. Thus losing important parts of various breed gene pools.

(steps of soapbox)

If you've been around the breed enough, you can tell a smiling face without the need for anthropomorphizing German shepherd behavior. Bright eyes and a dangling tongue is a pretty good indication they are not feeling too abused.

I keep several dogs in shaded kennels that offer a 360 degree view of lots of stimuli. From wild turkeys and deer which have been conditioned to know that they can walk right up to the kennels without fear of attack or pursuit. The fresh scent of farmers bailing hay. The horses and mules approaching, who think that treats aren't just for dogs. Each dog relishing in their own personal space as they lay perched upon their dog houses. To each of them, it beats lounging around on the living room floor.

Sure, any one of these dogs is thrilled to come out and work one on one at any moment. Working more than one dog at a time tends to be counter productive, as they each want to be the focus of your attention. Therefore, the others must be contained. Not in the living room, where they can tear down your curtains or rip up your furniture in a jealous fit of the dog you are training in the backyard.

If you have fat and lazy "pet quality" German shepherds of the couch potato variety, then, maybe you don't have these issues.

I very much doubt that there are many situations where all the dogs in one place are subject to "generations of kenneling", in the sense that you imply, Kitkat.  A couple of generations, maybe.

 

@Daryl:  

No find they not in one kennel for generations, they get passed around from kennel to kennel breeder to breeder
One kenneled litter after the next.
I don't t believe you can doubt that my God
Wake up and smell the coffee
Do you do any pedigree research or read the ads
Nice female for sale 2 prior litters in heat now goes to the next kennel has litter sold again
Far too many throw away dogs

Darryl, I don't tknow anyone with fat lazy couch potatoes my dogs live very productive happy lives outside of any kennels where they too can lie on the porch and watch turkeys and deer and they don't have visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads they have the real taste of freedom savoring in their heads.
They are doing exactly as what they were born to do.
They feel useful 24/7, and while they may not be needed for what they are trained to do protect and to serve 24/7,
I REST ASSURED that if the need arises my dogs up for the task
Are yours?

And a question for you Daryl how many generations have yours spent kenneled dreaming of the lucky moments they might get a treat.living that good life, breathing country air!

trying to understand from where the thoughts come relating the posts come from . HMMM ..So .. contemplate this :
Let's see : a canine by defintion is a pack animal .
a canine will be concerned about / protect , that is , work with it's pack memmbers. Meaning in it's mind it gives preference and will protect best , living in a house , it's quarters [ whre it eats/ & sleeps], and living among the whole pack which adds to it's reason to protect them. . BTW , if a dog is in a kennel , a lot of good that does if you need the dog in a split second - a split second that you may not even have .
the optimal relationship has the best quality and quantity. No , not just quality without quantity. Both factors are equally important . That is like having a wife /husband and spending sometime together but most of the timeone is out around town  with the guy/gals.
The notion that a canine works better when kennlelled is a myth , I concede soome believe kennelling a canine can give a it edginess , but then again many of my K9 officer friends had their k9 companion in their home living with the whole family ,. So .-- nso much for that notion.
Freedom .. is a privledged earned.... not tom mention toooo much freedom before it is earned is the underpinning to ma* canine and chlid problems. Pysically and psychologically.
So what is the purpose of a kennelling dog other than it not shedding in the house and that it is your value , a commodity as opposed to a thinking , feeling being [ not human being , a being]?
For those that like to argue about kennelling a dog having value ..... just saying.....

If you want to justify that lifestyle, prove it can be done. Show me the videos of training your dogs, while the other dogs sit patiently out of the way, waiting their turn. Other than, say, doing a long down.

Heeling with multiple dogs compromises precision at the least, if not being a total clusterfrack. A-frames and jumps with dumbells? Not likely. Protection training? A certain disaster. Working with livestock is a good exception when an experienced dog helps guide a noob dog. But livestock owners shouldn't be the only ones entitled to own German shepherds.

In one-on-one training scenarios, both the handler and the dog can benefit with clear and focused concentration. I don't think anyone with multiple dogs could be serious about training, in fact quite delusional, if they didn't kennel or crate their dogs.

Another reason I kennel my dogs? I have a half dozen females, and every one of them thinks they're the alpha. Even if they were simply aloof to one another, a female could go into heat at a moment's short notice and be even especially bitchy. Or bred to one of the males in a jiffy.

Seriously, though I don't feel the need at all to justify why I kennel my dogs. I just felt it polite to explain to "you who stand on the soapbox" preaching to others though have little experience with, should consider there are reasons why things are done in one fashion or another. And if you are unhappy with your dog, who has come from a background of generations of kenneling, then maybe it is you who should find another breed.

I think Kitkat and I are talking about two different scenarios - yes, I am sure there are people who move kennel dogs from place to place as you describe; they see them as "things to win with / breed from". Maybe its yet another difference between your side of the Pond and mine, that this is not such a common scenario over here and does not represent the majority of hobby breeders (whether for Show, Work/Sports, or purely Pets).So that was what I meant when I said the only owners left who would keep multiple kennelled dogs would be the puppy farmers - 'cos I think what you are describing is just as much the "puppy farming mentality" as it is if the person actually sets out to breed the maximum number of puppies and make the most cash, and sod the consequences.  Again, the GSD has no monopoly on 'people' like that.  But this thred started out about something a bit different:  does living in a kennel rather than as a housedog always result in a loss of drive and intelligence and 'love of life' (in the individual dog, but presumably also in its offspring).  And the answer to that simple question, from my own and others' observation, would seem to be No - provided that all the 'other stuff' is right - and if you think the sort of owners you have widened this out to include are likely to be among those loving their GSDs and getting 'the other stuff right', I think you need to think about that a bit more.