SOS-Newbie overwhelmed w/research! - Page 1

 I've been mostly lurking but I'll go ahead and put myself out there.  I'm a relative newbie (I've had one most excellent and super-easy dog) trying to do the responsible thing and do my homework before getting another dog.  The more I read the more confused I get.  I've even contacted a couple of breeders but I don't want to be accused of leading anyone on.

I seriously want a dog.  My other dog was my almost-constant companion, traveled with me cross-country and even U.S. - Canada and back.  He lived to age ~12.  So I think of myself as an experienced GSD owner, but he was already trained (American show quality) when I got him at age 4.5 years, and he was super super gentle and easy to handle.

I never took advantage of his show training.  Now I wish I had.  I now would like to get into the show/obedience stuff, but I'm a rookie and don't know where to start.  I'm not sure I would be able to take a puppy and turn out as good a dog as Wenig was.  I want a really good dog and am willing to pay.  But I'd hate to waste a really good dog on me, KWIM?  For years I've dreamed of getting into breeding (I like the German show look, but want to emphasize health and temperament and function over looks), on a very small but responsible scale.  Again, I want to do it right and have been reading seriously about it for *months*.  I'm considering getting a female, maybe titled, and breeding her and keeping one or two of her pups to train.  All the dogs would be family dogs.  We have 3+ acres and I have two active sons.  (And 2 cats.)

If I really shouldn't get into breeding, then I want a male.  I'm considering a rescue but I'm scared of unknown health problems.

The more I read, the more confused I get.  Any advice?

jayne, please feel free to email me and I will offer what advice I can. vonisengard@comcast.net  I have no dogs for sale anytime soon, so you will not be leading me on and I will not be trying to make a sale.

You don't have to learn everything at once. Take some time, consider what you really want to do with a dog. I've kept GSDs for many years but I'm not a breeder so I wouldn't be out to sell you a dog. PM me if you like.  My first advice would be for you to consider what sort of thing you'd like to do with a dog: show in AKC, show in German style showring (this also involves training in schutzhund or herding), performance events only, therapy dog, SAR, tracking, etc. Again, take your time on getting a dog or puppy and certainly take lots of time and get more experience before deciding to breed.

I have been researching for years, AND I HAVE ONLY ,"just BEGAN to LEARN!"

Welcome to the world of dog kitkat and jayne241  its a hard one..get your hard hats on...

Hi Jayne,

You are welcome to email me (smith.sharona@gmail.com) and I can tell you what I have learned over the last 20 years (hahaha)............seriously, I am happy to have a conversation with you.  We all love the GSD breed or we wouldn't be here.  But there are many pitfalls and there are so many potential heartbreaks with breeding.  You are lucky to have had such a wonderful shepherd for your companion.  If I were you I would get one dog as a pup and train with him/her and watch the pup grow through the stages to adult hood.  There is a lot to learn and digest before jumping into breeding.  

Sharon

  Thanks y'all for all the warm welcome!  

What sort of thing do I want to do?  In addition to things we can do as a family - camping, hiking, etc - the types of shows or obedience trials will probably be determined by what's available near us.  I think that would be mostly AKC just because of what's available.  I don't mind if my dog doesn't have the right AKC "look" to win, as long as the dog doesn't feel bad.  I just want to have fun and have an activity that our kids may enjoy as well.  I would consider doing the German show and SchH stuff as a prereq to breeding.  I think tracking or agility would be fun, maybe herding, but I heard someone say she didn't approve of the way they train dogs for herding, so I'm not sure.  I think herding would be the obvious choice to honor the original function.

I appreciate those who offered to email me, I'll take you up on that tomorrow.  (Right now I better be getting to sleep.)  I look forward to learning more, and having help with making a responsible choice.