German Showline or Wroking line for Companion - Page 1

In general (or based on average), which would you recommend for pet and companion fro a young family with kids?  

Either--it depends on TEMPERAMENT. If the dog has strong nerves and a solid, STABLE temperament, it can be in a pet home. The working line, assuming a lot of drive, will just need more ball-throwing and be better for an active family, than a sedentary one. But, TEMPERAMENT should be the primary concern. By all means, check out the parents' temperaments, and if a repeat breeding, as many of the previous pups as possible.

Exactly. Make sure you seek a reputable breeder. They should want to share their stories & 'talk dog' with you, & make sure you explain what you're seeking. You do not want to take the high drive 'pick of the litter', a dog that is suited for sport or Schutzhund. I wanted a high drive dog, but my very sensible breeder steered me toward a slightly lower drive dog, & he's a handful! But he has an 'off' switch, & so is a very pleasant companion at home. He is working lines. My female Kalie is German showlines & is also very sweet, protective & tolerant of children.

Actually, if this is your first German Shepherd dog, you might want to consider adopting an adult. Many breeders have older bitches that are being retired from breeding, they are usually very well trained, & are generally placed into 'forever' homes for a lower price, providing you will spay them, & commit to keeping them in a loving enviornment for the rest of their lives. Many of these dogs are not old, just middle aged, & make a great 'starter' GSDs.

Puppies are cute, but are very rambunctious even when they have great temperments, & GSD puppies have needle sharp teeth. Puppies mouth everything, just like babies do, & with young children, it's very hard to moniter them every second. Even a little, playful nip can frighten, & injure a young child. Many young German Shepherd dogs are placed in rescues or turned over to a pound because they were just being normal puppies, but their owners did not have realistic expectations of how big, energetic puppies act.

With an adult dog, there's none of the stressors of housebreaking, teething, training; & they will be just as protective of your kids, as long as they are not grossly abused. They have endured puppies, after all, & tend to be fairly tolerant of children. Again, make sure your breeder knows what your goals are for the dog.
Then, when kids are older, it's puppy time.
JMHO, jackie harris (been there, done that!)

Great advice about considering an older, somewhat trained and house broken dog when young kids are in the equation.  Puppies require a lot of monitoring, time, patience + affinity to pain from them sharp teeth!  It can be done but just giving you a heads up.

lots of older purebred gsd in foster care right now. go to www.petfinders.com the foster homes will have had a chance to fully understand the temperment of each dog and be able to recommend the perfect pet for your family. save a dog's life adopt the perfect pet. sounds like a win - win situation , and for a very low price too.

Either German showline or workingline dogs can make good companions, but for a home with small children an adult who is already trained and tested around children would be a good deal.

Puppies are a huge time committment. An 8 week old puppy has to go outside at least every 2 hours for the first couple of weeks (around the clock). He has to be housetrained and watched constantly or crated in the course of housetraining. He has to be obedience trained, although basic obedience is pretty easy to teach a puppy. Still it's 5 minutes of time several times each and every day. A puppy will need basic shots and worming, plus a microchip if the breeder hasn't already done this - all are "extra costs" you might not have considered. The pup will need lots of quiet time to rest and sleep during the day (hence the crate, in addition to housetraining).

He will also need lots of playtime and training in how to play with you and your children. Puppies explore with their mouths, so they bite at a lot and  they have sharp little milk teeth. You will have to supervise each and every interaction your children have with the puppy to be sure no one including the puppy gets hurt. Life with a puppy and younng children can be done, but it's a LOT of work for many months. YOU will be responsible for everything the puppy needs if your children are younger than 10 or 12, which is the usual age kids are old enough to accept responsibility for a pet.

I would encourage someone in your situation to adopt an adult. If you are set on having a puppy, be sure to tell the breeder that you want a pet, not a sport dog. You want a lower drive, laid back pup who isn't easily startled and is very friendly. Here is a link to a commonly used puppy test that you might find interesting.
http://www.workingdogs.com/testing_volhard.htm
You'll have to cut and paste the link into your browser.

Leave off the "s" and try www.petfinder.com

I agree with the comments above particularly as pertains to the work required with a puppy. Having had both show line and working line dogs I'll share with you my opinion based on the dogs I've had over 30 years.

The best companion dog I've had is my working line female. She does the things I thought all dogs would do, things like catch a ball, retrieve, catch a frisbee, swim happily, and just play in general. I'm sure there are millions of show line dogs that do that - in 30 years I was just not fortunate enough to own one. And I have to admit that only recently did I fully come to understand that drive wasn't just a concept for the competitor, but an underlying concept governing all dogs.

So, had I asked the right questions earlier in my dog 'career' I probably would have found my ideal dog sooner.

 

 

If the family is just looking for a pet, I would recommend adopting an adult GSD from a shelter or rescue group.  If you're not trying to train, title, show, etc. then I bet the family would be very happy with a rescue.  A good rescue group should be able to evaluate the temperament and energy level of the dog and help the family make the right choice for their situation.  Seriously, if I were just looking for a pet, I would hit Petfinder too.

There are certainly wonderful dogs available for adoption and I too suggest you research those. But as someone that was a volunteer foster home for a German Shepherd rescue let me share a few thoughts.

While many of the dogs were sound animals with good temperaments, a larger number (in my personal experience) had serious issues that contributed to their being given up for adoption.

These included serious physical conditions requiring constant care and medication, fear biting, spookiness (weak temperament), and extreme separation anxiety. I had one crash through a 20-foot plate glass window to get back inside the house. Fortunately he wasn't injured but it was a disconcerting episode.

One problem inherent in the rescue and adoption scenario is that the people giving up the dog have not always been forthcoming about their reasons. The rescue organizations and foster homes have not had the dogs long enough to accurately assess the full range of issues that can manifest themselves. In my case, I was just a do-gooder volunteer and not trained to evaluate a dog.

In theory, a reputable breeder would have some sort of baseline with which to make determinations regarding temperament.

One recent phenomenon I've witnessed is the economy resulting in some owners having to 'return' dogs to breeders. And, breeders sometimes retire very accomplished dogs from their breeding programs and send them to pet homes for the quality of life.

Good luck.