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Help me :) please

4K views 31 replies 18 participants last post by  Ellex 
#1 ·
Hey everyone,
i'm new to this site and how no idea if i'm posting this in the right area.
I'm a member of YorkieTalk and i was referred here. A little background before i get to my questions. I own a small 3 1/2 lb yorkie, he's almost 5 years old. He goes on long walks daily, my husband and i take him hiking, and i take him to the beach as often as i can. I really really really want a bigger dog to join him in all his activity and i just want one in general. My sister in law had a GSD and he was the sweetest thing ever and i fell in love with him. I've never owned a big dog myself but my husband has so i'll have help when it comes to training.

my questions would be,
1. how have your pups gotten along with (older) small pets?
2. how have your pups gotten along with small pets once they were full grown?
( i know the breed is loyal to their pack ) 3. do you feel comfortable leaving your GSD and small dog alone roaming around the house when you aren't there?
4. Has your full grown GSD ever shown aggression towards the small dog they were raised with?


My Yorkie is a male so i was thinking if i do get a Shepherd, i'd get a Female, just to try and avoid the whole Alpha drama. (I know you're suppose to be Alpha, it just makes me feel more comfortable)
 
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#2 ·
In my youth, I had a female GSD and a female Papillion. They got along fine but the Papillion was older and very much in charge. Once I brought home a giant bone which the Papilllion could not even get her mouth around--she wedged it into a corner and didn't let the shepherd have any.

But it really depends on the dogs and the environment. I'd say to go with a reputable breeder and have a trainer lined up. My brother in law started having problems with his shepherd and his dachshunds when the shep reached adolescence.
 
#4 ·
I would think if you got a GSD as a puppy and raised it with your Yorkie things should be OK. Our other pets are cats, my GSD was raised with them and she loves them (although not all love her!). In general, my adult female GSD tends to be drawn to the small, male dogs. She is so gentle and kind to them and always wants to meet them.

How does your Yorkie react to other dogs? Is he generally friendly and wanting to play?
 
#9 ·
My Yorkie thinks he can take on the world. He gets really excited to meet every dog he sees but i have noticed if the other dog is a male, my Yorkie gets nervous and jumps to me to be picked up and then starts barking. He doesn't do this to every male dog; I've dog sat a male and female med size and they got along just fine. So I don't what makes him do that towards some and not others.
 
#5 ·
I've never owned a small breed, however GSDs can get on really well with small dogs. My female loves little dogs, she is excellent with them, will get down to their level and is very gentle with them - she loves little ones. I'm sure your puppy will be fine with your Yorkie, as your pup grows he will go through that interesting adolescence stage where he will start to test and try your authority etc and will test the Yorkie, however if you provide training and consistent rules for all, they will be fine.
 
#10 ·
When you say he'll test me and the Yorkie, what does that actually mean. I know I have to set rules and not let her bully him as a puppy; and I'm suppose to be the alpha, my Yorkie is very respectful towards me and listen to me when I give him a command, but I only trained him to sit and stay; he know stops but I didn't go all out with him. I read that GSD are easily trained so that was another reason why I'm considering bringing one in the family.
 
#6 ·
I have a Mini Dachshund. My male GSD adores her. When my GSD was a puppy, I didn't allow him to bully her. I made the rules, not the dogs.
 
#11 ·
1. Yes. Female GSD is 5 years younger than the 9 lbs male dog.
2. Yes but that is reinforced thru very clear communication from me that they are not allowed to hurt each other.
3. Yes but this only happened until after much training and me sending that message from #2 couple times.
4. Yes, she got a big head a few times when she passed puppyhood that I had to step up with the way I communicate what is and is not acceptable. Now the GSD is wonderful with the little one and backs off quickly herself. She no longer tries to play as hard or often as before and now plays with belly up most of the time. When the little one have enough she walks away (she didn't like being rejected before). Or she'll feel my hard cold glare and will stop.
 
#13 ·
You guys have been very helpful! I'm excited to continue my search for a GSD pup. My Yorkie forum has been telling me about BYB and health problems such as hip and elbow problems; what exactly is the breeders responsibility when it comes to health and making sure the puppy is healthy? Also, have any of you ever boughten a puppy from craigslist? I'm contacting breeders but my friend from back home got both of her dogs from CL and I was wondering if that's something that should be completely avoided?
 
#15 ·
what exactly is the breeders responsibility when it comes to health and making sure the puppy is healthy? Also, have any of you ever boughten a puppy from craigslist? I'm contacting breeders but my friend from back home got both of her dogs from CL and I was wondering if that's something that should be completely avoided?
A responsible breeder will carry OFA certifications on the sire and dam's hips and elbows. The temperament and drive of both parents will be taken in account as well to ensure stable, non-neurotic offspring. They will also have cleared the puppies for DM, most likely by parentage. Responsible breeders will have given the pups the appropriate shots, wormings, socialization, and will not let the pups leave the mother earlier than 8 weeks of age. There are many amazing breeders out there that will have done much more, but those are the basics I would start with to weed out a lot of the BYBs.

CL is a coin toss, and in my opinion not a good one. I have a rescue husky off of craigslist, however sibes tend to be a heartier breed health wise and generally less aggressive/defensive. With a GSD puppy off CL you are almost certainly dealing with a BYB or an uneducated individual that for whatever reason has pups from their pet dog and hasn't done any health clearances, or even isn't very knowledgeable about raising puppies. For a rescue GSD I might consider CL, however since your situation would be best with a puppy... Personally I would not pursue a GSD puppy from CL. Too many unknowns, and while potentially cheaper upfront could easily be very very expensive later due to health or behavioral problems rooted in the dog's genetics.

Here's a great site created by one of the members of this forum that will give a great beginning working knowledge of GSDs, their variations, health concerns, training/sporting abilities, and perhaps help you narrow down your search for just the kind of pup you want:

German Shepherd Guide - Home
 
#14 · (Edited)
I have a GSD with a yorkie and 2 dachshunds. Yorkie male 4 yrs, 2 dachshunds are 7 and 8 yrs both female and male. My current GSD is a male and just over 4 months but my previous GSD we lost earlier this year (RIP Kesler) was a female. My male yorkie and make dachshund and GSD got a long great in fact the two little ones could do anything they wanted to her and she did not even blink an eye however my female dachshund is a bitch in Every sense of the word and on more than one occasion you could cut the tension with a knife, if my female dachshund even showed her teeth to my GSD it was on which resulted in a trip at one time to the emergency vet with our dachshund, since then we had to be very careful with those two and how we showed love, played ball etc....it was a very tense several years. Our responsibility was to make sure they were all safe and the opportunity did not present itself for that possibility again. It took a lot of attention and commitment to make sure that did not happen again.

With all that said they were both females, and dachshunds....well let's just say that they can be miniature Jekyll and Hydes.
This go around we decided on a male for that exact reason. He is only 4 months old right now but so far so good.

As far as our yorkie, there is not a aggressive bone in his body and he loves Silas and Silas loves him.....the only issue we have right now is my GSD wants to herd my little guy and he will often Times try to carry him from one place to another. My yorkie does not know how to say no. We are working on that issue right now.

I think you will be fine but making sure the GSD you get has good temperament will be top priority for sure next to great training.

With all that said I have had yorkies all my life with many different larger breed dogs with no issues at all. We have had dobermans, GSD's etc and not a single issue.
 
#20 ·
Thank you for sharing. My Yorkie usually gets along fine with other dogs AS LONG as hes around them for a while, like i said before sometimes when he greets a dog while we're on walks he freaks out on them and thankfully the other dogs have never snapped at him. Since you've had both male and female GSD, which sex do you think would be best, or does it matter? I wanted to get a female because my Yorkie is a male and i figured i'd avoid any if all Alpha battles (unless the girl wants to be alpha, :p) but my husband said that females still go in heat even after they've been spayed and when i told him that females have more of a motherly instinct, he said that if she gets that instinct towards a toy or something she could snap at him, so i don't know. I guess the good thing about my Yorkie (Ashton) is that he thinks he's so badass so if the other dogs tried to make him do something, he'll be quick to say no.
 
#16 ·
I own two small dogs (Min Pin and Papillon) and my mother has a 4# Yorkie. I also have an 8 month old female GSD and my dogs get along okay with her. My mothers dog on the other hand attacks her. But she never does anything back, she just stands there while he bites her. I get him away from her and praise the heck outta her for not fighting back. I think with the right temperment dogs any size can get along just fine but IMHO I would never leave them alone together. The reason being that even if they get along great and play nicely you never know if they will play and get to rough and a large dog can easily step on or fall on and injure a small dog, especially a 3# dog.
As far as getting a dog on CL that, like mentioned, is a crapshoot. Be very very cautious if buying from any site like that please:)
 
#22 ·
Do all the dogs live together? if so, when you aren't home do you just keep them in different rooms? or does this only happen when you visit your mom?
My husband is set on being the one who trains him or her the most, and i don't think he'd want to separate them when we aren't home, mostly because he grew up with all different size and breeds of dogs, and they've all gotten alone perfectly fine, but if i'm not comfortable with it, they will definitely be separated when we aren't home.
don't worry; i found a breeder close by :D i'm meeting the puppies today.
 
#17 ·
I was worried about this as well before I got my GSD (It's the main reason why I joined this forum). I have a 10 lb 2 year old male Min Pin and an 8 month old 77 lb male GSD. I got the Min Pin at 6 weeks and the Shepherd at 8 weeks.

They aren't best friends, but don't fight. The Min Pin pretty much wants nothing to do with the Shepherd.

The only issue I have is size, so when they are running around and playing I have to take precautions to prevent an inadvertent trampling. The GSD does adjust his play aggression depending on the dog.

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#18 ·
Personally, I would not adopt another GSD puppy from craigslist (and maybe not even from a rescue). I may consider an adult that I can evaluate the temperament better. I got my GSD puppy from craigslist. She was a happy, outgoing, playful puppy at first glance. It turns out she is genetically weak nerved at the core and while she still makes a wonderful pet, it is an extra hurdle that I would not wish on anyone.
 
#19 ·
I have a 15 lb, 9 year old mixed breed dog and a 16 month old GSD. They get along well EXCEPT if they are off-leash out in a field and the little one starts running. The GSD's prey drive kicks in, he locks on, and it is very difficult/impossible to get through to him. We do a lot of training and this is one area that I am mostly just managing for now. They are never together off-leash in a large open space. He is not aggressive, but when he switches into chase mode, it is pretty much impossible to get through to him. I would imagine that I could blast him with an e-collar or some other aversive, but I am choosing to manage the situation instead for now. It is definitely work.

Inside the house they are fine with no real problems.

When he was a little younger, I took him sheep herding a few times. It was very similar. He got whacked on the head hard about 20 times by the trainer and it didn't really have an effect. He was totally oblivious and kept chasing until he was stopped with the leash. After that, we stopped going to sheep herding. We do a lot of impulse control work and proofing of recalls, stay, etc.

At this stage, I don't trust him off-leash with any dogs under 20 lbs.
 
#24 ·
Do all or most GSD do this off leash? I take Ashton to off leash areas often (he's usually alone when i do that, just to avoid anything) but Ashton and the cat run around the house like crazy! they chase each other all the time, rest, and then go right back to it. Do you think if the GSD is raised with both of them running around he or she would be okay with running round with him in an open area? Even though i probably wouldn't have both of them running together just to avoid accidental stepping but just in case we decide to try it.... And thank you so much for this post, i honestly didn't ever think about that. I know every breed has that prey drive (Ash is a hunter so he goes crazy if he sees anything he want to catch) but i just assumed the GSD would know its him.
 
#27 ·
We got the puppy on Sunday and my Yorkie is still on the fences about her but he has moments where you see him coming around. She's the sweetest thing ever! When she plays too rough he snaps and she backs off. I'm doing my best to keeping them together but we're also creat training her. I'm enrolling her in puppy classes so I can teach her to get to his level.


Is it common for smaller dogs to snap at the puppy the first few days?
I'm just praying my Yorkie comes around to her.
 
#28 ·
Where did you get her from? :p

I actually own a soon to be 4 YO GSD. My GSD doesn't care pretty much about the olders small pets in the house (12 yo pekingeses). When he was a puppie they'd snap at him too if he got too close to them and they still would do it now if it weren't for the fact that they ignore each other most of the time.

Now, when it comes to the 3 YO yorkie, -both male and intact- they've gotten along just fine! LOL. Though, when the yorkie was brought home I had to teach my GSD that in order to play with him, he had to down to prevent anything since he was so little. Nowadays they enjoy their own game, the chasing, playing rough -always under supervision-. In fact, the Yorkie most of the time is the one that provokes and tease the GSD.

Regarding your question #3, I don't. I always keep them separated when going outside. I leave the GSD with free roaming but I'd never leave the yorkie with free roaming around the house, he always gets into things that he shouldn't and even If he didn't, I would not keep them alone without supervision.

Regarding your question #4, nope.

Though my GSD is very vocal and so is the yorkie, if it were for the sounds they make when the are playing, a lot of people would think that they are showing aggression.

And like you said, My yorkie also thinks he can take on the world. :eek:

I've to add though, the yorkie (Otto) was a puppie when he was brought home. We had lost a Yorkie before him, Jessie, he was 5 YO when we brought the GSD to the home. They didn't get along like Otto and Helios (GSD) did. Jessie never got along with Helios. He'd always ignore him and walk away and if he got too close to him, he'd snap at him too so we had to teach Helios to respect Jessie's space.

Good luck! Hope everything turns out to be ok! :)
 
#29 ·
In response to your question about leaving them alone together, I'm sure many never have issues but I would NEVER do it myself no matter how well they get along. A friend's BC killed her 10lb dog one day with no previous signs of problems. Might have simply been that the play got too rough.

With like-size dogs, you may have a chance to recognize something isn't going well...but with a Yorkie and GSD, the first "issue" while you're gone might be the last.



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