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German show lines

8K views 51 replies 15 participants last post by  Debbieg 
#1 ·
Hello!
I am conducting initial research into german shepherd lines, with an eye towards getting a puppy in the future.
I am most interested in the german show line "look" simply because I like the heavier boned, less angular characteristics. I do not intend to show.
The highest considerations are health and temperament. I will not necessarily engage in shutzhund so I do not want a high prey drive.
I am looking for a companion dog who will play well with other dogs.
The puppy will go to daily doggy day care four days a week when I go into the office, staying home with me on Wednesdays. Temperament should allow for play with other dogs, accepting lots of different human and dog interaction, and having an "off" button when I have to work at home.
I expect that I will be conducting about one and a half to two years' research into the breed and the different lines before I actually get the puppy. During this time I will be studying the breed and the lines.

My question at the moment - I am looking for a breeder of merit who has german show lines. Aesthetically I prefer the look. I prefer show lines to avoid the high prey drive necessary for working lines. I need a companion line.

Are there any leads, preferably in the Delmarva area (Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, West Virginia, Pennsylvania)? I am prepared to travel to pick up a puppy but I will not have him shipped to me.

Color preference - dark/black or sable.
Sex - male

Thank you so much for any assistance or leads that you may provide.
Thank you for reading.
Lil
 
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#2 ·
I have seen one German Show dog who came in sable. Ever. I wish there were more, though.
 
#3 ·
Try Chris and Joe Stumpf in Maryland, both work in DC - Chris at German Embassy, Joe at White House - so they are in your area...

Vom Silbersee German Shepherd Dogs

their kennel is vom Silbersee - they may not have pups right now, but can either get you want you want or point you in the right direction..they have both working and showline dogs - they concentrated on sable showlines, and do blacks with high show ratings (and work/show crossed maybe!!!) as well

Lee
 
#14 ·
ALL of my pups are companion dogs first and working dogs hopefully.....they are in both active pet homes and sport homes....

take a look at the thread 'Kira at 13 months' - that is one of mine :) :) very happy with her....we will be breeding her in about 16-20 months after she has the HGH and maybe the IPO1.....

Have a super nice young black female that just got her BH in New York....probably be bred in 12 to 18 months -maybe to a littermate of Kira....

Both these dogs are in "companion" homes...

Lee
 
#15 ·
Awesome!!! Thank you. I'll keep in touch with you, if you don't mind, while I do some reading and frequent the forum.

Temperament wise, do you feel a concern about a GSD in a well supervised doggie day care situation? Straying a bit from the original topic but my current dogs go to doggie day care four days a week. I work from home on Wednesdays.




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#19 ·
LOL LOL LOL This is my "dream litter"! Bred for ME......I kept 3 pups for myself - Kira, Kyra and Kougar......Kira is with Meghan on a training/breeding partnership and showing awesome talent for HGH, and Kougar is with Leesa [G-burg] same way but doing IPO - I had a bad bad car accident and can't do ANYTHING much at all now.....Kyra is here with my co-owner of Hexe and she is being trained too....then I have I-Bengal who might be even better looking! And then I have my Basha family females Hexe and an interest in Furi through a future daughter....whole program based on 2 female families and their sire lines peripherially....

so no - it is never too early to talk about getting a puppy :) :) :)

Lee
 
#20 ·
With Waiko being VA and a lot of Arlett dogs being sable they are really not as rare as people tend to think.

There are also some sable working line dogs that have showy-er conformation, like Boy von Zorra.
 
#25 ·
oh WOW thank you!!!!!!!!!!!:blush::blush::blush:

I've been around border collie rescue and I've seen what uninformed buyers can do to a good dog. A good working dog might not be a fit for a suburban home. Which is why I was thinking of show lines....traditionally, show lines have lesser prey drives than working lines.
The puppy would be a companion, so a dog with an intense working drive would not be a fit, no matter how gorgeous the dog or the line. So my responsibility to the dog is to learn the breed first, narrow down to the purpose and narrow down to the breeder.
If I can find a dog who plays well with other dogs, does well in doggy day care, who won't terrorize my cats or the children in my family, and who happens to be a sable or black male, then I have found the perfect dog for me. For someone who wants to compete in schutzhund, it might not be a good dog, for me it would be perfect.
With two years or so before my Billy leaves me, I can do the required study.
 
#28 ·
Solid point Christine. Didn't even pick up on that. Yes, all of my dogs are content to play and interact with members of their family/pack. They have no need or reason to interact or play with other dogs. All the GSDs I've had have been perfectly content to be with their person and their pack. Never saw the reason to put them in a group environment so they can be friends with strange dogs. Even on 10-12hr work days, the crew stays at home. The ones that get along are loose. The others or fosters are crated/kenneled. No problems :)
 
#30 · (Edited)
So you don't think a dog left at home for twelve hours a day will be bored? Or missing human interaction?


Not a challenge, an honest question.


I know Max craves human interaction and interaction with other doggies, but that's a golden retriever. Billy, the border collie, also loves his days at doggy day care.

I would save me heaps of money to have the GSD stay at home, but I would feel horrible about leaving with Max and leaving him behind.

(all these questions are the reason I joined early....I need to have a plan in place long before the day comes)
 
#31 ·
Let me explain my schedule a bit....

Mondays and Tuesdays, out of the house by 6:00 a.m. and home, depending on traffic on 270, around 7:30 and sometimes on horrible days even 8:00.

Wednesdays work from home.

Thursdays and Fridays same as Monday and Tuesday.

I've always had the border collies in doggie day care when I moved here, since the hours were so much longer than in California. When Max came it was a natural progression to have him go to doggy day care. Max and Billy love the experience there....they dance when the leashes come out, begin whining when I turn the corner, and Billy talks the entire time he's being led in the back. They greet the day camp handlers as if they were long lost family members, every single morning.

I naturally expected that the GSD would also go to doggy day care. But in two different threads, my introductory thread and this one, folks have expressed the opinion that a GSD would not like and or do well in doggy day care.

I hate the idea of leaving a dog alone and unsupervised for twelve hours. I suppose I can get ADT and keep an eye on him through installed electronic monitoring. But I would feel guilty about walking out with an excited Max and asking the GSD to stay. Right now I spend $175 for every seven days of doggy day care and there would be a significant saving, but it's not something I was planning to save money on. In other words, I wasn't planning to save corners at the expense of the dog's happiness.

On the other hand, a GSD is a multipurpose dog, with protection "baked into" the DNA. So in a manner of speaking, a GSD being left at home would be doing his "protection job"?
 
#32 ·
Many GSDs do well in doggy daycare their first 6-24 months. But as they mature, they will often (but not always!!!) start to not play well with the daycare group. It really depends on the dog and on the daycare.

I have a few of my puppy buyers who can still take their mature adults to doggy daycare and I have just as many more who have had to stop going to dog parks or doggy daycare. Others have said that their dogs go to daycare and don't play--they just hang out.

Based on my own GSDs, I'll say they don't enjoy playing with "strangers"--they want to be friends first and that usually means knowing the other dog(s) for more than just half an hour.

It's just going to depend on your dog--and how the daycare handles their dog groups.
 
#35 ·
Many GSDs do well in doggy daycare their first 6-24 months. But as they mature, they will often (but not always!!!) start to not play well with the daycare group. It really depends on the dog and on the daycare.

I have a few of my puppy buyers who can still take their mature adults to doggy daycare and I have just as many more who have had to stop going to dog parks or doggy daycare. Others have said that their dogs go to daycare and don't play--they just hang out.

Based on my own GSDs, I'll say they don't enjoy playing with "strangers"--they want to be friends first and that usually means knowing the other dog(s) for more than just half an hour.

It's just going to depend on your dog--and how the daycare handles their dog groups.
Understood. So it's a function of temperament, drive, and maturity.
So the answer is to remain vigilant in possible changes in personality at maturity.
Does neutering age play a role?

Oh dear....another line of questioning...contracts, neutering age requirements, and effect of neutering on growth plates....maybe that's an entirely different thread....:wild:
 
#33 ·
Although I wouldn't prefer it, and my husband won't allow it (too many critters coming inside) our foster home uses a dog door and securely fenced yard quite successfully as she's got about the same crazy work schedule you do.

I don't work currently outside the home, although doctor visits and shopping keep me well occupied (my son is disabled) so I don't worry quite so much about the dogs being locked up for long periods of time.
 
#34 ·
Although I wouldn't prefer it, and my husband won't allow it (too many critters coming inside) our foster home uses a dog door and securely fenced yard quite successfully as she's got about the same crazy work schedule you do.

I don't work currently outside the home, although doctor visits and shopping keep me well occupied (my son is disabled) so I don't worry quite so much about the dogs being locked up for long periods of time.

OK...now I'm going to be embarrassed when you see how psychotic I am about my dogs....

Even in my fenced yard, my dogs are supervised when outside.

I know...that's ridiculous. And you might laugh. But my ex once left the back gate open and when I let the dogs out they, of course, went outside and were having a stroll in the neighborhood. Thank GOD I had put recall whistles on them, and of course, they immediately returned.

After that day (no, I didn't actually kill him, but he IS my EX husband) I always go out with them.

That's how psychotic I am.

I'm sorry. Embarrasing.:eek:
 
#38 ·
Very much agree with what Christine said.

I have five GSDs of varying lineage and backgrounds. The ONLY dogs still interested in playing with strange dogs are my two puppies (10 months and 7 months). My adults have no desire AT ALL to interact with strange dogs.

My bitch can be a huge jerk to strange dogs, and my male largely ignores other dogs. They are both very social with humans, but they have no desire to have "doggy friends". Heck, even within their own family unit they discriminate.

Strauss has no need for any of the other dogs at all. Quite honestly, he could have probably gone his whole life never meeting another dog and been perfectly happy.

Mirada only likes the other dogs so she can be a bossy wench :p

Wesson is a suck up, and loves to play with everybody, so she could potentially be a good "daycare dog" with the right group, but she's kinda squishy soft, and doesn't like to be yelled at (by people or dogs).

Vixie and Mahler play together frequently, and greatly enjoy each others company.
 
#47 ·
Yeah I'm starting to see that getting in here this early was a good idea. There is a lot more to GSD than just a "breed." It's true for nearly all breeds, but this is wholly unfamiliar.

I'm glad I'm going to be lurking around here for quite a while.
 
#48 ·
if you are in DC - then you should get out and see some training.....Leesa and Lynn train up near Clarksville MD - before the accident, I trained down there as well....Kira's brother Kougar is there with Leesa.....you should get out to their group to watch - there are mostly working line GSDs, a few Dobes, Mals and a showline GSD

Lee
 
#50 ·
if you are in DC - then you should get out and see some training.....Leesa and Lynn train up near Clarksville MD - before the accident, I trained down there as well....Kira's brother Kougar is there with Leesa.....you should get out to their group to watch - there are mostly working line GSDs, a few Dobes, Mals and a showline GSD

Lee
I would LOVE THAT!!!

Specifics, as to where and when???
 
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