Please Help...Thinking about getting a GSD puppy

[jlc1200]

Hello,
My wife and I are in our early 30's. We don't have children but may be planning on it within the next 5 yrs. We currently have a female labrador retriever and want to get a calm/family male GSD from a reputable breeder. Our concerns are that we will not be able to raise the GSD with children (we have no friends with children, we live in a retirement area with no children etc). We are afraid that by the time we have children our GSD will be a couple of years old and not be familiar with children and we are worried this could be a potential problem. Does anyone have advice or opinions on whether or not we should be getting a GSD now or would it be better to wait until we have children. And if you have any breeder recommendations that would be great!!! We are new to this breed but have heard many great things about GSDs! Please help.

Thank you!

[BR870]

If you don't have kids, take them where the kids are: Baseball games, the beach, festivals... Its good socialization in general, and kids love puppies

[gsd_newbie]

I am no expert, but I would suggest that you just go ahead. Unless you will be raising that GSD wild and free, I don't think a well trained 05 years old GSD would do anything to harm Anpha's offsprings, just making sure that you will understand him/her well enough. 05 years is also a long period, which you would have a joy of having a GSD and always can make up your mind later on keeping or not keeping that dog when your baby born. If you cannot do it now, you would be double or triple busier 05 years later raising both your baby and a puppy.

My $0.2 cents

[Castlemaid]

Get a dog now. A puppy needs a ton of time and effort for training and socializing, time and energy which will be in short supply when you have a child. Expose him to as many little kids that you can find. It will be much better to have an older, calmer dog when your first child comes around then to have to deal with potty training, teething, puppy biting and nipping when you are raising your own kid.

[doggiedad]

i don't think you're going to have a problem
with your dog if you get a puppy now and
have children later. you never trust your dog
100% around your baby. you can have the best
pup from the best breeder with best training and socializing
but it's still a dog that can think independently.
my children were raised with cats, dogs, horses,
birds, goats, guinea pigs, fish, turtles, etc. just
like i didn't trust the animals i didn't trust my children
either.

[Emoore]

Originally Posted by jlc1200

Hello,
My wife and I are in our early 30's. We don't have children but may be planning on it within the next 5 yrs. We currently have a female labrador retriever and want to get a calm/family male GSD from a reputable breeder.

Just keep in mind that no German Shepherd is going to be "calm" until he's three. . or four. . . or nine. . .