GSD Duck Retriever. Male or Female?

[sit,stay]

Originally Posted by Liesje

I second, third? the recommendation on looking into Chessies instead. I actually quite like their temperaments.

I know, right? They are a whole lot of dog. I read somewhere that they were created to hunt all day long, in even the harshest weather conditions, and then to guard the blind/boat/camp at night.

Having lived with a couple as foster dogs, I think they are every bit as serious minded as a GSD.
Sheilah

[Liesje]

I used to take care of one that outweighed me in highschool. Looking back, if it were my dog I would not have let a 15 year old take care of him for a week! He was a whole lot of dog, mentally and physically (and had no training or self-control).

[JustJim]

When I was younger, I bred and trained Chessies. Great waterfowl retrievers, no matter the circumstances; some are really good upland dogs too. Chessies tend to be very serious, if you work within their instinct/skill sets they are fairly easy to train for those tasks. You probably won't keep a Chessie from wanting to go swimming, any time and any place. As Martemchik said, that goes for GSDs too: let the dog do what it was bred to do.

I've played with having one of my GSDs do hunting dog-type work. She enjoyed it only to the extent she enjoys doing anything with me. She'd probably go into icy water if I told her too, but only to please me. For my part, knowing she doesn't have the coat for it, or the muscles, or the temperament, I'd not ask her too.

My Chessies were always much more focused on hunting. They hunted with me because, well, I took them hunting. They'd go into icy water for fun, in and out all day, every day for a month and want to keep going.

If I wanted a hunting dog right now, I'd probably have a Chessie, or a Chessie/Lab cross (much easier to live with). I like my GSDs.

[msvette2u]

We had a Chessie x Chocolate Lab foster that was awesome, but like you said, he'd sneak out of the yard to go swim.
He would also not tolerate intruders to our house/yard.
They are not bad for protecting the house!

[New Pup]

Thanks for all the replies. That article on Rocket was pretty cool, I hope to have that success.

I know that training a hunting breed for to be a quality duck dog increases the chances of success vs a GSD but we're set on a GSD and I'm just thinking that because GSDs need stimulation and something to work on I'd try retrieving, because if it works it will be awesome and if not I'm playing with my dog like I would anyways.

Thanks for that link to the help me choose a pup thread, that was a very, very similar situation only the question was regarding blood lines not gender. I hadn't seen that and it was pretty interesting. I was thinking about working lines and some answered as such in their responses.

But I'm still undecided about gender. I have read a little about speutering and I think I would probably do the female before her first cycle and a male around 2 years for him to have testosterone during development. But how does that affect training and the generalizations I mentioned I don't know. Keep the info coming, that is regarding shepherds. Tips on training and thoughts on differences between the sexes are appreciated. And input on speautering too, I can't get enough info about these dogs.

[doggiedad]

you can teach your dog to retrieve a duck. i don't think it's going to be
that hard to do. teach your dog to carry an egg. it'll help with the
hard bite and that's if your dog has a hard bite when retrieving.

[marshies]

Originally Posted by sit,stay

Interesting article! The trainer/owner commented that his GSD had a "naturally soft mouth". His ability to train a real duck retrieving GSD was predicated on that being the case.

I had to move my horse to a new barn in September. The new barn owner breeds and shows Golden Retrievers. I was happy to be used as a puppy socializer for a litter. I mean, who would turn that down, right? The difference between the Golden puppies and GSD puppies is night and day. The Goldens are mouthy, but they have such soft mouths! No scratches! No blood! No muttered curse words at ripped clothes. I walked away without a scratch, rather than looking like I had been attacked with a razor blade.

I do think that a GSD would feel comfortable working at a distance. My own WGSL will happily streak off to gather a flock of sheep. The distance he can work away from me is amazing.
Sheilah

Where was this post when I was puppy shopping. What a dream! A scratch free hand in puppyhood?! A hole free wardrobe?!

Angel as she is now, I am still scarred by the GSD puppy days.

[shepherdmom]

Originally Posted by sit,stay

I had to move my horse to a new barn in September. The new barn owner breeds and shows Golden Retrievers. I was happy to be used as a puppy socializer for a litter. I mean, who would turn that down, right? The difference between the Golden puppies and GSD puppies is night and day. The Goldens are mouthy, but they have such soft mouths! No scratches! No blood! No muttered curse words at ripped clothes. I walked away without a scratch, rather than looking like I had been attacked with a razor blade.

I wouldn't have understood this until we got Ivan. All I can say is WOW what a difference. We've always had mouthy landshark puppies. I don't know why no one told me there was something else out there. Ivan is the most gentle mouthed dog we've ever had and I love it.

[Mikey von]

Just to let you know, my upcoming pup will be a hunting dog. I personally feel it is certainly in the realm of a GSD, they are a true utility dog. Nice to see others with similar interests here.