Advice on the German Shepherds

[GoCards]

Did you have any concerns with a older dog? My concern is a dog that is older, you lose out on some years with them and their life span is so short to begin with. Maybe I feel this way because I just lost my dog recently but that was a concern of mine. I do believe that you may be right about a older dog, I do think that would be best for our lifestyle and were we live. After hearing feedback from all of you today, I cannot wait to find the right dog for me!

[selzer]

Yes, if you take a five year old dog, you may get five years, more less with the dog. But you will have given a dog a happy home for that period. As dogs get older, they have a much more difficult time being adopted out for the very reason you gave, and many perfectly healthy, perfectly nice dogs are PTS simply because people want dogs that are younger.

I think that if your lifestyle merits an older dog, you will bond to him or her just as much as a younger dog, but there will be less instances of the dog knocking the baby off her feet from sheer exhuberance. An older dog may be a lot easier on you physically as well, not as likely to dislocate your shoulder in its attempt to chase a cat, etc. Its pace may be more your pace. It may desire to spend a goodly portion of its day curled up at your feet instead of chasing a ball in the back yard or trotting on a tread mill.

When her time comes, you can be happy that you gave a gal a great home for the rest of her life. The end will come either way, is it better for the end to come in five years than in eight years.

There is no guarantee about that anyway. You can lose a 1-3 year old dog in 1-3 years from some nasty theif of time. I think with a younger dog, you are stacking the deck in your favor for having the dog longer, but I think that the benefits to an older dog in your circumstance, and the benefits to the dog you choose, may outweigh the sadness you will face either way.

[IllinoisNative]

I'm in a two bedroom condo with TWO dogs...lol. It can definitely work. I exercise my dogs every day. I take them to dog parks, my parents house, my friends houses, my sisters houses, the vet, parks, Petco, Petsmart, camping, etc. I've done that since they were babies...um...puppies.

I socialized the heck out of them and took them to puppy/dog school. All my neigherbors had dogs. They would play together for hours everyday. They are well behaved, good with dogs/cats/kids, housebroken, crate trained. I took in foster dogs as well while I had them. I used NILIF on them. Never had a problem with aggression or anything and they were both rescue pups. One of them had Parvo as a puppy.

One thing I loved about not having a yard was that I had to exercise them. Turning a dog loose in a yard is useless. Most dogs want you to be out there, too. How many people get a dog because they have a yard but they won't go out with their dogs? I take my dogs to my sister's house (who has a large fenced in yard) and the MINUTE I go inside, the dog is whining at the door to come in with me. He had no desire to be where I'm not. This also allowed me to teach potty on command. I knew when they had to go. It allowed me to monitor their bowel movements in case something was wrong. I got to teach them where to go. They never developed the bad habit of digging because they never had the chance. They have no idea that they can jump fences so they don't try. (I'm not saying you can't do that with a yard, also, just that not having one doesn't allow you to be lazy)

I also grew up with two huskys when I had a backyard. They dug under and got out. They jumped the fence and got out. Fences don't guarentee anything. Trust me. IMO, walking with the dog is more important. Don't let the no fence thing deter you. I have fostered many a dog with no fence and the rescues never had a problem with that...lol.

Good luck on your search.

[GoCards]

Thank you so much for letting me know about having your dogs in a condo! That makes me feel so much better. The thing I love the most about having a dog (besides the dog itself) is the socializing with our "park dog friends", I look forward to it everyday. I have met so many great people and their dogs there. There a lot of dogs where I live now and several big dogs, so I do not think it will be a problem. I am now leaning towards a older dog because the puppy phase is a lot of work. I will continue to come on here and let you all know how it works out for us since I now know how to post!

[Samba]

German Shepherds love to be with their people. Mine don't really want to be outside in the yard without me. We live in a small house and they are good in there. I train and play with the dogs though.. they are not sedentary house dogs. A lot of time and energy is devoted to training, exercise and play. If you have the energy and desire, a condo can work. Be ready for a hairy condo though!

[selzer]

I think there are enough GSDs in rescues, that if you want a laid back house dog that is good with babies and children, between 3 and 5 years old, and good with strange dogs, you can probably find several that match that.

I think too, that without a yard, rescues may be more likely to adopt an older dog that is more laid back, than a younger dog with high energy, high drive.

I have one dog right now that loves to spend the majority of her day lying on my bed. I have others that are bouncy and jumpy and want to go.

It is beneficial to any good rescue that is working with you to find the best match. Where purchasing a puppy from a breeder is a little more of a gamble as they are not necessarily the final product at eight weeks old.

Good luck.