Giant German Shepherds

[blackviolet]

My mother-in-law got a GSD pup from a rescue, and he's grown up to be enormous. He is only a year and a half and lean and lanky, and was 95lbs at their last vet visit. I don't know his measurements, but he is SUPER tall. He may have something wrong with his back (it's kinda got a hump. I don't know if that's "roached" or...?), but he's still quite young, so no health problems yet, though she has never had his xrays done or anything. Sometimes you don't know what you'll end up with.

[Eva von Selah]

Eva is nearly 2 1/2 and is a long-hair full-coat registered GSD from German and Czech working lines. She is 77 lbs now and 26 1/2" at the withers. Her sire is 130 lbs and her dam is 100 lbs. There were only six in her litter and no runts and my breeder says her lines muture-out at around 3 years. Eva is very lean with long legs and huge paws, level top-line, and the difference is the musculature. She is has and is developing large, dense muscles and can leap like a whitetail. My vet and breeder think she will hit 90 at proper weight.

All of her past 5 generations have been OFA Good or better and I am about to have her checked before she is 2 1/2 per my breeder's puppy guarantee as a formality. She gets an incredible amount of varied exercise and exhibits zero signs of displaysia.

All of that said, I agree that 150 lbs is an exageration or an aberration, probably fat and could be a problem. It always comes down to the breeder, and I don't agree that all of the large GSD breeders are irresponsible - just do your homework.

IMO, 100-120 lbs is not a problem for a non-angulated well-muscled GSD from a respected and responsible breeder.

Whew!

[codmaster]

Originally Posted by Eva von Selah

Eva is nearly 2 1/2 and is a long-hair full-coat registered GSD from German and Czech working lines. She is 77 lbs now and 26 1/2" at the withers. Her sire is 130 lbs and her dam is 100 lbs. There were only six in her litter and no runts and my breeder says her lines muture-out at around 3 years. Eva is very lean with long legs and huge paws, level top-line, and the difference is the musculature. She is has and is developing large, dense muscles and can leap like a whitetail. My vet and breeder think she will hit 90 at proper weight.

All of her past 5 generations have been OFA Good or better and I am about to have her checked before she is 2 1/2 per my breeder's puppy guarantee as a formality. She gets an incredible amount of varied exercise and exhibits zero signs of displaysia.

All of that said, I agree that 150 lbs is an exageration or an aberration, probably fat and could be a problem. It always comes down to the breeder, and I don't agree that all of the large GSD breeders are irresponsible - just do your homework.

IMO, 100-120 lbs is not a problem for a non-angulated well-muscled GSD from a respected and responsible breeder.

Whew!

But way over standard for a GSD female! A number of breeders would argue that dogs that are too big should not be bred - esp to another oversize dog.

For example, our US male is about 27" and about 84 lbs at 2 1/2 yo. He doesn't look oversize in the breed ring since almost all of the other dogs are as big or bigger than he is. I don't think it is a good trend in GSD's to keep getting bigger and bigger. We should be breeding to the standard in all aspects both mental and physical.

[Eva von Selah]

Originally Posted by codmaster

But way over standard for a GSD female! A number of breeders would argue that dogs that are too big should not be bred - esp to another oversize dog.

For example, our US male is about 27" and about 84 lbs at 2 1/2 yo. He doesn't look oversize in the breed ring since almost all of the other dogs are as big or bigger than he is. I don't think it is a good trend in GSD's to keep getting bigger and bigger. We should be breeding to the standard in all aspects both mental and physical.

I feel the female shouldn't be 100+ lbs but a male could be 120 lbs if he's not an anomally.

I have pictures of Eva's last seven generations and information about older generations, and the males are all 100-130 lbs, 28+" and average about 13 years with no hip problems.

As far as "standard" I believe that show-dog lines and working-dog lines are of two clearly recognizable but different ones, though only show dogs are officially "standard".

[codmaster]

Originally Posted by Eva von Selah

I feel the female shouldn't be 100+ lbs but a male could be 120 lbs if he's not an anomally. I have pictures of Eva's last seven generations and information about older generations, and the males are all 100-130 lbs, 28+" and average about 13 years with no hip problems.As far as "standard" I believe that show-dog lines and working-dog lines are of two clearly recognizable but different ones, though only show dogs are officially "standard".

120 lbs is way too big according to the GSD standard (US and SV as well) Do you realize that the standard height for what a male is supposed to be is only 24-26". The GSD is not supposed to be a Giant dog but more of a medium big dog.

BTW, it may be hard to realize (which is another problem) but show GSD's and working GSD's are supposed to follow the exact same standard! (different between US and SV but the same within a country!).

[Eva von Selah]

I agree that Eva's lines are out of the published standard dimensions but they are not out of line with her ancestors as far back as I can trace. I didn't realize the working GSDs were expected to meet standards as they often don't, usually owing to coat or color.

I did a lot of research before getting Eva, wanted to make sure she had the double coat, good hips and good lines, and nice coloring and I was able to meet many of her relatives as the breeder is a passed-down family business and the retired breeders remain as pets.

These are her sire and dam.

[Castlemaid]

I'd like to see this pedigree of 7 generations of German and Czech working lines that are all in the 100-130 lbs range and over 28 inches please! Very curious about it!

[APBTLove]

Originally Posted by Eva von Selah

I agree that Eva's lines are out of the published standard dimensions but they are not out of line with her ancestors as far back as I can trace. I didn't realize the working GSDs were expected to meet standards as they often don't, usually owing to coat or color.

I did a lot of research before getting Eva, wanted to make sure she had the double coat, good hips and good lines, and nice coloring and I was able to meet many of her relatives as the breeder is a passed-down family business and the retired breeders remain as pets.

These are her sire and dam.

I'm seen the male online before... He looks a whole lot like a King to me..

EDIT*
I recognized him from his kennel... They even say they breed oversized shepherds... Most likely a king shepherd... Some of the dogs she has pictured on her kennel also look like Shilohs. Beautiful dogs, but not GSDs. One of her studs looks highly mixed with something like a Pyrenees...

[blackviolet]

Besides being out of breed standard, why is it so bad for them to be over-sized, as long as they have good health and temperaments? If they have good hips and elbows, they're lean and kept in shape, and their musculature suits their size, what's so bad about it?

I mean, I can totally see why people would want one, and I don't blame them. I love the temperament of GSD's, but I also love larger dogs. If I could have a healthy extra large GSD, why not? I'm sure a larger dog wouldn't be as agile, but would it be that huge of a difference?

I'm sure that most people breeding or advertising "XL GSD's" aren't breeding for health and temperament, so I get that. And that if they aren't trying to better the breed or suit the breed standard, then they aren't all that reputable. But then again, look what the American showlines have done to dogs and still suits the breed standard. The extreme angulation seems to me to be a much worse offense than breeding them to be larger. Isn't that how mastiffs got to be so large, by intentionally breeding them to be?

When I first started thinking about getting a puppy, I emailed a breeder like that. She seemed pretty well-known for those types of dogs, not just a regular old backyard breeder... I thought.

After researching some more, and getting some good advice from you guys, I realized that that's not really what I was looking for, and the email she sent me was god-awful. Horrendous punctuation, spelling and grammatical errors aside, the info she gave was completely false and ignorant. It was terrible.

[Chicagocanine]

Originally Posted by XTOL

Im located in west central Illinois...Galesburg area.
When I decided I needed another dog first option
was to adopt a young adult. I checked out all the
shelters and rescues within driving distance.

I have a list of breeders in the area that I saved when I was looking to get a puppy. I ended up adopting an adult dog instead (from the dog's previous owner, I found them through an ad on Pedigree Database) but I kept the list of breeders for future reference. Maybe one of these will match what you're looking for?

Here it is:

GSDs Illinois/area


Show Me Shepherds AKC registered German Shepherds, bred for health & temperament, GSD’s for family, SAR, police, protection, work, Schutzhund, competition.

AKC German Shepherd Dogs | Moonshadow German Shepherd Dogs. conformation, obedience, agility, tracking, & herding

Eichenluft German Shepherds - Dogs for SaleWorking lines and show lines. Member of USA, SV &. AKC.

Gutten Haus Kennels

Angels In Disguise

Triton Kennels

Vom Haus Miller

Castlebrook GSD - European, Czech and DDR foundation dogs. Puppies available.
Dog Sports, Police K9's, SAR, Therapy work.

Von Barren Berg Shepherds East german shepherds bred for temperament,health & structure.

Working German Shepherd Breeder in Michigan, by Wildhaus Kennels