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GSD's are lazy???

3K views 18 replies 15 participants last post by  SummerwoodSoaps 
#1 ·
so a new decoy fresh out of the millitary (8 years service MWD training, not handler) is taking on a few clients and i was lucky to be given his contact. so we are having a phone discussion and the comment comes up something like ".....but we will do it a bit different with a GSD cos they are a lazy breed..."????

did i miss the memo

so my awesome new decoy thinks he is a special school teacher cos he has to work with a GSD?????

i get they have different drives to a mal and OK less enrgy", instant drive or something but millitary personell rate/write them off as a lazy breed???

if he was referring to my individual dog it would not be as bad, but he has never seen my dog, just his conclusion about the entire breed sight unseen???
 
#7 ·
I know several military folks who work with GSDs and wouldn't call them lazy, so I don't think it's a military thing. ;)

I would hope he means that they do have lower drives than your average Mal. On the other hand, I used to think GSDs were lazy because I'd only met some companion-bred specimens who seemed quite happy being couch potatoes. So, maybe if he's only worked with other breeds in the military and his personal experience is like mine was, he has an inaccurate view like I did.

Does the military even use Mals/GSDs exclusively? I have a friend who worked peripheral to bomb dogs in Afghanistan and from his photos and stories I got the impression that most weren't Shepherds at all. I know the one in his unit was a Labrador, or at least looked like it from the photos--definitely a retriever type.
 
#8 ·
I know several military folks who work with GSDs and wouldn't call them lazy, so I don't think it's a military thing. ;)

I would hope he means that they do have lower drives than your average Mal. On the other hand, I used to think GSDs were lazy because I'd only met some companion-bred specimens who seemed quite happy being couch potatoes. So, maybe if he's only worked with other breeds in the military and his personal experience is like mine was, he has an inaccurate view like I did.

Does the military even use Mals/GSDs exclusively? I have a friend who worked peripheral to bomb dogs in Afghanistan and from his photos and stories I got the impression that most weren't Shepherds at all. I know the one in his unit was a Labrador, or at least looked like it from the photos--definitely a retriever type.
the guy personally owns springers and a dutchie. the money is apparently in detection work not decoying.
 
#10 ·
Mine's lazy if we're not doing anything and I like it. He doesn't pace around, chew furniture or drywall, bark at every passerby. I haven't done much with him this week because we've been busy and he just lies around the house or yard. He does not constantly pester me to do something and he doesn't get destructive or annoying if I don't have time to exercise him for hours or train every single day. But when we *are* doing something he's not lazy or difficult to motivate.
 
#14 ·
I guess my Stark could be considered "lazy"; he has low energy and low drive, with a medium to high threshold. He would much rather walk around the park and sniff things or lay in the grass while Zefra, who is polar opposite would rather jump and bark at you to throw her ball or interact with you in some way. ;)

Now, if I asked other people if Stark was lazy, who is not use to the breed - they would more than likely answer, "no, he's not lazy!". ;)

It's all relative.
 
#15 ·
MWD trainers/handlers are probably use to seeing the high drive kenneled when not working mal/dutch pocket rocket. So they do see the GSD as being lower key.
I bet he'll be the one quitting when working the GSD...they can be a bit more burdensome to carry or fight on a sleeve or suit than those smaller k9's.
I was at a KNPV seminar recently and the decoy wanted the big dogs to work first...he knew that he'd be gassed working them at the end. And the sessions were much shorter when working them vs the dutch/mals. Had nothing to do with laziness, but the burden of working a larger structure.
That said, I think a Mal/Dutch would go for longer than a GSD as far as not tiring. They do have stamina
 
#16 ·
I guess when I think of "lazy" I think of a dog like Zoey who lays around 90% of the day, every day. Who doesn't EVER have to have training or exercise to be stable and happy. I don't do obedience training with her and she's just fine with that and well behaved. I don't take her for walks except the rare occasion she follows Gretchen and I off leash around our land nor do I do any other sort of exercise with her and she's just fine with that and not in any way hyperactive or destructive due to her "lack of exercise". Can't say I've ever met even what I'd consider a low maintenance GSD who is like this. Her age has little to do with it too, she's always been a fairly easy dog to have around who has spent most of her life in a house. Even the calmest dogs with off switches that I've known would go crazy living in the house 24/7 365/year with it's main "exercise" literally being going outside to potty and then coming right back in.

Even if German Shepherds are easier than Mals, I still wouldn't call them lazy. I don't consider a well balanced dog who is willing and can do though still has an off switch as "lazy". JMO I suppose.
 
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