Help please! :d

[Purplicious]

I need to find out if a GS is a good dog for my family... Thanks, prior.

Anyway, we live in a 10-roomed house, but 2 of the rooms are pretty big, and the house is a medium-ish size. I'll play with my dog everyday, and every other day take her on like 1-2 hour walks or let her run around in the backyard or at the park. On weekends we sometimes go to lakes, rivers, and a public river-pool thing that is dog-friendly, or just go to a big park or camping. We have 2 ferrets, a guinea pig, a hedgie, and two turtles that are in a separate room that the dog won't be able to reach, I have a 2-year old brother who is very mildly allergic to dogs (He's been around dogs and never ever showed allergic symptoms. I think my parents are trying to scare me out of getting a dog.) I have a 6-year old sister who loves animals, me, who will take care of the dog, my parents, who each had GSs in their childhood, but probably will tell me to do all the work. The temperature here is pretty hot, especially in the summer, but all the other seasons it's awesome. Plus we have ok-ish air conditioning, and have a large fan that can blow on the dog in the summer, if the dog gets too hot.

So is a GS a good pet for us?

[blehmannwa]

Only if everyone in the whole family agrees that it is. May I ask your age?

[sit,stay]

I would really, really think hard about about a GSD for three reasons:

1) They shed a lot and someone with allergies might find it hard to live with a GSD.

2) I am not sure a young GSD would find that amount of exercise adequate and your family might end up with a bored, destructive dog because of it. This breed in general needs a great deal of daily exercise, and a lot of training above and beyond that exercise.

3) If OP is a teen, who will take responsibility for the dog's care when life gets really busy for the teen? I have a 13 year old son living at home and an adult son living on his own. A teenager's life can be crazy busy.

It is rough to really want to add a dog to your family, and even rougher when you have your heart set on a particular breed. But sometimes waiting until your life is more predictable is the best choice for you and the dog you eventually end up getting.
Sheilah

[readaboutdogs]

I agree, with a shepherd everyone in family should be on board with the idea. Shepherds are a rough and rowdy bunch!