Multiple Breed Owners: Question

[mehpenn]

For those of you who own multiple breeds, (your GSD as well as another breed), do you notice a major difference in the behaviour, personality, willingness to learn and/or obey, drive, etc? And do you LIKE the differences?

We have had many different breeds through the years, fostering and rehab situations.
Currently we have Greta (Lab), Sadie (Toy Poodle) and Zee (German Shepherd).... and over the past five years or so we've fostered Great Danes, Pointers, Dachsunds, and many mixes of mixes... going back to our original heart breeds of Labs and German Shepherds.

Looking at our current pack, with general house behaviour aside, I see a HUGE difference in the work ethic and desires, of all of our dogs.

Sadie.... has never been asked to do anything. She's a pet, and that's that. She's my eleven year old's dog, and is content to lay on the arm of the couch (her throne) and watch her minions go about their lives.

Greta... Greta is my velcro dog. She's obedient and has a massive desire to please me... as long as she can be by my side while she does it. She's got no desire to go off on her own or be left behind. She's a great dog, very quiet and submissive and honestly just wants to make me happy.

Zee... has issues (putting that mildly, huh?). Spending her life up until a couple months ago, doing what she wanted, when she wanted, I still see her having a desire to please. She's super smart and one on one is a fabulous dog. Working her outside, I see a side of her that amazes me. Her desire to WORK is astounding. She loves having a job, loves being given something to do, and she's content to be left at her job and not have me directly next to her, yet appreciates that stay relatively close by.

This afternoon, I was working with Zee, as we're getting ready for DogSports (obedience) this week... and just to see what she'd do, I placed her in a "sit stay" at the base of my driveway, dropped her leash and walked probably about 100 feet to the barn... turned around and walked back to her. She didn't move a muslce.
So, I did it again. This time I walked to the barn and called her to me... she came directly to me.

After our short session, I found myself curious and somewhat amazed, as to the differences between my two dogs.
So, I put Zee up and brought Greta out.

I followed the same routine as I had with Zee. Put Greta in the sit stay, walked towards the barn, turned to return to Greta, and as soon as I turned around, she left her stay and trotted towards me. Greta's just not comfortable with me leaving her like that. She never has been. Gradually, we've worked up to about 45 seconds before she breaks her stay, but it's taken nearly three years to reach even that point. It used to bother me, but I've accepted that she's just not comfortable with being left.

I love that Greta is my velcro dog. I love that she's so devoted to me, and genuinly loves being by my side.... but honestly, I must admit, I'm quite impressed with Zee's attitude and drive (aside from the whole shyness thing inside... but I guess living the life she lived, it's expected that she act differently indoors... and I'm confident that she'll learn and mellow out)

I've had German Shepherds before... years ago. After my boy Murphy died in 2006, then I lost Delilah in 2007, I simply could not bring myself to open my heart to another.... and then when Greta came along in 2010, I was like, WOW, so THIS is what a real VELCRO dog is like.
But I admit, I'd forgotten how much fun owning a WORKING DOG can be.

I've simply have the best of both worlds.

[JackandMattie]

ABSOLUTELY!

I have a Weimaraner and two GSDs.

The Weim is my first non-GSD dog ever, and her personality, temperament, and emotional needs are miles apart. Lillian is stubborn, wayward, sneaky, thieving, Sweet!, smart, and cuddly. She is not content unless she is either running around outside, or if inside, some part of her body is draped over some part of my body.

Supposedly, weims and GSDs are both typically velcro dogs. Now, Lillian is pretty attached to me. She's not going to run off anywhere anytime soon...but she is not nearly as "sticky" as my GSDs, who barely ever take their eyes off me. She won't leave our lots, but she will sneak aorund the house where I can't see her so she can squirrel-sit. I can call her back, and she'll stay in sight for about two minutes or so, but as soon as I'm distracted again, she's right back at the base of those trees. MY GSDs on the other hand, are always, always right there with me.

All three of my dogs are crazy smart, but the weim is by far the trickiest dog I have ever known. She will outsmart and outmanuever Jack every time (I know I will probably catch some flak over that on this forum ). Recently she was playing keep away from him (he can't catch her no matter how hard he tries - she literally runs circles around him). It was just past dusk and she's a blue so she starts to "disappear" as the sun goes down. Well, just as she zipped past the open screen door, she ducked behind it and hid in the shadows.

Poor Jack raced right past the door, past the picnic table, and made it all way to the kennel about 15 feet away before he realized she was missing, LOL! He stopped in his tracks and looked like, Doh!

Lillian sat there in the shadows until he backtracked, almost found her, and then she jumped out and it was on again!

The neighbor and I laughed for ten minutes straight

[Jax08]

Yes!!! And within the breeds, there are different levels of all of those things as well. I'm pretty stuck on my German Shepherd. Don't think I'll ever own another breed unless I'm to old to deal with it and get a Collie again.

[qbchottu]

I have/had other breeds - still like my GSDs best. I will get a Rottie somewhere along the way (sooner rather than later if certain things fall into place!), but GSDs are it for me. I have had/have Goldens - won't get them again. Just too soft and silly for me. Sport and conformation venues are very important to me, and I want GSDs that I can have fun working/showing

[Jag]

I've also had other breeds. None have stolen my heart like the shepherds. I, too, after the loss of my duo said "no more". Nothing can rip your guts apart like the loss of a shepherd. So, I got a Pug. She's sweet. She LOVES to cuddle, be held, be petted, and she also plays well and due to her age had a lot of energy!! BUT, she wasn't a shepherd. Grim is my heart. He may not want to be held (although he's having his cuddlly moments!), but he HAS to be near me. He takes 'devotion' to a whole other level. He is becoming fiercely protective of me. I love that he THINKS. He's now wanting to please. He wants to help. He's my right hand man. To me, there is a giant, gaping whole in my life without a shepherd. We're learning 'work' together. We are a team. I love his trust in me to do new things. I love seeing his sense of pride at a job well done. He is fearless. More and more, we are working as one. I can't wait to see how things progress as we go further into this!

[shepherdmom]

There is a total difference. I've had an Akita, a Dane, a Boxer mixed with stupid, a aussie mix.. and of course many GSD's. I currently have two little lab mixes to go with the GSD's. What a difference. Wish I had gotten one years ago. Love the gentle mouth and sweetheart attitudes. I love my GSD's but even as old as my two are (11 and 7) they are pushy demanding pay attention to me now in your face attitudes are completely different from any other dog. I love it! They are far more expressive and communicative than any other breed that I've had.

[Franksmom]

I've only had the one GSD to compare to my Border collies.
My GSD is more biddable, I tell him to do something and he does it, he wants to please me,
My Border Collies want to please but when you tell them something It's like they have to decide if you really have told them the correct way to do something or if they need to fix the command first.
My GSD is smart but not Border Collie smart.
My GSD has more of an Off switch then the Border Collies. They're both very active but the BC will run rings around the GSD and keep going and going and going......
My GSD is alot more vocal then any of my Border Collies have ever been.
I love alot of things about my GSD and will probably have another in the future, but my heart belongs to the BC and has since I was about 7 years old and watched them herd ducks at the state fair, looked at my Dad and said "One day I'm going to have one of those"

[llombardo]

My GSD and Golden are very similar but different, does that make sense? They are both extremely smart, but I want to say that the golden is more obedient then the GSD...the golden is older and I do expect the GSD to be at his level soon. They are both my velcro dogs, wherever I go they are both there. They both love agility. The golden is always happy and the GSD always wants to play. They are both laid back, but ready to go whenever. Now my oldest is mostly Samoyed and she is the independent one, but very smart. She has always been hard to stay ahead of. She has no formal obedience training, but she is obedient, but less likely then the GSD or Golden to listen, yep she definitely has her own agenda, but I love her anyway. I wouldn't mind owning any of the breeds I have again. The golden was the dog I always dreamed about and he turned out to be a dream dog that lights up a room. The GSD has stolen my heart and I love the way she thinks and she is always thinking. The Samoyed mix had my heart from the very beginning, she is the motherly one of the bunch.

[Zeeva]

Oh my goodness YES!!! C: Have you ever fostered a husky.

Here is their behavioral guide!!!

[llombardo]

Originally Posted by Zeeva

Oh my goodness YES!!! C: Have you ever fostered a husky.

Here is their behavioral guide!!!

That is so true