Couch Potatoes?

[lourdes]

Hello, I keep hearing about high drive pups and couch potatoes, how about a middle of the road pup what are they called? When I hear high drive I get concerned I may do the dog a disservice since I am a first time GSD owner, but a couch potato sounds to low maintenance since I am physically active and have a particular job of protection which I am willing dedicate everyday to train my dog to meet his goals. I definitely want a working line male sable at least I got this far. I never thought choosing a GSD entailed so much research, but now that I'm in it I might as well become as knowledgeable as I can and this forum as been an invaluable source. Thank you to all that have helped me along the way to choosing my life long companion and protector. Any thoughts will be much appreciated. Thank you and have a nice day.

[Shade]

Medium energy would best describe what you're looking for I believe

A dog that is willing and able to spend a few hours training or exercising in a flash but will settle when all is quiet?

[Bear GSD]

Some would say that an in between dog would be one with good drive but has an "off switch". In otherwords what Shade said, is easy to settle.

[robinhuerta]

A well bred GSD puppy/dog, should be able to go from energy to relaxation as needed.*This afternoon, I spent a good hour playing and laughing at one of our 4 month old puppies......then decided to watch a movie, I simply layed on the couch....and he curled up on the floor under me. *ON/OFF*.......nothing of a miracle.....just a nicely, balanced puppy.I don't think that I could live with anything that had to be constantly *engaged*......JMO

[KristiM]

I have a dog that is very, very high drive working line, when he is out doing stuff he is a MOSNTER! Everyone who meets him spends like 30 seconds just staring at him wide eyed because they have never seen such an intense, "ON" dog. He does settle very well in the house though, it did take some time but he is 19 months old now and generally just lays at my feet when I'm relaxing. My other WL male is still nice drive, just not as intense and has always settled very well in the house, when he was a teenager he liked to play a little at night but nothing crazy. If you encourage your dog to act like a maniac in the house (playing with him and paying attention to antics) then he will continue with those behaviours. Just discourage antics in the house and your pup will figure out how to settle in the house. (Just remember puppies suck, that's why they make them cute)

[llombardo]

When in motion mine would be medium to high drive. She can go, go, go, but when its time to relax she does so with no problems. She can entertain herself too, which amuses me(its adorable watching her throw the ball up in the air and catching it...over and over again). She also is on permanent watch when it comes to the cats.

[Anubis_Star]

Probably more of a medium drive pup. My first GSD, Zeke, was an ASL out of the newspaper. VERY low drive, VERY lazy dog. Which bums me out, I'm active. My next dog, Luther, was a SUPER high drive czech working line (that also had severe aggression and anxiety issues). I loved that I could take him cycling and hiking and swimming, but he never turned OFF. At home he would just pace back and forth.

Find a good breeder, and you should be able to give them clear expectations of what you want and they should easily be able to find a pup for you. Or tell you their lines aren't right for what you want. I have a friend that breeds very high drive, hard, sporty czech lines. Even though he keeps bugging me to buy one of his pups, we both kind of know that his dogs are NOT for me.

I am getting a DDR/Czech male this march, from a breeder that I spoke to extensively with about what I want. Mainly a family dog, not too high drive or sport, just an active companion that I would maybe like to do some schutzhund or agility with. And I trust her to pick out the best pup for me.

[Anja vom Spokane]

I like what my breeder/trainer had told me. "It's easier to build drive into a dog then to TRY to drive it out" LOL