Will a GSD suffer from hip problems at a young age? The GSD is one active dog and I can't lock him up all day just to prevent him from getting hip problems. It would drive him insane!! All I want is a healthy dog...
Excessively limiting activity is the absolute worst thing you can do for their physical health, especially while they are growing. I actually knew a GSD who had to be PTS because he was crippled due to his owner thinking keeping him confined 18-20 hours a day and never allowing him to run or walk up stairs until he was 3 years old would prevent him from having joint problems. It doesn't work that way. Research shows that animals, including humans have better bone and muscle development when they have good exercise during growth. Dogs who do have hip dysplasia do best when they are kept well exercised, muscular and lean. Not to down play the problem but many people have no idea that their dog has hip dysplasia until they are older and develop arthritis from it.
I'm not really sure what to suggest for you. There is absolutely no way to guarantee that any dog of any breed or mix you get will never develop a costly health problem. None of my GSDs had hip dysplasia. One of my GSDs was epileptic and had to be PTS due to uncontrollable seizures at 3 years old. I still have his half sister and she is in great health at 13, very little arthritis and (knock on wood) has never had any major health problem. My other GSD is also 13 and has arthritis issues in her old age but like the other dog has not had any major health issues. However, she had to have a toe amputated when she was 3 or 4. I have a 12 year old Belgian who is extremely healthy but had to have her spleen removed last summer. I also have 3 year old Belgian with an infected tooth. Those all cost money to treat, need to be treated and are not things which can be prevented or foreseen. Just every day emergencies that come with dog ownership.
And genetic health issues don't just affect purebred dogs. Someone who took puppy class with me just had her 9 month old mixed breed puppy diagnosed with pancreatic insufficiency, a genetic disorder that requires expensive medication through the dog's entire life. My mixed breed had hypothyroidism, which also requires daily medication but luckily is not terribly expensive. Someone I "know" from another forum spent thousands upon thousands of dollars to treat her mixed breed's cancer, once as a young dog and again as an older dog. Years ago a friend had a shelter dog who died young due to uncontrollable seizures. There is a risk to owning a dog, as living creatures any number of things can go wrong at any time. Some genetic, some not but most are not predictable.
I don't get the impression that you will want to pay $1000 - 2000+ for a well bred GSD or Rott puppy from health tested lines. If you are sure you really want a dog (for reasons of companionship, not just because your house has been broken into) and all that dog ownership entails (training, socialization, vet care and especially expenses of owning a dog) then IMO your best bet may be to adopt a shelter dog or get an adult rehome from local classifieds such as Craigslist.
I doubt there are many places in the country where you can't find adult purebred GSDs or Rotts in shelters or classifieds needing homes. If you can't decide between the two, GSD/Rott mixes are probably fairly plentiful too. I'd also very much encourage you to consider large, dark colored adult mixed breeds as an option as well. Large dark colored dogs, especially black ones have been found in surveys to be the most intimidating to people. And likely for that reason, large black dogs often have the hardest time getting adopted. You can read a bit about that here:
Black Dog Syndrome To find GSDs or Rotts needing homes check petfinder and classifieds regularly.
When you get an adult dog from a reputable shelter or rescue or honest owner you generally can get an idea about the dog's temperament. Very often for the adoption fee, you can get a dog who is already fully vetted (vaccinated, wormed, spayed or neutered), housetrained or started on it and if you're lucky maybe even one who knows some basic cues. Some shelters and rescues have "prison programs" where inmates train shelter dogs for 4-8 weeks and if you can get a dog from such a program the dog will have a great start on training.
As far as the dog's ability to protect you, you can't expect most dogs even GSD or Rotts to know how to protect you without training. Some do but many will not do anything more than bark or maybe nip at the threat. It takes a long time and a lot of dedicated training, not to mention a dog with the right temperament to make a reliable personal protection dog. Everyone wants to believe their dog would always protect them but when push comes to shove, it very often doesn't happen that way with untrained dogs or dogs who don't have the proper temperament for that sort of thing. But the good news is that generally all dogs have to do to protect you is be present and make noise. A large, barking dog of any sort is enough to scare off probably 95% of anyone who might casually consider breaking into your home to steal your stuff. Even if the person doesn't happen to fear your dog, the noise will attract unwanted attention, encouraging them to move on to an easier target. But if someone wants in your house badly enough though, a dog is no match for someone with a gun regardless of breed or training.
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