Working line German shepherds Working Dogs

To get this back on track again, what can anyone else tell me about them? On average (I know it differs) what's the size of a dog and weight etc? How much do they eat (again on average I know every dog is different) but I know it's going to be completely different as the cresteds ony need 130ish grams a day I imagine a gsd is going to need a lot more! I want to feed raw and it's always nice to see how much food (and money!) I'd go through having a larger dog

How many of you do things with your dog i.e working trials or schutzhund? Is there anyone on here who has a working line gsd and their dog is just a pet, no extra activities involved?

Just catching up with this as I've been in work and it's grown loads!

I'm considering, I don't know what kind of dog to go for. My problem is I like a lot of breeds, and at the minute my requirements are simply:
larger breed
Easy coat care
Higher energy

Which as you can imagine leaves me with a fair few choices That's why I'm trying to do as much research on the ones I like and narrow it down

My Gsd's coat was not that easy .
When it blew you knew about it...

what about a Doberman? I wouldn't call GSD coats easy ha.

oh god i love my Sweep but i never want a 'hairy' breed again haha

I can only speak for my dog.

He is just short of the maximum breed standard height 64 cm, he only gets weighed once a year and maintains a very lean weight of 40kgs, there is no one ounce of fat or flab on his body.

He is fed raw and eats approximately 2kgs of food a day, sometimes more.

Isn`t that kind of the point to do what is recommended for the breeds health, does it matter if they don`t know why they are doing it as long as when they do, they abide by the results :?

Health testing is paramount in producing healthy (as best you can) dogs!

Or are you suggesting now that health screening plays no part in breeding, because you post confuses me a little, as I am sure like the majority of members here,when such issues crop up in the thousands of threads on health matter, you like everyone else has stated strongly, that health is vastly important when breeding.

So how can you achieve that unless you health screen!

I mean compared to the cresteds In terms of how often they need bathing and grooming trimming etc. blowing the coat ad shedding doesn't bother me.

Wow! 2kg! He could eat half of my dog for a meal

I thought I didn't mind shedding or coat blowing until my foster started a couple of weeks ago! Despite brushing a bag of hair off her daily my house is still full of balls of fluffy hair and I've given up on expecting to have tidy floors for the time being
I've really liked reading this thread, always loved the shepherds but for myself think i would only have one if I had 2 or 3 less dogs than I do now.
The mess my foster makes has kind of put me off, she's not a gsd but is that sort of size and shape with a similar coat to what a slightly long haired one would have, so I guess a gsd would make similar amounts of extra cleaning

Might bother your grandmother, though! Better check with her first!

even the shorts blow their coats. the fur manages to congregate everywhere, including rooms she never goes into.

You learn to be handy with a hoover! (currently training the OH as well - not so successful)

My Kerrie (not a gsd, but very similar coat) is a nightmare at moulting time. I can hoover daily, and still find loads of her fur. The worst thing is, it sticks, and gets everywhere

No I very much think people should ask why as well
Especially when a bad result in a test means that dog is removed from the breeding program and hence the gene pool - it is important to find out if the condition is actually genetic or how it is passed on

I am afraid I disagree that health testing is paramount in producing healthy dogs - it is PART of the picture but it is by far not the whole thing

I am in no way saying screeing plays no part - but it is not the be all and end all that some people think it is
Firstly you have to look at the statistics for the odds of individuals in a breed getting that condition to see how valid the tests are
I have heard in some contries there is NO CEA in border collies
Yes a breeder would be considered good if they test for it and people would feel confident that they have given themselves the best chance f getting a healthy puppy because the breeder health tests

Epilepsy is sadly more common but last I heard there isnt a good test for it yet
and I know of several breeders who suddenly cannot be contacted at all when a pup is found to have it - so they can say to other buyers that they have no epilepsy in their lines

HD is common enough - yet there are some dogs who have worked every day into their teens without any problems at all yet have what is considered as bad hips - we dont even know if this effects them or not
we do not know if it is caused by breeding or environment

So it may actually be of more benifit to compile the data for a little while and actually study the effects before removing individuals from the gene pool

I know people dont think it is a huge deal to remove one dog from the gene pool, but I have been told that in isds registered border collies there is actual genetic diversity that only ammounts to 8 real individuals
In recent studies many breeds are tested to have as little genetic diversity as the top most critically endangered species

So I believe at the moment we are at a very risky place and knee jerking and taking genetic diversity out of the gene pool may be far more damaging than some fairly rare conditions

another point is balnancing the effects of inbreeding
For example say you want to remove cancer
Current thinking would be to heavily line breed to lines without cancer and not breed from the lines with cancer
But
inbreeding is knowen to increase the chances of cancer
So suddenly cancer may pop up in the lines that once were free of it
Of course you have all been told to not breed from lines with cancer - so inbreed more and more
Until by the time someone stands up and asks 'why?' it may already be too late for the breed

I like this post very much

I agree and, actually, the more I think about it, the more I wonder whether dogs ARE actually getting any healthier due to health testing, whether there is little difference, or whether it is actually causing harm. Are there are statistics out there to prove this either way?

Is health testing creating a healthier dog population?? Going by both PDE programmes, it really does need to be questioned.

My WL is taller and leaner than either of my longhairs. He is around 63cm to the withers and I guesstimate is around 40kg (he hasn't yet been weighed).

At the moment, the only other activity I do with Zak (other than his regular exercise) is basic obedience training. I do want to go on to do working trials, but for the time being he is my active companion. He is the easiest GSD I have owned so far.

I find it hard to comprehend having such a large selection of breeds to choose from The one breed I always knew I wanted and would have was the GSD. So it was easy for me in comparison.

I suppose you need to think about what dogs you like aesthetically, what you want to do with your dog, how much exercise/company/stimulation you will give it. You need to try and assess how confident a dog handler you are and try to find a breed that will suit your nature. GSDs, in my experience, are a breed who will take the p*ss, and if you give them an inch, you are guaranteed they will take a mile or more

Do you also need to consider a breed that will fit in with your smaller dogs? Obviously most larger breeds are going to require more training and exercise than your smallies.

What attracts you to the breeds you are considering? (as they are all quite different to one another).

Pondering these things may help your decision.

I remember once being told that a well behaved, well trained GSD is the most pleasurable dog on earth to own, but a badly behaved and untrained dog is one of the most unpleasant.

Think on it

I think it is quite important actually that a breeder knows why they are testing for a particular health issue!

And as far as your second sentence I have highlighted ... IS health testing producing healthy dogs??? That is the point trying to be made.

Absolutely - in fact the standard coat shepherd sheds far more coat than the longhairs ime.

Another real thought-provoking post BenMc! Surely someone should be asking these sorts of questions?