German Shepherds

splashgirl45 said:
all look like lovely dogs but agree Zak is something special.....love the pic of jennbags mums dog, what a great momento...
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Thanks Splashgirl. Zak is my one in a million I think and is going to be a hard act to follow. Here is his son, and hopefully the same breeder (in Denmark) will be using Zak's semen on her future breeding bitch and I hope to have a pup from that pairing if it all works out in 2-3 years time.

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Karran said:
I grew up very close to my grandparents and they used to take in retired police dogs. None of them lasted very long unfortunately (I seem to remember back end problems with most of them) but would have four or five years happy retirement which suited my grandparents needs at the time
The first I remember was actually a Dobe,
But then there was Zero, Solo, (both shorthaired GSD's), very similar in look, Simba (longhaired) and Merlyn (longhaired black)
Unfortunately this is the only photo I can find of any of the four. I think its Zero in the photo along with me early-mid 90's!
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Lovely photo Karran. What a lovely thing for your grandparents to do as well. To take in an older dog, knowing that you wouldn't get a long time with them in very selfless. It is something I would be interested in doing when I am older and unable to deal with the boisterousness of pups.
 
WorkingGSD said:
Thanks Splashgirl. Zak is my one in a million I think and is going to be a hard act to follow. Here is his son, and hopefully the same breeder (in Denmark) will be using Zak's semen on her future breeding bitch and I hope to have a pup from that pairing if it all works out in 2-3 years time.

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That is Zak's pup? What a lovely dog. He has evenly erect ears - how did that happen!?
 
Clodagh said:
That is Zak's pup? What a lovely dog. He has evenly erect ears - how did that happen!?
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Yes, this is his pup. Now 6 months and huge ... so hope he won't grow any more! His ears did the usual up, down, cross, down, up before both standing to attention and staying there :) Hopefully he will grow into them soon lol!

ETA : He should get darker and darker as he ages too, as sables do. Zak and also the mother are both dark sable so I would expect Phoenix (pup) to end up a similar colour to them.
 
WorkingGSD said:
Yes, this is his pup. Now 6 months and huge ... so hope he won't grow any more! His ears did the usual up, down, cross, down, up before both standing to attention and staying there :) Hopefully he will grow into them soon lol!

ETA : He should get darker and darker as he ages too, as sables do. Zak and also the mother are both dark sable so I would expect Phoenix (pup) to end up a similar colour to them.
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Is there an ideal weight for a GSD? Or will he not be shown, will he do working stuff? (Where I assume weight is irrelevant?)
 
Clodagh said:
Is there an ideal weight for a GSD? Or will he not be shown, will he do working stuff? (Where I assume weight is irrelevant?)
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Oh no he won't be shown. He is training for IPO (tracking, protection, obedience). Height shouldn't be too much of a problem and I know his owner will keep a close eye on his weight to keep it optimum for the work he will be doing, but I can only assume he has grown so big so quickly because he was a singleton pup. Neither mother or father are large dogs. Zak is 63cm and 39kg.
 
WorkingGSD said:
Lovely photo Karran. What a lovely thing for your grandparents to do as well. To take in an older dog, knowing that you wouldn't get a long time with them in very selfless. It is something I would be interested in doing when I am older and unable to deal with the boisterousness of pups.
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Think it ties in nicely with your other thread! I never thought about it as a kid but here were working dogs coming from a working life and living in kennels to suddenly being pampered pets in front of the fire, two walks a day and there was 7 boisterious grandkids all very close in age around there almost daily to get used to!

I don't remember any problems with them although we were taught very young how to treat them as dogs and not toys (if only we'd applied that knowledge to our own Labrador who was always a willing playmate for anything we dreamed up!)
 
WorkingGSD said:
Ooh you were so lucky to grow up with shepherds! My parents wouldn't let me get a dog and heaven for me was time spent on my grandparents farm each summer with the sheepdogs. I also walked all and sundry's dogs in the village where I grew up. I always had the dream of owning my own GSD, probably helped along by Joyce Stranger books and my ambition to be a police dog handler. What a shame you lost all your photos :(
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Joyce's first shepherd Puma came from Mum, and Joyce did all her GSD related research with us in the early days. The lead poisoning story in Never Count Apples actually happened to a litter of pups we had :(
 
Karran said:
Think it ties in nicely with your other thread! I never thought about it as a kid but here were working dogs coming from a working life and living in kennels to suddenly being pampered pets in front of the fire, two walks a day and there was 7 boisterious grandkids all very close in age around there almost daily to get used to!

I don't remember any problems with them although we were taught very young how to treat them as dogs and not toys (if only we'd applied that knowledge to our own Labrador who was always a willing playmate for anything we dreamed up!)
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It probably worked so well because it was older dogs who had probably had quite a hard working life (and GSDs usually retire at 8-9 years) being brought into an experienced home where there were boundaries. I have noticed a change in my working line dog's energy levels for the past year or so (he is now 7 years) and although he is still very physically fit and active, he is happy to snooze for longer when there isn't anything else going on.
 
MurphysMinder said:
Joyce's first shepherd Puma came from Mum, and Joyce did all her GSD related research with us in the early days. The lead poisoning story in Never Count Apples actually happened to a litter of pups we had :(
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Oh wow - I know who you are now then :) Your mum bred some beautiful dogs. Do you still have the more Alsatian type or the WGSL? I loved Joyce's books as a child and still have many that I cherish to this day. The lead poisoning of the pups must have been devastating :(
 
Thinking back to Puma, Chita and Josse, as well as Joyce's fictional dogs especially the GSDs (Storm from the Paddy Joe books, Ven and Josse the police dogs, Gelert, Zellie in Never Count Apples) and border collies (Flash, Lig from A Walk in the Dark, Rex) definitely helped nurture and grow my love of these breeds of dog, especially as a child and young teen when I was absolutely desperate for a dog of my own.

I spoke to Eric Roberts at a training event a few years ago about Joyce (as she mentioned him a few times in her non fictional books) and he said she was a lovely lady if a little eccentric. I spoke to her via letters and then on an email forum for working dogs run by police dog handlers when the internet was fairly new and long before these kind of forums/boards. You used to just be on a list and get group emails that everyone could read in your inbox. Oh the good old days :)
 
WorkingGSD said:
My parents wouldn't let me get a dog:(
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mine were the same but appparently I soon put a stop to that! As a 3 and 4 yo I would keep going up to GSDs and putting my arms around them. (there were several around our way) They got too panicky I would get hurt and got me a collie type pup to cuddle.
 
paddy555 said:
mine were the same but appparently I soon put a stop to that! As a 3 and 4 yo I would keep going up to GSDs and putting my arms around them. (there were several around our way) They got too panicky I would get hurt and got me a collie type pup to cuddle.
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Ha ha I was similarly unphased and went up to cuddle any breed of dog - but especially GSDs and collies, but my parents were still mean.
 
WorkingGSD said:
Oh wow - I know who you are now then :) Your mum bred some beautiful dogs. Do you still have the more Alsatian type or the WGSL? I loved Joyce's books as a child and still have many that I cherish to this day. The lead poisoning of the pups must have been devastating :(
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Very much WGSL, in fact Puma was probably the last of english type and she was mated to a german bred dog. The lead poisoning was heartbreaking , we only lost one, who was my favourite but the other pups really struggled for a while.

Joyce was a little eccentric, but looking back she spoke a lot of sense. She used to go on about there being a movement against dogs and people would be trying to ban them and I don't think anybody took any notice as it just wasn't the case then, but look at the anti dog feeling nowadays.
 
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Clodagh he does but would lick you to death. He barks like a nut case at the door but then throws himself on the the floor to scratch his belly.
 
MurphysMinder said:
Very much WGSL, in fact Puma was probably the last of english type and she was mated to a german bred dog. The lead poisoning was heartbreaking , we only lost one, who was my favourite but the other pups really struggled for a while.

Joyce was a little eccentric, but looking back she spoke a lot of sense. She used to go on about there being a movement against dogs and people would be trying to ban them and I don't think anybody took any notice as it just wasn't the case then, but look at the anti dog feeling nowadays.
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Do you happen to know Chita's breeding? Joyce never mentioned it in her books.

I think lots of "dog people" might be considered eccentric by some but I always found Joyce' books to be insightful, interesting and down to earth. She didn't mind admitting her mistakes, especially in the hope that someone else might learn from them. And as you say, there is much more of an anti-dog feeling these days than there was even just ten years ago.
 
jsprince - some beautiful dogs there! Wow and Teddy has grown so much since I last saw a photo of him on here. What a handsome boy. Will you show him?
 
WorkingGSD said:
jsprince - some beautiful dogs there! Wow and Teddy has grown so much since I last saw a photo of him on here. What a handsome boy. Will you show him?
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Thankyou WorkingGSD, they were all much loved boys.

No Teddy won't be shown there is not much of a Gsd show scene near me and I don't really think I would have the time for it I hope to try agility with him.
 
WorkingGSD said:
Do you happen to know Chita's breeding? Joyce never mentioned it in her books.

I think lots of "dog people" might be considered eccentric by some but I always found Joyce' books to be insightful, interesting and down to earth. She didn't mind admitting her mistakes, especially in the hope that someone else might learn from them. And as you say, there is much more of an anti-dog feeling these days than there was even just ten years ago.
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I've a feeling she was a Tracelyn , but I could be making that up ! :) I know she was quite strong working lines.
 
MurphysMinder said:
I've a feeling she was a Tracelyn , but I could be making that up ! :) I know she was quite strong working lines.
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From the description of her temperament and high drive I did think she must be from working lines, although I don't suppose the UK had the continental working line influence that we have today. I must ask Margaret Crispin if she was one of hers. Thanks.
 
jsprince said:
Thankyou WorkingGSD, they were all much loved boys.

No Teddy won't be shown there is not much of a Gsd show scene near me and I don't really think I would have the time for it I hope to try agility with him.
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I haven't met a dog yet that doesn't enjoy at least some of the equipment in agility so I am sure Teddy will have a great time.
 
When I was really young, my uncle (my mum's sister's husband) worked for a while as a security man / night-watchman (until he had a fall off a roof and injured his back), and he had an Alsatian (as we called them back then), called Tanya.

I have a few memories of playing with her, especially throwing snowballs for her to catch in the woods, and laughing when she looked stunned that the ball had disappeared in her mouth.

My mum has a photo of me in my high chair, gnawing on the bone from the Sunday roast, with Tanya looking up and waiting for it to be her turn...

She tells me that she could take me out into the park and let me run around and do whatever I wanted at three or four years old, and that Tanya would keep and eye on me and not let me stray too far.

I don't think I see as many of that breed around as when I was a kid, and those that I see don't look anything like as nice; they seem to have a bigger slope from shoulder to hip, often have terrible hip problems when they're older, and nasty-looking dew-claws.
 
GSDs in the UK have certainly changed over the past 30 odd years. The influence and popularity of the West German show type (with the more angulated shape you mention) is the main reason for this. Continental working lines being imported have also seen the split between show and working dogs become bigger. When I was young the working dogs (such as police, prison and army dogs) were the same types that you saw in most pet homes and even the show ring to some extent.

Hip dysplasia has always been an issue and researchers have been working hard for decades to find a solution, as well as breeders testing their breeding stock to try to reduce the risk of producing affected pups but still the problem remains. We know there is likely to be a genetic component (as certain breeds and lines are more prone to it) but we also know it is influenced by environmental factors (such as joint laxity, nutrition, weight and exercise) and so finding a genetic solution is unlikely to happen. That’s a whole other topic though!

Not sure where your comment about dew claws comes in? Do you mean rear dewclaws? I’ve never seen a GSD with rear dewclaws.
 
WorkingGSD said:
Not sure where your comment about dew claws comes in? Do you mean rear dewclaws? I’ve never seen a GSD with rear dewclaws.
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WorkingGSD

I can remember back in the early 90's my Mum and Dad purchased two GSD littermates from west country, they both had dew claws and were operated on and removed at a few months old, I think because of the risk of their being caught and ripped off.

They were both lovely boys Roger and Sabre, one for me and one for my brother. Sabre managed to break his rear paw as a pup trying to climb out of playpen and had a metal plate inserted, I can always remember my Mum who loved animals saying Dad was soppy we had only had him for a few weeks and the cost of the op i think it was a few thousand back then could have bought another 6 puppies!

Sabre though was the one who used to follow Mum around most.
 
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