# Is a German Shepherd right for me?



## andsparksfly (Mar 3, 2012)

I've had a German Shepherd before, but in completely different living conditions. I currently live in a medium (two story) townhouse with a small yard but with a dog park nearby. We're in Florida, so it's really hot a lot of the time but sometimes really cold w/ no snow at all. I have two children, 14 yr old and 16 yr old. We also have two small animals (hamsters) and a Labrador puppy (about 2 months). The Labrador is very friendly and loves other animals. My son takes a lot of care over the Labrador and considers it 'his own' and my daughter would like the German Shepherd as 'hers' which she will probably take with her when she goes to college in 2 years. As of right now, she would have plenty of time to care for the dog and would be able to train it, take it on daily walks, and play with it since she spends a lot of time at home. If she's busy, I would gladly take over caring for the dog during that day like I do with the puppy we have now. I had a very good experience with the German Shepherd I owned before, so I would really like to get one again. Are these living conditions good enough...?


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

`Sounds great to me, as long as you're 100% committed to being "plan B" when your daughter goes to college if she's too busy to care for him or if she can't find housing that allows German Shepherds. I will add that, in general, German Shepherds don't make good dog park dogs.


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## Stevenzachsmom (Mar 3, 2008)

Your home sounds wonderful. My only concern is the very young age of the Lab. He is just a baby. Were you planning on getting a GSD puppy, or an adult? Did you have any specific concerns that we could address?


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## andsparksfly (Mar 3, 2012)

Stevenzachsmom said:


> Your home sounds wonderful. My only concern is the very young age of the Lab. He is just a baby. Were you planning on getting a GSD puppy, or an adult? Did you have any specific concerns that we could address?


We were hoping to get a puppy so it wouldn't be as intimidating to the tiny Lab, but any age is alright for me. (My daughter, not so much.  She would prefer a puppy!) Do you think we should wait a little?


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

Here ya go, have fun:

http://www.germanshepherds.com/foru...67994-should-i-get-two-puppies-dogs-once.html


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## andsparksfly (Mar 3, 2012)

Emoore said:


> Here ya go, have fun:
> 
> http://www.germanshepherds.com/foru...67994-should-i-get-two-puppies-dogs-once.html


Thank you! This really helped a lot. But we are 100% committed to put in ANY effort possible to take care of both of the puppies. We have plenty of people in the house to help with the training, walking, etc.


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

That's not the whole deal though. There is a very real danger of the puppies bonding with each other instead of bonding with "their" humans. You'd pretty much have to keep them separated nearly all the time.


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## andsparksfly (Mar 3, 2012)

Emoore said:


> That's not the whole deal though. There is a very real danger of the puppies bonding with each other instead of bonding with "their" humans. You'd pretty much have to keep them separated nearly all the time.


My daughter and son act a little territorial with their whole "mine" thing...so they'd probably be separated a lot. My son already gets upset when my daughter goes near the dog and he prefers to take it on walks alone and considers it "his dog", so they probably would be together very rarely, so this is not much of an issue for us.


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## chelle (Feb 1, 2009)

andsparksfly said:


> We were hoping to get a puppy so it wouldn't be as intimidating to the tiny Lab, but any age is alright for me. (My daughter, not so much.  She would prefer a puppy!) Do you think we should wait a little?


I'm sure your kids are great kids, but they are still only 14 and 16. Do they know much in the way of dog training? Would you be able to pay for and help them take the pups to classes and such? If they become more interested in... dating..  and other normal, kid stuff, are you okay with dealing with two young dogs and taking over those training/exercising responsibilities? I assume you're the one taking the pup out for those fun 3AM potty breaks, since your kids are probably in school; are you okay with doing that for two pups? What if the novelty wears off and you're sitting there with two adolescent dogs that need all that work?

The important thing to me is that you must be the safety net, the backbone, if your kids don't end up fulfilling their end. Also knowing a child cannot possibly fulfill all the needs.

Good luck!


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## Anthony8858 (Sep 18, 2011)

I'm gonna suggest you involve the ENTIRE family in a structured, family training program for the Lab.

I think you need to work on the "mine" thing, and get your children into the "it's our" thing.
Join obedience school, and get them involved. Labs are high energy, and the kids won't get too bored too quickly.


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## JoMichelle (Jan 20, 2012)

I read that article that Emoore linked there, and I remember thinking wow that sounds quite tough. Perhaps doable in the right circumstances though.

However, at puppy class yesterday two men came together with two labrador puppies, I'm assuming they were brothers. They were obviously father and son (the humans) and each had control of a puppy. Fair play, I thought. But when the time came for one man and his pup to step up to the floor and learn some techniques, both puppies went CRAZY for being separated, even a few feet. I've never seen anything like it, screaming, biting, full blown tantrums. They cared nothing for their owner/owners, they wanted each other and nothing else.

My point is, reading these articles is fine but nothing comes close to actually experiencing it. Good luck


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## Dainerra (Nov 14, 2003)

there are 2 littermate brothers in our club. They belong to different families who are friends. The 2 brothers are STILL incredibly bonded, even though they live in different homes. They rely on each other in new situations as well.


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

Emoore said:


> That's not the whole deal though. There is a very real danger of the puppies bonding with each other instead of bonding with "their" humans. You'd pretty much have to keep them separated nearly all the time.



I once got puppies a month apart in age..I was crazy at the time They played together very well and they bonded with each other and me very well. I never separated them(I wouldn't recommend this either) or showed one more attention then the other. The hardest part was the potty training and teething..I never knew who the bad boy was Any dogs that grow up together, no matter the age will bond with each other, so its a matter of the owners having one on one time with each dog and every thing should work out fine. I would wait until the lab is about 6 months and pretty much potty trained though. Good Luck


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## Gretchen (Jan 20, 2011)

We live in a 1400 sq ft townhome with our GSD and a few cats. We are walking the dog 3x a day and doing on going agility and obedience classes so the dog gets extra exercise. 

If you get a german shepherd, your dogs will be like opposites, one very welcoming to strangers the other very cautious. But as for your daughter having a GSD, it would be great security, and protection from guys getting too close (that's what parents are usually concerned about). My husband and I always say if were younger, I would not need contraception, my dog does not like my husband getting too close.


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## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

my concern also would be having two puppies at once. Along with the 'bonding' to each other, you will see both picking up bad habits from each other.

Something else to consider as it's happened to me twice, is they will be close in age, that means when they become senior dogs they will also be close in age, it's devastating to lose not only one but two dogs within close time frames.

IF your daughter would go for an older dog, that might be a better option, puppies are cute, but a HANDFULL as I'm sure your finding out with one. Older would be more settled, easier to handle. Even one that's a year or just under.

Rescue is a wonderful thing


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