# Looking for a male DDR GSD



## Hkgarcia (Feb 18, 2018)

Firstly, I am 20 years old and have lived with a family dog for just about every year of my life. That said, I have never actually purchased or raised a dog on my own. I have always loved dogs (GSD are my favorite), and now I am looking to begin this new process of becoming a full fledged dog owner myself. I remember visiting several breeders as a child when my family was searching for our Yorkies, but being so young, I don't fully remember the process of actually purchasing a dog. Now living in Utah, I'm not even sure if there are any reputable DDR German Shepherd breeders within a reasonable driving distance for me to visit and ask questions. Considering this, I'm wondering what is the detailed process of purchasing a puppy from a reputable breeder? I understand that breeders usually have a waitlist for their upcoming litters and when it's your turn you pay a usually non-refundable deposit for a pup. 

Here is what I'm looking for:
- Great Health
- Good temperament with strong nerves
- Low to Medium Drive
- Intelligent
- Family companion and home protection
- Maybe suitable for some type of sport (I'm a newbie I'm no where close to knowing enough about this but there is a possibility that I might want to explore it) 
- Male
- Black sable
- Heavier end of the guidelines for GSD weight so maybe around 70-80 lbs if I have my facts straight
I might be forgetting other things...anyway...

Here comes my list of questions: 
-Does this waiting process take a long time? 
-Do breeders have family companion pups often or not? 
-Are you assigned a dog from a litter or do you get to pick your pup? 
-Are you at a disadvantage if you're not able to visit and pick your pup out in person? I guess I mean, do you get pushed down the list of picking?
-If you do pick out your potential pup, at what age are you able to choose? 1 day old? 4 weeks old? 8 weeks old?
-Will a breeder deny me for being too young and somewhat inexperienced? My family has owned German Shepherds before (not DDR) but I was too young to be very involved in the process of raising/training them
-What other major things do I need to be aware of when purchasing a pup? Hip/elbow ratings and gaurantees, cardio, vaccinations, AKC registration, contract...I'm not sure what else...
-Any more advice? I've heard about the intense energy of the DDR lines, but I'm determined to put in the time to train and exercise my dog.

And yes I know I could ask a breeder all of these questions directly but I have noticed that a lot of them are, understandably, slow to respond, so I figured I'd try here. 

Thanks for any input!


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

> Here is what I'm looking for:
> - Great Health
> - Good temperament with strong nerves
> - Low to Medium Drive


I see that you are interested in doing dog sports and activities with your dog. Many newbies make the mistake of thinking that high-drive = non-stop energy, no self control, and no off-switch, so they look for a lower drive dog. but high drive does not mean constant go with no "off". Training and doing activities with low drive dogs is very frustrating, and it is easier even for newbies to work with a higher drive dog, as they WANT to work, and don't peter out and lose interest. A medium to sorta-high drive would serve your needs better. 



> - Intelligent
> - Family companion and home protection
> - Maybe suitable for some type of sport (I'm a newbie I'm no where close to knowing enough about this but there is a possibility that I might want to explore it)
> - Male
> ...


Don't get too hung up on color - good breeders will breed for health and temperament first, color only coming into play as long as the dogs are within the standard. I shudder whenever someone is searching specifically for a black sable. Black Sables are the "flavor of the month" in GSDs, causing the market to be flooded with poorly bred working lines of poor nerve from opportunistic breeders who have found a specialized market and breed a "product". Issue is, when people don't understand how nerve strength (or lack of) and innate suspicion and aggression are supposed to balance each other out, they breed dogs of poor nerve that are spooky and afraid of everything, have no off switch and are impossible to live with, or have no mental filter for their aggression and become dangerous dogs. 




> -Does this waiting process take a long time?
> 
> Depends on the timing - a lot of good breeders will only breed two or three litters a year. This way, they can really focus and concentrate on rearing each litter properly. You may be lucky and find a breeder that has a litter coming up, or sometimes it is not unusual for people to have to wait several months or a year for a puppy. When I settled on a breeder for my first working line,
> I waited two years as the breeder's new generation of brood bitches had to grow up and get trained and titled first.
> ...


-Any more advice? I've heard about the intense energy of the DDR lines, but I'm determined to put in the time to train and exercise my dog. 

These days, you are not likely to find breeders that are still breeding pure DDR lines. Most working lines these days are a combination of West German working lines and DDR/Czech lines, and the outcomes are very positive. Strong pigment and strong nerve strength from the DDR lines are complementing and balancing the sharpness and higher drives of the West German lines. 

To help you get a better handle on the lines and what type of buying process you are looking at, these articles are very helpful: 

(German Shepherd and Schutzhund Articles, by Wildhaus Kennels )


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## Magwart (Jul 8, 2012)

If I had a dollar for every newbie owner who bought a puppy advertised as DDR-lines from a local breeder and then dumped the adolescent dog in rescue within a year because it was too much dog....it would be a lot of money. I've lost count of the number of puppies bought that way who came into rescue 6-18 months old, with stories like that. 

Before you jump in, get to know some WL dogs. See some of them IRL as youngsters. Make sure you like them -- they're likely pretty different from the Shepherd you kind of remember your parents having as a kid. If you're sure a puppy is for you, then have a plan, not just good intentions. That means identify your trainer, work out your schedule, be financially ready for unexpected stuff that happens, and get all your ducks in a row _before _the dog shows up. That planning will make the first year a much happier one!

I usually recommend that young people consider getting an easy "first" dog, not a puppy -- a young adult that's already done with "puppy crazies," with an easy-going base temperament, at a really good age to start OB, or perhaps already with an OB foundation laid by someone else so that you have a head start. Get some skills. Get some confidence. I love sending these sort of new owners to their first OB course with a dog we've _already _put most of those skills on because they feel like rockstars with the best dog in the class! That confidence is hugely important for new owners, and it motivates them to keep building more skills and taking more classes. All those skills come in very handy when you have your first puppy (which is about like having a toddler with a chainsaw--very stressful the first time you endure it, for most people).


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## cliffson1 (Sep 2, 2006)

Magwart said:


> If I had a dollar for every newbie owner who bought a puppy advertised as DDR-lines from a local breeder and then dumped the adolescent dog in rescue within a year because it was too much dog....it would be a lot of money. I've lost count of the number of puppies bought that way who came into rescue 6-18 months old, with stories like that.
> 
> Before you jump in, get to know some WL dogs. See some of them IRL as youngsters. Make sure you like them -- they're likely pretty different from the Shepherd you kind of remember your parents having as a kid. If you're sure a puppy is for you, then have a plan, not just good intentions. That means identify your trainer, work out your schedule, be financially ready for unexpected stuff that happens, and get all your ducks in a row _before _the dog shows up. That planning will make the first year a much happier one!
> 
> I usually recommend that young people consider getting an easy "first" dog, not a puppy -- a young adult that's already done with "puppy crazies," with an easy-going base temperament, at a really good age to start OB, or perhaps already with an OB foundation laid by someone else so that you have a head start. Get some skills. Get some confidence. I love sending these sort of new owners to their first OB course with a dog we've _already _put most of those skills on because they feel like rockstars with the best dog in the class! That confidence is hugely important for new owners, and it motivates them to keep building more skills and taking more classes. All those skills come in very handy when you have your first puppy (which is about like having a toddler with a chainsaw--very stressful the first time you endure it, for most people).


I would question the “ local DDR” breeders, because my experiences with DDR dogs ( especially the current lines), are that they are not difficult dogs to handle or raise for a common sense dog owner. They are not really high drive, they have sound nerves, and are very family oriented. ( Generally speaking) 
Try Blackthorn kennels, I have sent a few folks there and all are enthused with their dogs.


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## Magwart (Jul 8, 2012)

They're advertising DDR dogs in the newspaper and on CL because it's become trendy. Often with a tag line of "grandparents were police dogs in Germany" or "champion protection dogs." Who knows what they are -- they've got the color these buyers think they want (dark sable), so they sell 'em for $500 a pop as often as they can, and newbies think "wow--great deal for dogs from East German police lines!" (Never bothering to think the Wall opened in 1989, so there hasn't been an East German police force of any kind since "die Wende" turned into "die Wiedervereinigung.") Some breeders of this type down here are notorious for faking paperwork and put all sorts of unrelated litters under whatever papers they've got through some chicanery.

I wish I could link a bunch of local breeder sites I know that are advertising them -- they're even doing search engine optimization for buyers searching for DDR dogs. In your world of high end dogs, it may not exist -- in mine of shady BYBs selling to newbies who google "DDR dogs," it's truly a marketing thing.


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

> If you're sure a puppy is for you, then have a plan, not just good intentions. That means identify your trainer, work out your schedule, be financially ready for unexpected stuff that happens, and get all your ducks in a row before the dog shows up.


See, a good breeder will make sure that you have all your ducks in a row before they'll consider you as a potential new puppy owner. They'll be there to help you and support you when the puppy hits that adolescent stage where the cute puppy disappears, and the demon-dog emerges.  They will readily take the dog back if it becomes clear that you are in over your head. Their aim is not to make puppies to sell them, their aim is to make sure that both puppy and owner are happy and have a harmonious relationship over the life of the dog. 

The dogs that end up in rescue and shelters are usually from the opportunistic breeders who advertise "Black Sable, DDR" dogs, because people specifically search for these type of dogs, based on pictures they have seen, and stuff they have read, and not based on sound insight and understanding. So even more reason to take one's time and build a relationship with an established, responsible breeder. Magwart gave very good advice too - go out and meet as many working line dogs as you can. People often find that their is a large gap between the idealized GSD they remember from their childhood, to the reality of owning and raising such a dog.


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