Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire German Shepherds: any opinions?

Don't know about that, but I would certainly be willing to breed her with another Black Sable in about a year or so (she is one now)....keep me in mind.

Ive seen long coats on working dogs, but I try to avoid them too..a regular GSD sheds the equivalent of a dog a day...

Keeps the bugs out. Really.

But I can't say that is "why" exactly.

As ingwe mentions - she is a Chek shepherd. Quite different than a german German shepherd and even more different than an american German shepherd. There is a lot of blood line variation, but I'm not up on all the details. ingwe probably can fill in better.

I've always wanted a shepard. Had several family members/friends that have had them and I liked every one of them. I just don't have room/time for a pet dog with 2 hunting dogs and another on the way. Maybe one day down the road I guess.

I appreciate the heads up...but this is the expectant mother of my next dog..



Now that youve seen the father, ya think there might be a black sable in the bunch?

No matter really...the dog gets picked on temperament/performance...

But I do SO have a soft spot for those black faced dogs!

Obviously, you are not well up on these guys. Among her sisters and brothers are some working for the RMCP in Canada and the Israeli military. Show dogs - not a chance.

Indeed, both of my females had German sires and Czech dams.

Obviously, I bow down to your considerable knowledge. I must know nothing of the breed.

Why is that? One thing I don't like is a black faced dog. Had only one - a flat coated. Great dog, but the black face was hard to see and as a result, she had no facial expressions to speak of and was very hard to read. Apparently, this is common in black faced dogs - facial signalling is very reduced.

Got a question for you though, do you work at coming across as an azzhat, or is it just a natural reaction when you don't agree with someone even in a friendly conversation? Inquiring minds and all that.

True dat on facial signaling...but like most dog people, I dont have a valid reason for some likes/dislikes

I am sure however that I like black faces from dealing with a lot of Malinois, which i love, and think are gorgeous..like this girl...

Well, YOU are the one that said, "obviously breed for show".

"Obviously" you did not know what you were talking about. Take it however you want. The facts are the facts.

Obviously, you do not know much where black faced GSD's are concerned. Our Black-faced female has the most facial expressions of the five we own. No facial expressions- not a chance.

Back at you DB. Next time I will make sure to qualify it with a IMO. You should try it sometime, folks might take you seriously.

My female's face is as black as they come and I have no problem reading her. There is plenty of facial expression....except at night at the end of a 30' tracking lead.

George

I think I'll stick to agreeing with ingwe. I suspect he knows a whole more about the breed than you do, and more than me too.

Back to the OP. While I am "obviously" not an expert. I do know what I have dealt with in the 6 GSD's I have had. As Ingwe put it, I know of no breeder that will allow you to socialize with their pups. A Backyard Breeder of course will, but it is a crap shoot there as to what you will get. I learned the hard way on that one.

I am a firm believer in these dogs being socialized constantly. Expose them to small children, teenagers, black and white people. They are large dogs, and you do not want them to be unpredictable in any situation. Confidence is KEY in this breed.

On that, we can both agree.

Because there is a long coat variation that comes about at times from color breeding for black is what I was informed of by a breeder of working GSD's in the early 1980's.
Although a long coat GSD is undesirable characteristic the handful I have seen were used as guard dogs in the commercial area primarily because most people did not want such a dog and they were still very good for the work.
Two of the baddest professionally trained mofo guard dogs I have ever come across was a long coat GSD and a Giant Shnauzer a particular guard dog business owner owned around 1983 I had the pleasure of knowing.

The Belgians are nice dogs, just don't trip my trigger like a black sable though. My cousin has a couple of them. Don't they tend to being about 10 lbs lighter on average than the GSD's?