Welcome!

Rescues and shelters do their best to ID the breeds of dogs that come in, but (as was said) they can only be sure if the dog comes with papers (and most don't).

In your search, make temperament and health your top criteria within the category of "German Shepherd."

It is OK if your adopted pup is not purebred. If it looks like a Shepherd it might as well be a Shepherd. There is very little that purebreds have that mixes don't when it comes to the family pet.

When looking for my gal I used the website http://www.petfinder.com. You can select by breed, sex, and age range. You can also narrow it by area.

Finally, as a volunteer with a dog rescue, thank you for considering adoption as a possibility. Best of luck!

 Quote: Maisha Butler

I want to thank everyone for their advice. There are no children in my family. We're all adults so there is no worry about the emotional factor. I live in the Los Angeles area so if anyone lives in that area and can help that will be great.

http://www.sheprescue.org/

You've come to the right place to get good information and lots of it! Welcome! If I were you I'd read the Groundwork article first and as many of these E-books as possible too....Ed and Cindy have done all the work already and it's a goldmine here. We have at least 4 gsd's at our local rescue right now and I adopted our new guy from there last year at this time.....I can't say enough about rescues and shelter dogs! Be aware that a lot can come with baggage but to me the challeng is worth the simple fact of saving a life. I'm speaking from a purely pet perspective here.....if I were interested in a particular sport or other job for my dog I'd look at breeders. Again, welcome and keep us posted!

 Quote: Amber Morgan

I regularly do volunteer training at shelters I can tell you that they will not lie to you about the breed of the dog. They may be WRONG in their assessment, but they will not intentionally lie to you just to get you to adopt the dog. Full disclosure is the best way to find a proper home for the animals...they don't want them being brought back.

I just wanted to clarify that when i wrote this:

 Quote:

Probably the only way you will know for certain whether a shelter has a purebred dog (of any breed) or not is if the dog was surrendered from someone who could verify it's history and breeding (and at that, some people lie).

I meant that some people who SURRENDER dogs to shelters might not tell the whole truth about their dog's history - NOT that shelter workers would knowingly lie about their adoptable animals... not at all!! Hope I didn't offend all the amazing shelter volunteers here (sorry Amber, Connie etc.! ). I know of more than one case in which a shelter was given inaccurate info about a dog they acquired... perhaps (hopefully) this is a rarity, but I don't know any dishonest shelters either!

My apologies!

~Natalya

 Quote: Natalya Zahn

I meant that some people who SURRENDER dogs to shelters might not tell the whole truth about their dog's history - NOT that shelter workers would knowingly lie about their adoptable animals... not at all!! Hope I didn't offend all the amazing shelter volunteers here

Heck NO. I knew what you meant.

 Quote: Natalya Zahn

Hope I didn't offend all the amazing shelter volunteers here (sorry Amber, Connie etc.! ).

I knew what you meant, Natalya...no worries! I was actually responding to this from the OP (which I wasn't offended by, either. ):

 Quote: Maisha Butler

My question is about the basic run of the mill shelters. When they say that a puppy is a GSD how sure are they? How do they know it's a pure bred GSD? Can you trust the shelter when they say it's a GSD?

You have never once offended me.

I just want to say that you guys are great on this forum. I've been reading tons of articles and e books and I'm ordering the 8 weeks to 8 months video. My family and I just want to get all of our information in order before we bring a dog into our home. This will be the first dog we are trying to make a serious attempt to train. So, I hope you guys are ready for the many questions I will have. And maybe dumb ones.

 Quote: Amber Morgan

You have never once offended me.

Excellent!

And Maisha - ask away!! You're in the right place for dog-related answers of all kinds, no matter how silly or sophisticated the question - we all have to start somewhere!

Good luck on your search for the perfect companion!

~Natalya

Hi Maisha,
Just wanted to add one more thought- you said in your original post that you were hoping to adopt a GSD puppy from a shelter. You might find one, but litters of young puppies that I have seen at shelters where I volunteer are almost always mixed breed. Pure bred dogs are much more likely to be surrendered to shelters at an older age - often between 10 and 18 months in my experience - because the cute puppy has grown up into more than the original owners are prepared to deal with. If you are willing to adopt a young adult dog rather than a puppy you are much more likely to find a pure bred GSD in need of a home. That's how I got my current GSD (and my previous two dogs also). The downside is that you will probably have to do some work to make up for the lack of training the dog should have had earlier. The upside is you have a much clearer idea of what you are getting with a young adult (far fewer surprises with size, temperament, health, etc.) and someone else has already dealt with the chewing and the house training!
Do consider a teenage GSD or young adult as a possible adoptee. In my dog Dillon's case I suspect someone paid a fair amount of money for a decent GSD and then didn't bother to train him, so he ended up in a shelter at 14 months old. He was a bit of handful for the first few weeks but absolutely worth the effort I put into training him - he is handsome, healthy, athletic, and I couldn't wish for a nicer dog. Oh - and he cost all of $70 for the adoption fee.

 Quote: Sarah Ward

Do consider a teenage GSD or young adult as a possible adoptee.

That is an excellent piece of advice. If you go through a rescue, there is more of a chance that a young dog will have training but not necessarily. Then the problem is a dog with a training level of a pup but ten times the strength!