good heavens! clearly not stating all of the facts up front makes some of you jump to some pretty nasty conclusions!

I DID take the whole family to meet her and pick her out THANK YOU VERY MUCH!! just because I don't disclose every tiny detail of our lives doesn't mean I haven't done my best!! It just so happens that I came home early from a family vacation and got her and she was different than she was at the breeders with her littermates(imagine that :rolleyes: ) .

I made it clear that I am a novice, and I certainly don't think that that qualifies me to handle a GSD with aggression issues HOWEVER MILD THEY MAY BE while I am caring for my son. And for the love of pete, being a novice in the world of dogs does not make me an all around idiot. and the only thing I accused the breeder of is being more concerned about money than the welfare of her dogs, and I can't believe you as a breeder don't agree with me on that issue. If you will read my original post, I said that maybe she hadn't socialized them well, and then I added a question mark indicating that I wasn't sure if that was the case.

You haven't known me nearly as long as I had spent time with the dog, and you are making some pretty harsh judgments about me, where's the justice in that?

And I have to disagree with what you say about Nancy's comments, I thought they were out of line and a bit mean.

no one is judging YOU or calling you names but asking you to stand behind YOUR accusations of a breeder who isn't here to defend himself/herself. (calling the breeder an IDIOT in your original post) :rolleyes: This breeder may or may not be a reputable person, we don't know without both sides of the story.

You state in your original post that your son and husband were on a trip and didn't get to meet the dog yet.....??? Then you say they did?? which is it? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

You say you know a good breeder and what makes a good pet and then backpeddle and "I am a novice".. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

If you want to make STATEMENTS on this board, don't get your undies in a wad when people ask you to back it up or explain!!

either way, I think the dog is better off out of your home...regardless of the temperament issues.

Allison - some people shouldn’t own dogs. I aim thinking that you may be more of a gold fish kind of person than a dog person.

Nancy is 100% right Cindy is 100% right and you have a lot to learn about how to handle and raise a puppy.

Everyone has to start someplace. You have a decision to make. Bottom line is YOU screwed up here. Had you not screwed up, or had you done a better job learning how to handle kids and dog this would not have happened. Read the article I wrote on how to introduce a dog into a family with babies. It’s in my articles. Read the article I wrote on how to prevent dog bites in kids. You will learn something of YOUR MISTAKES!!

I also agree with the breeder. I think what the breeder meant was that she was sorry to have sold you one of her dogs and that she could have sold it to someone who would have given it a better home.

From what I have seen here - people are not being mean. They are simply stating the facts in a more diplomatic manner than I do.

The one thing this forum does is pass on good dog training information. The one thing we dont do is tolerate people who climb on a stump and try and justify the mistakes they make when they screw up.

Some good advice would be to spend a little more time reading and less time pontificating.

Look, I'm just a normal person that did some research and bought a dog that I thought would work well in my life who then got scared when I saw that dog snap at my friends children and decided to not risk that happening to my child. That may not make me a very good dog owner, but it does make me a good mother, and in the big picture, that matters more. I don't know many mothers that would have seen that and just skipped home happily to have that happen to their child. I am not perfect, but neither are any of you. And when someone I don't know insults me and makes assumptions about me or my decision, I'm going to stand up for myself.

Allison, if you will go back and read my post, you will see that I did not insult you and I dare you to find where I did.

I just felt you were all into deciding it was all the breeders fault and wanted us to know what an idiot this breeder was. To what point? Isn't it enough to say things were not working out and it was best to take the dog back? Didn't she take the dog back? Did you lose your money? As far as judging your experience level, no I don't know; I just read all of your posts and inferred that you did not have much experience.

I am sure that taking the puppy back was the right decision for you and glad that you did not wait until the dog was older.

Please simply understand that a GSD puppy is a mouthful of teeth and demonic energy; I have seen plenty of posts with grown people crying about their little alligator dog. They take a lot of work.

that's why I returned her, the thought of a dog that would eventually get bigger biting my son or other children coming to my house scared me.

Nancy, I just thought that you had made assumptions about me without even asking for further information, and to me, that is insulting, and you could have been a lot kinder in the way you represented your opinion. I also didn't care for the way you referred to me in the third person, as if I wasn't there.

As for the breeder, it seemed to me that she was only concerned about the money, and that doesn't make a good breeder in my opinion. Having said that, I could be totally wrong, but none of you were there either so it is unfair to assume that I am wrong just because I don't have as much experience. There are bad breeders out there, are there not? And only being concerned about the money is a bad sign is it not? But you are all right, I could be wrong, but so could you.

All I am asking for is an open mind. If you want to decide that I am unfit for dog ownership, that's fine, but I did read in the puppy Q&A that agression toward humans is bad, and here I present a situation in this manner and suddenly I am made out to be the bad guy. I did not want to dedicate my life to a dog that would at best be a dog that would have to be ostracized from strangers and children like the woman that replied earlier about her fear biting female that she had to put her whole life into. My life is children right now, and that means neighbors, neices, nephews, and my child and I have to put them first. I resent the implication that if you put your children first you can't own a dog. Even you said that you were able to raise a dog with small children, well, what if you had been afraid that one of your dogs was going to hurt your child? Wouldn't you want to remedy that situation by possibly getting out of it? If not, that's fine, but I think that as a mother and a grandmother you could at least empathize with me instead of blaming me and making me feel like a bad person for not turning my life upside down for a dog that seemed to have aggression issues.

I am willing to admit that I may be wrong, but I know I made the right decision, and I don't think that makes me a bad person, and I don't think that resigns me to being a "goldfish person" I think it makes me a person that can't have a dog right now because I am too involved with my children. And I stated this as well.

I probably shouldn't have called the breeder and idiot, that was an emotional reaction to feeling like I got something that I didn't think I was getting.

OK, to change the subject a little,.....why not consider adopting an adult dog from a rescue agency,that has already been temperment tested?? You could pick out a dog from petfinder.com or look at some of your local agencies.....then you also know how big the dog will be as an adult, etc...

Just a thought <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I had considered that actually, but my husband wanted a puppy. I realize that everyone should agree and be on board etc, and that was probably not a good reason to get a puppy instead of an adult, so please don't lecture me on that issue either.

Cindy, let me clarify: my family went to meet and pick out the puppy after I had researched and called the breeder and talked to her and about the puppy etc. When we went to her house, the puppies were great and cute and friendly and sweet and outgoing etc. My son loved Kate, and she was great with him as well. the breeder told me that she would be great with children and that she was sweet and outgoing (this was after I made it very clear that I needed a dog that would work well with kids because I have one). Then we went on family vacation and I came home early to get the dog. I meant that they hadn't spent any time with her in our ownership. I felt decieved because the dog I saw at the breeders was not the dog I had with me (figuratively), I was under the impression that GSD's can be great family pets, and when I saw the pup snap at and growl aggressively at children, she became a different dog to me, and she wasn't outgoing at all. Maybe this was something she would have gotten over, but as I mentioned, I got scared and didn't want to risk it.

I do have experience with breeders and what makes a good pet, but I am a novice because I haven't actually owned or trained a dog myself, how is that contradictory?

is that clearer for you?

Sorry to change the subject back. Under the circumstances though, I think I should cool it in the pet department for a couple of years, or perhaps I should get a goldfish eh? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Another option could be a young adult. You could find a good trainer in your area that would be willing to help you pick out a dog and temperment test it for you. Then when any issues come up, you would have the trainer right there to help. There are soooo many reasons the puppy could have acted the way she did. From valid ones to bad ones. If you have the help of a good trainer, then you would have someone who knows what they are doing to help you figgure out what is really going on. I'm sure that there is some one in your area that we as a 5000+ member group could reccomend.

allison hun: i think you came to the wrong place most here are breeders and trainers and by there reply's to your post, breeders are always right, I agree with all you have post, if the puppy temperment is not what it should be for a kid then you were right by taking it back,i have 3 gsd all workingline, and any kid can feed my dogs i will never buy any dog that will bite a kid, thats the problem with breeders who breed for money and not for working temperment, breeders should be held to a higher standerd tjmo