Well, I do produce ppd's for a living. And I'm rarely wrong in puppy/ young dog selection. It is of course best to actually inspect the dog first hand for some time but the behavioral quirks that tend to make for failure as a ppd are pretty apparent at an early age.
Just my opinion of course.

Well I guess the truth hurts sometimes. At least she will make a good alarm dog. She already lets me know if anyone she does not know is around and she puts on a good bluff so most criminals will hopefully choose a house without a big growling barking GSD inside it.

And a good alarm dog will fullfill 85% of most people's ppd needs.
It's good to see someone see the upside of learning something about their dog! I wish more owner's had this positive attitude. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

>>And I'm rarely wrong in puppy/ young dog selection. It is of course best to actually inspect the dog first hand for some time but the behavioral quirks that tend to make for failure as a ppd are pretty apparent at an early age.

***Completely agree Will. And I'll go even farther to say that this applies to any working program.

JMO as well.

David,
I have a 5 month old pup, that will get kinda aggressive (barking and growling) when a stranger enters my backyard or comes close enough to my truck to touch it and I'm not around(the only two X's she gets defensive). When I'm around she is totally cool. Also, when I take her to a neutral place that is not my home or truck, she is a loveable button, her tails up and wagging 90-nothing, and she runs up to happily greet everyone (I practice the strangers be neutral technique). No barking or lunging because she is secure within herself. This pups nerves are like steel nothing fazes her. A pup that does what Genes did in a neutral place, to me, is a pup whose nerves put him/her into a fight or flight mode. Where some people may see this as a "Oh, my little pup is going to be nasty" remember those nerves have to keep a PPD in the fight, and that is a good indication that that pup "MAY NOT" stay in for the fight. Remember many weak nerve dogs will engage but I'd be willing to bet not hardly any will stay in the fight. That was apparent with a couple of dogs this weekend at the ASR trial. Also, I tend to believe a dog at 6months old is still showing you some pretty raw genetics. and would be an indication of what your going to have to work with in the future. This pup sounds like more of a Guard dog candidate to me. Will display a nasty presence as main detterent, will probably be a barker which will alert the owner, and if all else fails will probably engage initially and hopefully that puts the perp on the run, but I wouldn't look for the dog to stay in the fight to protect it's owner. That is just based off of my opinion of what a dog will do when it grows up with weak nerves, but as Will said in 85% of cases that will be all that is needed.

i didnt catch that he was in a neutral place.....i thought or thought i read that he was at home watching the fireworks and the neighbor came over with his son and thought it was a normal reaction for a german shephard to protect its homebase....i am slowly learning, doing alot of reading and hopefully soon will understand more.. i still dont understand the genetic of weak nerves ...thanks for the input chris without belittling us newcomers....sometimes the way some of the people here try to scrutinize very word that u type..and henpeck each other about this or that.then .makes me wonder if there married to each other...i understand why some get defensive...but hey this is america and to each his own

David,
Thanks for the comment, hey I'm on here, because when I'm not training dogs, I like reading about training, you can get very good pointers, and it opens up your training options 10 fold. I'm here to learn just like you. My ego is very humble, I do what works for me, and I listen to all training methods, and my basic knowledge and common sense usually weeds out the non-productive stuff, but I never shut myself down from being open to new ideas.

To me the dog seems to have some issues as far as the nerves go, like Chris and Will already said. This could lead to handler aggression later on. I would get her in some type of Formal OB and start to Socialize her more. Knowing what she does wil help you control it because you will be ready for it. Also as Chris said you have to be a sponge in the dog world you never have enough training and know one knows it all. Put it in your training "tool box" ans pull it out when you need it.