Quote: Jon Nicodemus

 Quote: steve strom

They fall into your lap constantly Jon. Rescues are full of them. If you want to take the kids, thats up to you. This really comes down to your judgement. If you're not sure about reading the dogs temperament, I wouldnt want to see you take any risks when it comes to your kids.

Its not that owning a dog is over your head, thats not what I mean. What I'm talking about is called kennel blindness. A breeder who is going to try and convince you all their dogs are wonderful and don't worry about her being afraid to come out of the kennel, she'll be fine once she gets to know you.

Well, my thought as of right now is to go down there with my wife and our youngest (since the other kids will be in school at that time), have my wife and daughter hang back while I meet the dog first, and see where it goes from there.
At this point, I'll tend to take anything the breeder says with a grain of salt, believe what I see with my own eyes, and follow what my gut tells me.

My own opinion is: Do NOT take kids first trip. Kids will fall in love and will have zero understanding of temperament (or any other) negative issues. Additionally, a fearful dog (the kind who can be --- or become --- a fear-biter) is sometimes the most appealing.

 Quote: Jon Nicodemus

Well, my thought as of right now is to go down there with my wife and our youngest (since the other kids will be in school at that time), have my wife and daughter hang back while I meet the dog first, and see where it goes from there.
At this point, I'll tend to take anything the breeder says with a grain of salt, believe what I see with my own eyes, and follow what my gut tells me.

Who you want with you, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, is a very dog-experienced person who does not know the present owner.

The fact that the dog is free should be of absolutely no relevance, but because you have mentioned it a few times in the context of how can I pass this up, I hope you have asked yourself if you are truly prepared for the expenses that go along with owning a large dog.

If you get this dog and if you are lucky, she will be with you for the next ten years or so. Over that time, you will spend many thousands of dollars in food, toys, training equipment, training class fees, basic veterinary care, boarding or pet-sitters while you're on vacation, etc. If you ever have a veterinary emergency or she needs major surgery, that alone can be several thousand dollars just for one instance.

The initial up-front price that you pay for a dog is just a drop in the bucket compared to the life-long expenses. So free isn't really such a big deal.

Jon, please be assured I am not trying to be negative or insulting. It's just that you're new here, so we don't really know anything about you. (I hope you'll be around for a long time and we will get to know you!) So I hope I haven't stepped on any toes. As a volunteer for a rescue organization, this is a question I ask every potential adoptive family I interview.

 Quote: Jon Nicodemus

The main reason we're considering this is because we've been looking for another dog (not necessarily a GSD -- that's just a bonus for me!) for 6-7 months now, and just haven't found one that fit.

Jon, what about this dog is telling you it may be a better fit vs the ones you have looked at over the past 6-7 months?

 Quote: Duane Hull

 Quote: steve strom

They fall into your lap constantly Jon.

As far as working dogs, I don't think the problem should be fear of the dog going off. By far the biggest issue with K-9s in the home is adjusting the lifestyle; not a tendency towards aggression. Working K-9s are generally very disciplined and aloof. The potential problems are activity level, need for stimulation, and unknowing humans making unwanted advances toward the dog. Though no fault of the dog's, it's just usually not a good fit with a young family, especially if there's limited knowledge about working dogs.

Duane...I disagree with you. I don't think you can make a blanket statement like that. BTW... how did we get form some dog being offered for rehoming to police K9s? The dog offered is not a K9.

But in responce to your statment...I know a mumber of active police K9s that live in the home with their handler & with their families..which includes kids of all ages. There are of course some exceptions to this. K9s need to be able to 'work' in public without jumping at every person the passes by or makes a funny move in their presence. These dogs live a dogs life as well as a working life. The ones I am referreing to are detection & 'street' dogs.

Although there are some places that the dogs are kenneled & do not live with their handlers. K9s need to be stable tempermented dogs. The handlers I know will usully put up the dogs when company comes over but are fine with their own family pack.

Many people with working dogs will put their dogs up when company comes over. In fact, I put my male up when certain visitiors come to my home..he gets very adgitated with a few of them & will snap at them with little provocation. My female is more tollerant.

I will also add that IMHO....NO dog should be left alone with kids of any age. There should ALWAYS be proper supervision. And I'm talking about any dog...not working K9s.

 Quote: Jon Nicodemus

One of my wife's co-workers has been putting a bug in her ear about how they've owned working (K-9 unit) GSD's and would not trust any of them around kids, so that has had me a little on edge as well -- like if she doesn't have the "perfect" temperament she may just go off the deep end and kill us all! (Obviously that's an exaggeration, but you know what I mean, hopefully!)

It's times like these I wish I was a smarter man..

Anne; this is how we got on the subject of K-9's.
I stand by my opinion that some of the information that Jon is getting may be misleading. What is the blanket statement that I made? Most of the police handlers I know keep their dogs at home, as well, but they are more familiar with working dogs than Jon is.

Well, for cryin out loud.

I VERY much appreciate all the comments and responses I've gotten on this! Y'all have given me some great stuff to think about (i.e., temperament, how are they around kids and other pets, and 'is free really worth it')!

That being said..... apparently this was all futile. The son of the owner just called me a bit ago -- his dad has changed his mind about giving away the original dog we were going to go look at. BUT, they do have two 9 month old puppies. They originally went to the same home, but now they've started fighting with each other, so they need to get rid of one; our choice as to which one.

In my opinion, this is getting a little ridiculous, and I'm not sure it's worth the 1 1/2 hr drive. I think I'm beginning to understand this:

 Quote: Mike Arnold

Did I mention I really, really, really dislike hobby breeders?

I'm thinking I'll just chalk this one up to a learning experience and keep on lookin'...

strange how things work out eh jon ?

now that you've had some time to think about the whole situation and how it may ( yet ) play out , i think you should take some time for sober second thought .

think about what you , and the family want in your next dog .

after you've got more of an idea what you are looking for , then you can narrow down your search to breeds that will be a good fit .

i totally respect the posters doing rescue and re-homing , but i think you should embrace the opportunity to " shop " around , kick a few tires and take the time to find a dog that suits your needs .

and FWIW , whether a hobby breeder or full on professional operation , you should be looking for someone who is breeding for the betterment of their specific breed , not because they can sell some dogs . you can ask flat out : why did this breeding happen ?

 Quote: ian bunbury

...
and FWIW , whether a hobby breeder or full on professional operation , you should be looking for someone who is breeding for the betterment of their specific breed , not because they can sell some dogs . you can ask flat out : why did this breeding happen ?

That's one of the things I can't quite figure out.. The breeder gave away 5 puppies originally (because of an accidental breeding), then is giving away a couple adult dogs, and now is offering me a 9 mo. old pup for free as well. Something is not making sense to me: Why breed if he's not making any money on the puppies? It seems that a backyard breeder would breed in order to SELL the puppies, not give them away.

Also, don't know if I said this in my last post or not, but I discovered today that the dog I was originally going to get was in fact NOT registered (therefore was not the dog listed in the ad for the puppies as their mother), so .... wha??? I'm confused with the whole situation (it doesn't help much that I haven't been able to speak to the actual owner/breeder -- I've been passing messages through his son), and I do not particularly enjoy being confused about what is going on. I prefer straight answers, not beating around the bush.

Sorry, Duane..I missed this part of Jon's post....

But still this dog is NOT a working K9 so...nor are the other owned dogs that this breeder has at least not that it has been stated as such. So I guess that I am totally confused.

This whole thing is rediculous...this co-worker is an idiot to make this kind of statemnt. No well trained dog is going to just 'go off' for no good reason, & especially not at someone in it's own pack. And I repeat that kids should not be with dogs without supervision EVER...This is NOT a trained K9 dog Nor are any of the dogs this breeder has to offer you.

Often working line litters have pups that are LOWER drive & suitable for active pet homes. Not all working line pups are automatic K9 candidates or even good working dogs,no matter what the lines. Even if I were looking for a pet to recomnend to someone, I look at a working line dog with a lower drive before I'd ever consider a show line dog. If you can give the dog the mental stimulation & physical exercise it requires..then the dog will do fine in an active pet home. Obviously I speak of a dog with proper temperment & nerves.

A pup IMO would be a better choice then an adult dog. They will be better able to roll with the punches with kids given time growing up with them & have a better ability to fit into your family pack structure given the proper training & guidance then taking in an adult dog.

I would still have a professional evaluate the pup before taking it.