It's getting to be puppy time as our rescue has quite a few puppies right now as well.

 Quote: al curbow

A GSD is as good a first dog as any breed I'd say. It's really what you do with the dog that counts, you'll either make a mess of the situation or not. Forget about rescues for a first dog, most of them are all screwed up for whatever reason, temperament, abuse etc. Get a puppy.

One of the VERY BEST dogs I ever had was a rescue. He was a springer spaniel I adopted at 4 months. He was a mess - filthy, stinky, afraid to come near me and had evidently been starved. He'd never been fed dog food or in a dish (this I surmised because he refused any sort of dog food and I tried everything - even that icky stuff I call "eraser food" and when his tags would hit his bowl he would freak). I had to give him a bath after the first couple of days because he stunk so bad. He had really bad ear mats and I decided to just do everything I needed to in order to get him cleaned up and decent.

Now, supposedly this dog had been surrendered by a breeder. If so, I hope someone shut them down in a heartbeat. Other than being starved and dehydrated, when I cut the mats away from his ears I found foxtails that had been there for so long that they had burrowed into his neck. I needed forceps to get 2 of them out. One of his ears also had pseudomonas in it. Needless to say, he was a wreck.

I changed his name from something weird to "Joshie". It took about 3 weeks for him to understand that he had a home and a mom that loved him. Once he figured that out, Joshie became the most amazing dog I've ever had.

My best friend raises Rotties who are PPD's. Joshie learned this behavior from them and became my protector. No one, and I mean no one got in my house or near me if they didn't belong. If I was home by myself salesmen couldn't even get out of their cars. As soon as they opened the door he would promptly chase them back and stand guard at their door until I either asked them to leave or told him it was ok.

He also became a big healing, calming influence for a very dear friend when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. If he was staying with them, Joshie wouldn't leave her side - always laying right next to the couch or the bed - wherever Laurie was, Joshie was with her.

One of he most amazing things I ever saw Joshie do was save a woman's life. When I lived in CA, a couple of houses down from me was a rather less than desireable person who was a drug dealer. I'd never even spoken to these people nor had Josh ever been in contact with them. I heard Joshie growl and bark and jump over my porch railing and head down the street barking. When I went to see what was up I discovered the man in that house had chased his wife outside and was beating her with a mop handle. Joshie was standing about 5' away with his teeth bared and growling as if to say "Go ahead, hit her again and you're toast!" When the guy took off I went in and called the Sherriff (who had a hard time believing that it was my "happy-go-lucky" springer who had stopped the guy). He was caught and arrested some 2-3 hours later.

Joshie lived to be 16. I still miss him every day.

Please don't discount rescues.

Edited by Dana Martin (02/19/2011 10:01 AM)
Edit reason: spellcheck!!!

 Quote: Al Curbow

Forget about rescues for a first dog, most of them are all screwed up for whatever reason, temperament, abuse etc. Get a puppy.

AND, some of them have been sent to shelters because the owner’s did not consider the challenges of raising a puppy with young children. Toddlers are not yet capable of feeling compassion for their furry friends. It takes a lot of training with both pup and toddlers to make a nice family companion, if not done correctly, a pup could turn out just as damaged as any in a rescue, or in a rescue itself.

I have placed many, many, very nice GSD's and other breeds over the past thirty years, many were given up because the family could not balance pup/young children.

 Quote: Tammy Moore

AND, some of them have been sent to shelters because the owner’s did not consider the challenges of raising a puppy with young children.

I too fostered and placed 4 incredible dogs. Surrendered for various reasons, none of which were a reflection on the dog’s temperament or health, simply not the right match or folks lost interest. Unfortunately they were far too sound for me to keep.

According to Pet Population.org the top ten reasons for animal surrender are

1. Moving
2. Landlord issues
3. Cost of pet maintenance
4. No time for pet
5. Inadequate facilities
6. Too many pets in home
7. Pet illness (es)
8. Personal problems
9. Biting
10. No homes for littermates

9 out of 10 are owner issues.

When you go further and take a look at behavior based issue about 20 out of 24 of the top reasons are also owner/management based. I mean people surrender dogs for chasing cars, wanting to go outside, or are disobedient to them. Behavioral Reasons for Surrender While the top behavioral issue is biting, it is still only at 22%. Even adding in aggression you're only at about 40%. Which means 60% of behavioral issues are rooted with the owner, not the dog.

But keep in mind that behavioral issues make up a much smaller portion of dog surrender than people moving, lack of time, money, personal issues, etc. So now what are we looking at - perhaps 5-10% of dogs in shelters are there for some fault of their of own. 90-95% of dogs in shelters are there because of some sort of human issue.

And honestly, how many people here would have dogs with "issues" if they expected their dogs to sit quiet in the house for 23 hours a day, great everyone with calm happiness, and not chase any moving object (except perhaps a frisbee for as many times as the owner felt like throwing it)?

I'm familiar with rescue. As a first dog ever it's not sound advice to give to a family to get a rescue, the dog will likely be returned. No doubt there are some success stories but there are PLENTY of nightmare stories as well with novice owners. We'll have to agree to disagree. I'm going with percentages.

I wouldn't dicount rescues. Especially with the economy being so bad there are plenty of people who are being forced to give up on very good dogs. I would reccommend finding a trainer who will do an evaluation and help find the right dog. Especially if you are heading to a shelter, it is good to make sure you have someone there so that you don't make the mistake of falling for the cutest one.

You could always take the extra safe route and find a young adult through a breeder. The breeder my dog came from just sold a bunch of good young dogs last summer, mostly because of having too many dogs from the same lines for her future plans. She sold a few of her retired dams, too.

At least three of these dogs I would have loved to take myself if I was in the position to do it.

You probably will not find a lower drive GSD this way, though. Dogs that will even be considered for breeding in a good kennel will have enough drive to compete.

You could get lucky. Never know untill you try.

Another option is to get a dog who dosent make the cut to be a service dog. One of the nicest GSDs I have ever met came from one of these programs. She is a gorgeous, solid black WL female with an amazing temperament. The only reason she isn't a guide dog is that she is allergic to chicken.