I grew up with shepherds (mostly show line) and always admired them. When it was time for my own dog I wanted to get in SAR and looked widely for any breed but the GSD (I wanted to be different than the rest of my family.) I looked long and hard but couldn't come close to a good working line GSD. Short story, 5 Years later I am a proud owner of a now 5 year old GSD (had her since she was a 7weeks) I couldn't be happier she is everything I wanted and took to SAR whithout much help from me, infact i feel like was just along for the ride. (I did pick the more german color, my Ana is a bi-color, looks alot like the shep pictured with Ed on top of the forum - I had to be a little different than all of my families traditional american breed black and tans.) I guess what I am saying is that I agree with all the others who say their are alternative breeds for working but you can't go wrong with a GOOD GSD, especialy when you are first starting out.

I recognize this is an old thread but needed to respond.

First, I suppose some of my credentials as this seems to be important to some. I am a CKC (Canadian Kennel Club), AHBA (American Herding Breed) Judge. I have travelled many places to Judge trials, put on clinics and do lessons. I have bred, owned, trained and titled the No.1 & No.2 High in Trial herding German Shepherds in Canada. My one dog Cheyenne (No 1 gsd in canada)has in incredible record of top wins at many different trials, many times beating border collies to obtain them. I doubt any dog (gsd) will beat her record. First and foremost however, Cheyenne was my 'stock' dog at home and made things here at the 'farm' run smoothly. She also saved my life once when I was fixing a fence in the ram pen and he decided to come at me (by back was turned to him). Cheyenne quickly jumped in front (she was on a down/stay close by) and grabbed his face before he could reach me. After Cheyenne retired from 'trialing' we worked at the main stock handlers at many CKC/AKC and Border Collie Association Stock Dog trials.

Cheyenne was a tough dog to work/train (every trainer initially told me to start with an easier dog) however, I was determined to learn with her. She taught me an incredible amount. Since training Cheyenne , I have chosen to work my own personal german shepherds in tending/boundary work. Why? Because that is what I needed them to do on the farm. I started to teach Cheyenne this as well. All my dogs are worked in tending/boundary and when I can I try to trial them. However, they are essentially used around my place/sheep (flock of approx 70+). As a breeder I want to breed a dog that is capable of doing the work they were originally intended for. This is not always an easy choice, as breeding for a trial dog would often be easier and more fullfilling at trials!

In addition to training my own dogs, I also do lessons with others, do MANY instinct tests on young/old inexperienced dogs and sometimes train and trial others dogs if I have time/energy. I have worked almost EVERY herding breed out there and even some ‘non’ herding breeds on stock. I tend to also get many/most of the dogs/breeds other trainers don’t want to work with. (high drive, harder headed etc). 3 years ago I also added to my clan a border collie. Did this for several reasons. First, I felt that I could learn a lot by working an ‘eye’ breed vs an upright breed. I also wanted a breed that I could work on different stock (cattle, ducks etc).

I read though this thread with some interest.

The original purpose of the thread was to ask/talk about another breed for protection work and one choice being the Australian Cattle dog. This breed club has worked hard at trying to keep the breed a ‘working’ breed as well as having correct conformation. In Canada the breed club must hold a herding trial along side their national conformation show. Having said that if you talk to many breeders most will say it is hard to find a true ‘herding’ cattle dog. On the ‘up’ side some breeders are trying to incorporate and/or keep true ‘working’ ability into the breed. As far as it being a protection dog/breed. Not in my books. Can they do it? Sure some can and some might be able to do it well but it is not what they were bred to do and I bet many breeders would actually not like them to be ‘seen’ as this. I have seen many from this breed working stock and have worked some myself. Some can be pretty TOUGH dogs! Some can be pretty soft dogs. Some can be extremely hard headed. One big breeder from the U.S. (who has many of the top titled working cattle dogs around) said at a clinic I attended. I don’t mind if my dogs are soft to people but they better not be soft on stock. That likely says it all. There IS a difference. They need to be tough on stock and the reason they have such a thick skull (or are suppose to ) is so that the kick from cattle does not do harm . They are bred to ‘go back’ and work through this pain/obstacle to get the job done. So…can this be transferred to working in SchH or training a protection dog. Sure it can. I have also seen (and have video) of a sweet border collie doing it’s SchH 3 routine with top scores beating most of the gsd’s entered in the trial. (much to the dismay of the judge). Does that mean it is a good protection dog? Or a good choice for SchH? Depends on what you want. My border collie would do excellent at SchH, however, he is not going to be my personal protection dog….at least not if I really needed or depended on it. Can a cattle dog? Sure.if you can find a one (or a breeder that would sell it to you for that) that would be able to do the work, however, as a breed in general, not a great choice (in my opinion) for the job.

There was also talk about the German shepherd and it’s role as a herding dog on this thread. I have worked gsd’s from all the different lines on stock. I have my favourites and my breedings/dogs likely reflect that. Having said that my dogs/pups also are detection dogs, SchH dogs, security dogs, assistance dogs, tracking dogs/bear herding, and family companions. What I wanted to point out is that there ARE people/farms/individuals who do use this breed for it’s original purpose. I can list many of them. Many are also not big time breeders or people who trial their dogs. One might be amazed at how many requests /inquiries I get for dogs/pups to do some sort of ‘herding’ stock’ work. I personally believe that the gsd is a WOKRING dog first and foremost. I choose to work them on sheep/my flock for the most part. The pups /dogs I keep sometimes are not the best choice for trial situations as many of the trials do not accurately portray the breeds original purpose. However, they are usually the right choice to do the work I want/need them to do for myself and for the homes they go.

AMEN Shelley. Thank you for sharing your "real world" experience. From my limited experience, the standards are tough in Canada. If we ever go for higher levels with our two current Shepherds, that's where you will see us. If they can't cut it there, they can't cut it anywhere IMO.

I loved reading your thoughts on this topic.

Beth

I'll second Beth's AMEN Shelley, and thanks for weighing in on this subject with your expertise, especially on the GSD's original purpose, herding.