I'm posting this question for a friend of mine who has a 10 month old GSD female who is in class with my Roxy.

Her female was poorly chosen. She's American showline and is a shy dog. She has been socializing the heck out of Roxanne, but she's just a timid dog.

She's looking to get another GSD. This time she's looking at German working lines. She isn't sure whether to get a male or female. She is interested in going beyond obedience training with the new dog. She's expressed an interest in both tracking and protection. (I know that she should get a male if she wants to do protection.)

However, if you just take into account the personality of Roxanne, I'm not sure that she will be able to live with a high-drive male, or female for that matter.

When Roxanne is out during "play time" at the end of class, she shys away from aggressive females. She isn't interested in rough playing at all, but she does seem to be better around males.

I'm leaning toward telling her to get the most laid-back male in a working litter. That way she might still be able to do tracking with him, but he's not going to be so aggressive that Roxanne just cowers in his presence.

What does everyone think?

I've seen american lines that are like this that do pretty well with german lines. Actually helped bring her out of her shell. But it would be a male. Not too many reputable breeders like putting 2 females together as buddies.

Thanks for you thoughts Angela.

I know that generally, if you're going to have 2 dogs, you should have one of each. Since Roxanne is soooo submissive, she thought that she probably wouldn't have a problem with a dominant female.

I just realized that I forgot to add a piece of information. Wes, our trainer, is concerned that a working line male may be "too much dog" for her to handle. (She tends to baby Roxanne.)

That's why I was leaning toward the most laid-back male in a working litter.