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Here's my Josie. My BFF. Me and her are like peas and carrots! Here's my Greta. She's a monkey and a total sweetheart. She's almost mature enough to be left alone without eating furniture or socks.  They are the coolest dogs ever!
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Jan 18, 2016 01:35
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It's burgin' time! 
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They're both really cute, i love that old lady beard 
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Jan 18, 2016 02:27
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Triangulum posted:They're both really cute, i love that old lady beard Thanks! She's such a cutie IRL, too. I can't believe she's gonna be 7 this year either.
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Jan 18, 2016 04:13
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Triangulum posted:Lol yeah DDR working lines for someone who just wants a pet, fantastic suggestion Every litter has dogs who don't make the cut for working.  So noble a creature!
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Jan 26, 2016 02:45
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Rigel posted:Every litter has dogs who don't make the cut for working. Love the markings.
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Jan 26, 2016 12:16
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Rigel posted:Every litter has dogs who don't make the cut for working. Case in point: Zelda  She's the most laid back, non-vocal GSD I've ever met. I adopted her from a rescue, so her background is largely a mystery to me. But she is a wonderful dog, very loyal, and a breeze to train. Turtle Dad 420 fucked around with this message at 15:33 on Jan 26, 2016 |
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Jan 26, 2016 15:29
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So we advertised for a new housemate and had a reply from a guy who sounded promising. We knew he had a dog but he was coy about the breed. I think he was a bit taken aback by how excited we were when he said he had a black GSD! We love them! He's moving in tomorrow. I cannot wait! Will introduce him to you when we meet him!
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Jan 29, 2016 16:55
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no amount of yelling NU UH will make working lines appropriate for literally every home and owner sorry
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Jan 29, 2016 17:59
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Turtle Dad 420 posted:Case in point: Zelda  Tomberforce posted:So we advertised for a new housemate and had a reply from a guy who sounded promising. We knew he had a dog but he was coy about the breed. I think he was a bit taken aback by how excited we were when he said he had a black GSD! We love them! The guy we got Josie from has a black GSD. She looked awesome and was cool as hell, too.
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Jan 29, 2016 20:08
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Containing this fucker has become borderline impossible. First vex figured out how to open the gates to chain link fences - no big deal, just stick a carabiner through the hole on the latch. then I get home from work and he's running around loose inside the kennels  turns out he figured out that if you lift the door up high enough, it comes off its hinges. So we fix that but he starts jumping over the 6' fence for the run and when he gets tired of doing that he runs straight through the goddamn wooden fence. so we move him to an all-chainlink kennel and put some fencing over the top of it, thinking that would keep him contained  somehow, he's still getting out. i just keep him in the house now but yesterday i caught him trying to figure out how to open the front door. working lines 
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Feb 2, 2016 00:23
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Somehow I never saw this thread! Here is a pic of Finn from when he was 4 or 5 months old:  Here he is around 6 months old:  And a little older, looking insane:  Then giving the doe eyes:  War dog:  Around a year old, still very much a puppy:  Working on his poses:  Hanging out with his little sister:  Enjoying the dusting of snow:  Getting beat up by a 12 pound puppy:  And what the heck, have a couple of videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32SLMFkGp7U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyPKnxFlBdo Finn is about 15 months old now. I had GSD's growing up, but being completely responsible for one has been more challenging than I expected! Even with all of the challenges he has presented (oh my god why can't you chill out inside the house and stop jumping on the counters?!) I wouldn't trade this dumb dog for anything. He is fiercely loyal and protective of me and my wife, he protects his little sister at the dog park, plays really well with new dogs, and he wins people over quickly with his big, dopey smile. Another thing that surprised me was how many people are afraid of GSD's. I don't know if it's just the association with police and military or what, but so many people get nervous when Finn approaches them or starts playing with their dogs at the dog park. He'd never hurt anyone though  edit: forgot my favorite puppy pic 
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Feb 17, 2016 15:31
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It's a big dog and GSDs are known for biting people, of course some people are scared of him. They're intimidating animals if you aren't comfortable around them or other large dogs. Can I ask what "protective of me and my wife" and "he protects his little sister at the dog park" means?
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Feb 17, 2016 17:30
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Triangulum posted:It's a big dog and GSDs are known for biting people, of course some people are scared of him. They're intimidating animals if you aren't comfortable around them or other large dogs. Sure. Finn is a big wimp when it comes to everything but his family. He always backs down when other dogs get aggressive with him. He has zero interest in any of that. The other day I had to pull a poodle off of him at the dog park. But if a dog approaches Molly (the little dog) at the dog park, he always comes by to make sure everything is okay, and he'll put himself in between Molly and the other dog if the other dog starts barking/growling/playing too rough with Molly. One time a dog just kept on and on with Molly and Finn barked at it to make it go away. Molly is his ride or die and keeps a good eye on her  In regards to us, I probably give him more credit than warranted, but we always feel safe with Finn. He's a good watchdog when he's in the yard and barks at people he doesn't recognize, he stays very alert when we're out on walks, etc. I see what you're saying about GSD's and peoples' view of them. I guess I forget that people think of the breed that way because I've been around them since I was a baby.
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Feb 17, 2016 18:21
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If a dog is harassing your small dog or playing too rough with her you really shouldn't be waiting for your GSD to deal with it, its your job to stop that not his. Having him take care of it is a real nice way to get him to start resource guarding her or for a fight to break out. Plus you're not doing her any favors by letting dogs bully her until Finn steps in. Honestly, I don't think GSDs are dogs you should take to dog parks basically ever but we can't even get people to stop taking their shitbulls to dog parks in this forum so I'm not gonna hold my breath.
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Feb 17, 2016 18:30
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Triangulum posted:If a dog is harassing your small dog or playing too rough with her you really shouldn't be waiting for your GSD to deal with it, its your job to stop that not his. Having him take care of it is a real nice way to get him to start resource guarding her or for a fight to break out. Plus you're not doing her any favors by letting dogs bully her until Finn steps in. Don't worry. I don't let anyone bully my dogs at the park! We keep one person with each dog at all times. I'm usually with Finn and my wife is usually with Molly. I think you're picturing things being much more aggressive than they actually were which might be my fault for not explaining things properly. It's all much more playful than what you're probably imagining. The dogs were all playing, including Finn. His body language and bark was very much more of a "Hey knock that off!" with a smile on his face and his tail wagging than an "I'm going to attack you!" Things had just gotten a little too rough for Molly when Finn intervened. It was like a couple of seconds had passed and Finn happened to see it and got there before us. My point was just that Finn being observant of Molly like that makes me feel like he's got her back, but of course I fully intend on never letting things get to that point.
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Feb 17, 2016 18:51
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I'm not picturing him acting aggressively but if it's gotten to the point he feels he needs to step in, it's already past the point you should have stepped in. If he's just yelling at dogs who are playing with Molly, that's a different issue. Its pretty easy to spot when dogs are about to start acting lovely to each other with a bit of practice, just maybe keep a better eye out for it and shoo 'em away before they get rude. Keep in mind though, "smiling" and tail wagging doesn't mean a dog is happy or playing. Pulling back their commissure and stiffly wagging their tails is actually a good sign you're dog is super uncomfortable or considering starting a fight. There's a really cool book called Canine Body Language: A Photographic Guide Interpreting the Native Language of the Domestic Dog that goes into utterly exhaustive detail (with pictures!) of dog body language. Highly recommended, it's a super neat book and really useful Honestly though this is a big reason I don't like dog parks. It shouldn't be YOUR job to keep other dogs from being dicks to your dogs, their owners should be doing that. but if you're not actively policing other dog's behavior inevitably some rando dog will be a fuckface to yours while their owner just sits there and watches like a moron. If you have a dog like a GSD, people assume your dog started poo poo just by existing because they're ~so mean~. It's fuckin dumb
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Feb 17, 2016 19:28
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We've had mostly good experiences at our dog park. There are a few very odd people, and a few people who were genuinely dangerous and were banned from the park because their dogs were out of control. My only personal negative experience was having to leave early due to an extremely large, aggressive Newfoundland who would not leave Finn alone. The owner had zero interest in controlling her monster dog, and even if she did, the dog outweighed her by at least 50 pounds. Here's Finn at the dog park:  I take the good with the bad there because it's Finn's favorite place in the entire world.
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Feb 17, 2016 21:11
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My moms German shepherd Doina hated men (besides my grandpa). My mom had a pool party for her birthday in their above ground pool, and when a guy went up on the diving board to jump in, Doina ran up and tore his swim trunks off.
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Feb 18, 2016 02:27
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I am not condoning Doinas actions, and I realize that it could contribute to the stereotype of German shepherds brutally owning people both mentally and physically, but it was apparently very, very funny
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Feb 18, 2016 02:35
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lmao that owns
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Feb 18, 2016 02:57
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Linda Shaw, who does excellent illustrations of GSDs and published the new illustrated GSD standard recently posted some great articles on analyzing the structure and gait of GSDs. They dispel some of the common misconceptions about structural flaws - namely that problems in the rear are the result of hip dysplasia and that "sloped backs" is a meaningful criticism. Structural analysis of a recent VA rated dog Understanding Toplines A Beginner's Guide to analyzing gait
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Feb 25, 2016 19:01
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Hey, goons! Meet Sarge! He is three years old and weighs one hundred and twenty son of a bitching pounds. He is a Czech German Shepard, which I didn't know was a thing, but he is AKC certified, so there ya go. My wife has an acquaintance who is a dual-military family, with both parents about to go on deployment. They have three kids and three dogs, and this was, amazingly, an unsustainable situation. So now Sarge has joined our family! Not pictured, my 6-yo daughter. As I said, I didn't know that Czech German Shepards were a thing, and I'm having some difficulty finding info online about them. I am hoping (praying) that some of you guys have had any experience with them. For instance, please for the love of God tell me that 120 lbs is an enormously overweight Czech GSD and that I should put him on a diet right away. I mean this dude is HUGE. Aside form my concerns about his size, he is absolutely adorbs, yo. Coming form a home with 3 kids, he is a giant softy, very responsive to commands, and perfectly leash trained.
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Mar 13, 2016 19:12
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Our Josie is Czech/DDR and she weighs in around 70lbs, FWIW. Great looking dog!
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Mar 13, 2016 19:26
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Mr. Bad Guy posted:Hey, goons! Meet Sarge! Honestly I seriously doubt that dog is 120lbs but he IS fat as gently caress, please put him on a diet asap. Basically anyone who says I HAVE A 100+ LB GSD is either a liar or has a fat fuckin dog (usually both!!)). Czech GSD just means he's out of bloodlines that originated in Czechoslovakia, it's not a different or unique breed. AKC certification means someone sent in a picture of him or his pedigree and the AKC said "boy that sure is a dog, here have a paper saying this is indeed a dog" aka it means nothing whatsoever. If you have no experience with working dogs or GSDs i highly recommend you find someone who does ASAP and start working extensively on training. GSDs are great dogs but they need a lot of work to stay manageable and keep them from going totally loving insane and ruining everything you ever loved (if they don't your dog fuckin sucks sorry not sorry) btw its "shepherd" not "shepard" (hi yes its me triangulum this is my new account. this thread should have been euthed a million years ago because it's nothing but boring as gently caress pet dogs now but w/e)
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Mar 14, 2016 02:47
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My wife's last rescue Shepard weighed about 95, and he wasn't fat at all at they weight, however, he was a loving train wreck of an animal (rip). He did make an excellent baseline to compare our working Shepard to though!
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Mar 17, 2016 21:46
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gdi guys if youre gonna own a breed at least learn how to spell it correctly its right there in the thread title but yeah "trainwreck" does tend to describe most rescue gsds. lovely breeding + poor socialization makes for a real fun combination
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Mar 17, 2016 21:57
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I'm Commander Shepard and this is my favorite dog on the Citadel Ehud, can we have more Finnpics?
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Mar 17, 2016 22:07
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My housemate moved in with his black GSD Saxon - he's amazing, but has a couple of bad traits. Is there anything we can do to train him not to attack small dogs who come over to him when we're walking? I've already had to break up 2 fights. I don't think he was actually biting them properly, but it's hard to pull them apart! He also has a tendency to snap his teeth in your face when he's excited - apparently this was trained into him by a stupid ex of my housemate when he was a puppy. It's not aggressive at all, but definitely not ideal! Other than that he's an absolutely incredible dog, and fantastic with people. I've been trying to hint to the housemate that he should let us adopt him as he's constantly out socialising and leaving the dog in the garden on his own (though he could be just leaving him with us as he knows we'll look after him) but no luck!
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Mar 18, 2016 09:21
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Air snapping when excited is pretty common to west euro shepherds (it's practically a breed trait in dutch and belgian shepherds) - a lot of people call it "clacking". Kas does it too and while I'm sure there is some way to train them out of it I honestly have never bothered. You might want to ask the training thread. There was a discussion about dealing with dog aggression in the puppy thread recently that's worth checking out. A lot of it is pit bull specific so won't necessarily apply to your situation but there is some good info in there: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3471773&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=169#post457323979 The most important thing right now is management. You can't let him keep practicing this behavior because the more he does it, the more ingrained the habit will become so you need to keep him from being around small dogs. The first step in that is changing his exercise schedule so he's no longer accosted by ratdogs. How you go about this depends a lot on where you live but finding a different way to exercise him and stopping the walks is important. I had pretty good luck taking mine to less frequented parks (NOT DOG PARKS) that allowe dogs but require them to be on leash. Going at odd hours helps too, most parks are pretty deserted early in the morning or right before the sun goes down.You can get a lot more bang for your buck in terms of exercise by taking him to a park, putting him on a long line, and playing with a flirt pole rather than taking him on walks anyways and since he sounds pretty prey driven I bet he'd be super into that. I'd also seriously consider muzzle training him. Calmly wearing a muzzle is a good skill for all dogs but it's especially important since he's fighting dogs he could very easily kill without even trying. Basket muzzles are great because they can eat, drink, and pant through them without any problems. You also need to get his 'leave it' and 'stay' rock loving solid. When you're out and about take a high value tug toy (real fur ones are great for dogs with a ton of prey drive), redirect him onto it and let him tug like crazy while you either cross the street, run past the other dog (be care with this one, I'd only do it in emergencies), or turn around and go in a different direction. It's rewarding, distracting, and it will let him get out some frustration. Other things to consider: - Behavior Adjustment training. You can get the book here or take a self directed online course here. I'm a huge fan and use it with my DA dogs a lot. I personally like it because it teaches the dog ways to handle it's emotions and teaching self calming behaviors. - Counter Conditioning/Desensitization. Here is a quick rundown but there are absolute shitloads of books and websites explaining CC/DS protocols indepth. It's probably the most popular way to deal with fear and aggression among positive trainers. - Get REALLY REALLY on top of yelling at other people to get their loving dogs the second you see them coming. Most people are morons and will just laugh and go "it's ok, he's friendly" but often yelling "MINE ISN'T" is enough to get their rear end in gear, especially with a big black GSD. In all honesty what works best for your dog will probably be some combination of all of these techniques. Experiment and see what works best for him.
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Mar 18, 2016 16:53
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Ausrotten posted:Air snapping when excited is pretty common to west euro shepherds (it's practically a breed trait in dutch and belgian shepherds) - a lot of people call it "clacking". Kas does it too and while I'm sure there is some way to train them out of it I honestly have never bothered. You might want to ask the training thread. Our Josie (the Czech/DDR) does this when working with fetch or flirt pole. It'll be KLACK! followed by klacklacklacklack type sounds. Her focus is impressive. Ausrotten posted:playing with a flirt pole Agreed. The flirt pole is awesome. Ausrotten posted:You also need to get his 'leave it' and 'stay' rock loving solid. Also agreed. Her's is amazing. It took time but it's worth it.
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Mar 18, 2016 23:33
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Flirt pole is the poo poo and any gsd owner who doesn't have one is doing the self a huge disservice
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Mar 19, 2016 01:02
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Rufus does the teeth clacking thing and I always wondered why, makes sense now though since he is definitely at least part GSD!
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Mar 19, 2016 13:14
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Vex thinks the new goats are super fascinating and doesn't understand why I won't let him chase them just a lil bit
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Mar 30, 2016 14:55
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Stroop There It Is posted:I'm Commander Shepard and this is my favorite dog on the Citadel Haven't checked the thread in a while! Update with some pics... Finn has been in training for about a month now. The guy we are working with does in-home training and Finn has come a long way in a pretty short period of time. His behavior in the house is way less insane, he's doing better with greeting guests, his leash manners are getting better and it just feels like we have a better understanding of each other overall. I've been impressed with the training. It's literally just body language and voice control which is great because Finn has never been super treat motivated. Anyway, on with the pics! Finally found a bed he likes and doesn't destroy:  Best buddies:  He saw me pulling up these vines and helped me for like an hour. It was really cool to see him work. I want to train him to help with more yard stuff.  Hanging out today:   
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Apr 23, 2016 22:26
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also when I tell people I have a GSD and they ask to see a pic:
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Apr 23, 2016 22:27
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I love German Shepherds. My family used to breed big black German Shepherds, for temperment. My favourites were Khan, a big solid black fellow with golden paws who was placid as hell. He now lives with a sweet old lady and dotes on her all day. Then there was Kaycee who was a nutball that collected 2 liter coke bottles. And Bear, who was 12,000% certain that my mother was God. He was a good boy but we had to put him down after he lost his sight and hearing. There was a couple of incidents where he nearly hurt people because he simply couldn't identify them until he was on top of them, and his job was to protect mum at all costs from unknown enemies. The last straw was when my dad was in their closed shop alone with Bear, who was sleeping at his feet. One of the staff had just left and her 6 year old daughter needed to pee so she opened the door back up and told her to go in the staff bathroom at the back. The little girl ran straight down the hallway and Bear went into intruder mode and barrelled out of the side room and pinned her to the floor. Didn't hurt her, but scared the everloving poo poo out of her. After that mum made the decision and I had the honour of holding him as he went to sleep (she couldn't do it). After that my mother decided to travel Australia in a campervan and got a new dog - A Swiss Shepherd. All white. However I'm sad to say that she didn't treat the new pup right - even worse in my opinion because she knows better. The new pup, Kit, was terrified of cars (so spent every second of the travels a shivering mess) and so meek and anxious she'd pee if you as much as looked at her wrong. Pretty much the polar opposite of Bear. She was barely trained and scared of everything. My mother gave her to us for Christmas, when she was 11 months old and told us to sell her and whatever we made from the sale would be my wifes Christmas present. A week with us, and she had the basics of training down with my wife. A month, and she had realised that I wasn't going to murder her (she was scared of dudes especially for some reason). It is now nearly June and we cannot sell this dog. She's smart and bright and playful and extremely affectionate. She plays with our two kids (aged 3 and 4) and has a weird thing about cats - she may be confused as to whether she is one. Loves our Ragdoll cross like she were one of her own puppies. She stays in the yard and will walk with you without a lead, and loves loves LOVES hugs. She'll lean into you and rub herself along your thigh like a cat and is quite demanding with the nose/ear rubs. Not afraid of people now, and will bark at people approaching the front gate, but if they're brave enough to enter, doesn't attack, but retreats to whichever door they're headed for and sits quietly and refuses to let them through, unless one of us say its okay. Case in point, generally someone enters the yard we'll check it out, and she checks us - if we don't seemed bothered, then she isn't bothered. If we're welcoming, she's welcoming. The only time she's been "aggresive" is when a jehovahs witness came into the yard and my wife (a hardcore athiest scientist with precisely zero time for religion) opened the door so it was her and Kit inside and the JW outside behind the screen door. My wife was calm and nice about the whole thing "oh no thanks, we're good not interested at all have a nice day" but Kit must have picked up on the underlying "gently caress off" and growled at the guy. So we got a giveaway Swiss Shepherd that with some stability and love and attention, turned out to be a kickass member of our family. I went looking for pics but don't have any on my PC.
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May 29, 2016 16:35
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White Swiss shepherds (and white shepherds in general) are garbage dogs with absolutely terrible nerves and temperament problems. It's cool that she's somewhat less hosed up than she used to be but tbh there's like a 99% chance she'd had lovely fear problems even if given the worlds most perfect puppy raising experience because fear problems are so endemic in the """"breed""""
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May 30, 2016 04:26
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Ausrotten posted:White Swiss shepherds (and white shepherds in general) are garbage dogs with absolutely terrible nerves and temperament problems. It's cool that she's somewhat less hosed up than she used to be but tbh there's like a 99% chance she'd had lovely fear problems even if given the worlds most perfect puppy raising experience because fear problems are so endemic in the """"breed"""" She's a completely different dog. If you met her 6 months ago compared to now you'd barely recognise her. It was stupid of my mother to go out and get a Swiss Shepherd when what she clearly wanted was an out-and-out replacement for Bear (but didn't want to look at a new German Shepherd and be reminded of Bear). In any case we love our garbage dog and she loves us. 
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May 30, 2016 08:52
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 He'll be 12 in Nov
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Aug 24, 2016 11:15
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What a dignified old man
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Aug 24, 2016 16:15
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