I've been reading up on dogs of late. I had a mongrel when I was a child. She was the gentlest thing ever and such a great companion. The only problem with dogs is that, for some of us who are not calloused internally -- for those of us who are of sensitive disposition -- they become very much part of you, a partner, a loved one, and parting from them is emotionally devastating. There are humans who, OTOH, are like those Thai soldiers who would bang the heads of monks repeatedly against a wall till their skulls crack and they die. Or those Chinese soldiers who persecuted Tibetian monks. People who are inexplicably dead on the inside. Who cage their dogs their entire lives. Who regard them as nearly inanimate and certainly not sentient and who keep them ... for what? Their bark? There are so many such people amongst us, barely aware of their own humanity.

Anyway, to get back to the topic. For me, the choice came down to either a Labrador or a GSD.

I don't think that many people in this thread understand this breed. They think they do, but if they really did, it is impossible for GSDs to be so popular in this subforum. Because GSDs were bred as war dogs. They may have come from shepherd stock, but they were bred for war. For aggression against enemies. They should be called Prussian War Dogs, PWDs.

http://www.netplaces.com/german-shepherd/a...ero/war-dog.htm

They were bred at the turn of the century in Germany, a time when Germany was the most militant country in the world, by a captain of the Prussian army. Subsequently, they were widely used in both WW1 and WW2.

I don't think there is a place in a gentle society for such dogs.

The protective nature and the aggressiveness of the GSD does not come about via K9-style training. It is genetic to the dog. The training merely accentuates it.

Here you see 2 GSDs (rightfully) mauling a man who threw stones at them. I don't think those dogs were trained to attack. The owner was completely unsuccessful at restraining them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eOydTKeMzk

A GSD, when provoked, cannot actually be restrained by a human. They propel themselves explosively. Either the leash will escape your grasp, or if you are both tied together by the least, you will be dragged along by the dog. Here you see professional dog handlers with the London police losing control of the dogs under their command. The dogs then ran to and started attacking the crowd. These are expensively, continuously trained dogs under the command of professional handlers. If these dogs cannot be controlled, you guys/girls have zero chance at controlling your GSDs when sufficiently provoked.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDiqhkK_ucw

Here you see another case of an unexpected attack. IMO, the reporter deserved it because his body language was very hostile to the dog. But many people do not understand the effect their body language have on an inherently aggressive breed like the GSD. They think they are petting a nice dog.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHLnjiISsOo

Having said all that, GSDs are the absolute coolest breed. They are like the perfect soldier. Completely fearless. Which was what they were bred for.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRWj-aAnHsY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCZevHRLiEo

I particularly love this vid. At 4:28, you see what appears to be a pet GSD immediately attacking an aggressor without requiring the owner to give any command. The owner then helped push the dog over the counter to pursue the aggressor. So cool.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-7N1oocmD4

So yeah, I'm going with a Labrador. I don't need a lethal weapon I can't control as a pet.

This post has been edited by kotmj: Jun 14 2014, 06:29 PM

The German Shepherd dog is probably the most respected breed and one of the most popular in the world. It isn't a heritage breed by farmers. It was concocted by a single man: Max Emil von Stephanitz, a landowning Bavarian nobleman and a calvary captain in the Prussian army at the time of the First World War. The turn of the century has quaint practices not seen today. One of them is the Prussian top-down way of governing. One of the manifestations of this bureaucracy is the strong desire to consolidate and standardize things. In tailoring, there was a standardization of drafting systems, and a tailoring academy in Berlin was commissioned to create a Unified Drafting System. Von Stephanitz was asked to create a standardised German dog, one which combines the best traits of all dogs and which would be multipurpose, in particular in law enforcement and on the battlefield.

He didn't just deliver the dogs: Like any good vendor, he also delivered the documentation with the dogs.

"Der Deutsche Schaeferhund in Wort und Bild" is a 800-page book written by von Stephanitz that documents the creation of the German Shepherd and which contains almost everything he knows about dogs. It's worth learning German just to read this book.

He collects wolves and dogs from all over Europe. Many contributed their genes in creating this new dog. He also gives very practical advice on every aspect of breeding and keeping dogs. The detail he goes into is amazing. This man knows everything about dogs.

Download it here
https://archive.org/details/derdeutschesc00step

You will notice if you download his book that the GSD as developed by von Stephanitz looks very different to those today. His dogs are lean and straight-backed. Such GSDs are uncommon today, with the bulky, oversized, sloping-backed ones dominating the scene.

In fact his dogs look like the Belgian Malinois.

Blondi, Hitler's last dog. Notice she's lean (skinny), straight-backed, and small.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blondi#mediav...dem_Berghof.jpg

This post has been edited by kotmj: Aug 11 2014, 10:25 PM

Buying a dog for looks is like marrying for looks. In day to day life, it is the dog's temperament you live with, not looks.

Show line gsd's would make von Stephanitz turn in his grave. Grotesque.

Finally, someone who is not retarded. (Joking...)

Now, I understand the futility of enlightening a whole bunch of idiots to the original breed function of the GSD. Nonetheless, because I like posting on forums, I will let von Stephanitz be heard. He is the creator of the GSD. Here are quotes from him:

-----------------------------------------------------
Utility is the True Criterion of Beauty

The coloring of the dog has no significance whatever for service; our shepherd dog accordingly is not bred for color. Coloring therefore is only a fad of the amateur and as such is often liable to changes of whim.

The most striking feature of the correctly bred German Shepherd are firmness of nerves, attentiveness, unshockability, tractability, watchfulness, reliability and incorruptibility together with courage, fighting tenacity, and hardness

Take this trouble for me: Make sure my shepherd dog remains a working dog, for I have struggled all my life long for that aim.

The breeding of shepherd dogs is the breeding of working dogs; and this must always be the aim, or we shall cease to produce shepherd dogs.

Even the most perfectly built dog is of no use if he does not possess the incentive to give of his best and of his uttermost.

The impulse for work is born in our dogs.

The dog who is kept in the kennel...is no better than a beast caged for show.


The working dog is trained to be very smart on the word of command, but he learns to understand very much more beyond it, if only his master will take the necessary pains with him.

-----------------------------------------------------
http://www.total-german-shepherd.com/germa...herdquotes.html

This is a GSD from the 1940's


Notice how compact the body is. No "big bone structure" nonsense -- this is a lithe, compact dog much the size of a Mallinois. The head is aquiline.

The contemporary show GSD is a cripple: too bulky and muscle-bound to be agile, and with a totally unsound collapsing pelvis.

Firstly, your dog doesn't give a damn about a kennel. No dog wants to spend time in a kennel. It's a cage. Just buy a commercial cage. The dog, as I was saying, doesn't give a damn about being caged. It will never voluntarily spend any time in the kennel you are so keen to build (for yourself). It will only be inside if you shut the door. Open the door, and the dog can't f***ing wait to get the f*** out of it. You are not building him a home of his own. You are building him a prison.

A dog's favourite place is .. right beside his/her owner.

Are you a worthy owner of a dog?

This post has been edited by kotmj: Sep 3 2014, 09:43 PM

A very, very bad joke.
http://www.mudah.my/German+sherpherd-28882633.htm