They are recognizable the world over, regardless what color they come in. They are number three of the top ten smartest dogs and depending upon how you rear them, can be the sweetest dog, the bravest guard dog and the best bomb sniffers out there. German Shepherds, a.k.a. Alsatian Shepherds and GSDs are keenly intelligent, fiercely loyal and make great family pets.
Whether you choose to get one from a breeder, a shelter, or a GSD rescue organization (the last two are highly recommended), if you are serious about owning one, there are some things you will want to know first.
Intelligence and Training
Responding well to training, they’re great for agility. Whether it’s crawling along the ground under something, jumping up to catch a Frisbee or running then leaping through hoops, GSDs respond well to commands and are shoe-ins for competitions.
It’s this same attention to detail, ability to follow direction and respond to his or her owner’s commands that make it easy to train the Alsatian to sit, stay, come, lie down and come when called, regardless how far he or she is from you. The firmer you are when training your German Shepherd, the better your relationship will be with her. Indeed, it’s safe to say that not all GSDs are alike. Some are sensitive and don’t require firmness to “get it”, while others are stubborn and need a little more reinforcement. And to clarify, reinforcement simply means repetitiveness. No training program should include punishing or hitting. While some trainers advocate the use of treats, others against this idea. The choice to use treats will be yours. This is no indication of their intelligence, but rather their temperament.
K-9 Dogs
Dogs that were originally bred for certain tasks – like Shepherds used to herd animals, Retrievers to assist while their owners hunted and Terriers to seek out and destroy rats infested in homes – are slowly having those instinctual traits bred out of them over generations as the priorities of their human owners shift. All is not lost however! New and exciting reasons to keep them around are or have been developed. Because of their intellect, agility and speed with which they grasp new information, GSDs have become the dog of choice used by police departments. Indeed not all German Shepherds can be chosen for this elite job, and once one is trained for such a job, it’s difficult to untrain him as his usefulness dwindles. Whether they’re used to sniff out drugs at the airport, to guard the property room at your local precinct or to alert the bomb squad about an explosive, they are indeed the best in show when it comes to hiring a canine companion to help solve ‘who done its.’
Family Dog
If your family has fallen in love with the look of a GSD and you want to bring one home, in order to ensure yours has a long and happy life, here are some things to be mindful of.
GSDs have this terrible reputation for being aggressive and becoming attack dogs. For the most part, it’s completely unfounded. Indeed any dog, including a Golden Retriever, can be trained to be an attack dog. If someone is so inclined, he can turn the sweetest dog in the world into a killing machine. However, German Shepherds, because of their intelligence and loyalty, are in fact, one of the sweetest breeds on the planet. Assuming you don’t chain your dog up, neglect her daily walks and don’t humanize her, you train her and make sure that you’re always Alpha, she will be the most loyal dog you’ll ever own. It’s her nature to put herself in harm’s way to protect her people – whether her people are mom and dad or your three-year old. GSDs dislike arguing and fighting and will let you know if your argument, whether friendly and political or one which is aggressive, is unpalatable to her. She will definitely make her thoughts on the topic be known.
The bottom line is that Alsatians are great family pets. They’re sweet, have a range of expression, come when called (assuming training is something you plan to do, which is highly recommended), and are protective of everything in your home, including the cats with whom they are privileged to live.