Hello everyone

I am shortly going to see a litter of GSD's with a view to picking a bitch out of 6 bitches and I have noticed from the photo's that there seems to be quite a marked size difference between them; is it best to pick a bigger one in a large breed/ does a smaller pup ring any alarm bells?

Thanks

I should just add these pups are from generations of hip scored parents, from a bloodline I particularly wanted and the breeder is KC accredited and recommended to me by a friend, so no worries there. Thanks

If the parents and preceding generations are on the small side I would avoid a small puppy and vice versa if the parentage were over or up to size I would avoid the biggest.

Thanks for that; if I'm being hyper-critical I would say the mum of pups is a little on the small side....Do you find that a small pup will be a small adult? obviously there are exceptions but as a rule?

Have the dog/bitch been tested for Dwarfism ? I wouldn't consider a puppy unless both parents were either DNA tested normal for the Dwarfism gene or one/both were themselves from DNA tested normal parents

Not heard of dwarfism in German shepherds?

We have one Dwarf GSD that lives near me, seen it being walked along our seafront. I had to stop thinking it was a young pup, they then informed me it was 2yrs old and was a dwarf.

> Not heard of dwarfism in German shepherds?

Pituitary Dwarfism in GSDs

It is something that is hidden by most breeders whose dogs carry the Dwarfism gene. The puppies are placed out of view of the public on the whole. I know two Obedience long coat GSD breeders that have it in their lines & they have been very open about it. The Germans now insist that all breeding dogs must either be tested normal or be normal by parentage, this way they are breeding it out of their bloodlines. Sadly this is not the same here & lots of breeders are like you, in ignorance of the condition-This is very sad as obviously as when it occurs they have no ideal what it is ;-( & others simply lie about the status of their dogs

Crikey! ok will check with breeder- she must be getting sick of me by now!

What are you planning for the puppy, Show, work??  Family pet only?  this makes a huge difference to be honest.

A few years ago one of my customers had a dwarf GSD which was about 3 years old but only looked like a 6 month old. They had a lot of problems with it and was told it probably would,nt live beyond 5 years.

I am looking for, first and foremost, a good family pet. I would like good example of the breed though, a well put together bitch

Hi there,

When you say it is a blood line you want, what experience do you have in dogs?  

Is the breeder a successful show person or successful working kennel?

Hard to say with limited information.  My concern would be are you experienced enough and trust the breeder enough to go pick this puppy on your own?