my friend  is buying a alsation/rotty mix pup, from a woman across the road. The pup is £200 with no papers or jabs, or anything, and he  is picking him up at 6 weeks...the house he has been bred in is disgusting, really filthy . My friend has a small garden, and a young son , and although he's a really nice man, he is inexperienced with dogs. He says he will walk him regularly, but only around the block, and sometimes to the park. I haven't said anything about this, but feel he's making a big mistake. I'm worried such a potentially powerful dog, from completely unknown background could without a very experienced hand, be a nightmare. The pup's mum is there, and many other dogs. Shall I just shut up, or should I say something. My friend thinks if the pup is raised kindly, with exposure to children, etc that will be enough. Is he right?

My friend thinks if the pup is raised kindly, with exposure to children, etc that will be enough. Is he right?

Unfortunately....not even close. You're right to be worried. You could print off some training and other info specifically about those breed types that you can find online and see if he's receptive. Hope all goes well.

My sister bought the same cross of Rottweiler / GSD. Luckily she knew a bit about dogs and training. The dog oddly enough did not grow to a huge size, probably because of the poor rearing. She kept in touch with one or two other puppy owners which she met at the "breeders" , so we know what happened to at least three of the puppies. One ended up being put down at a year old as the owners could not cope, and the final straw was when it bit the postman! Another had a digestive problem which she was told the GSD sire had, after she had her puppy. It died at 2 years. Of the remaining one owned by her friend it grew to be huge, and she ended up not walking it as she could not handle it, so it ended up staying in the house and garden. My sisters pup lived a long life and was no trouble, until somebody tried to break in, after which it would follow people entering the house and would growl at them although never actually did anything. As soon as the person spoke and offered a hand to be sniffed he would go and lay in his bed, quite happy. Once when out he did get very funny with a youth, and my sister thinks he was protecting her, what did that dog know that she didn't?
My sister did comment frequently that he was definately a dog she wouldn't have trusted unless well trained and kept up to the mark in this area. He was 14 when he died and she missed him very much. She now has a red and white staffie, called Charlie Bean.....

Crossbreeds are always more of a gamble because you don't know what genes the pup has and as you say the members of the litter may differ to the extremes of the possible. And in most cases it is not possible to look at the background of the parents to see if any health or temperament problem may have been inherited. In this case hips could be a problem, as could temperament & epilepsy.