Hi, I am in the sad position of knowing I will shortly lose one of my two German Shepherds to CDRM. Hopefully we might have him another year or so, but I can see him deteriorating and once his quality of life is gone we will make that awful decision to let him go. This will leave a massive hole in our family, and I feel it's time to get on the lengthy waiting lists for a puppy to begin to fill the gap he will leave.

I love GSDs for their intelligence and loyalty but am wary of getting a dog who might be too 'guardy' for our situation. We live in a very isolated house, and I like that our dogs look off-putting to potential wrong-doers because of their size, BUT we live on a public footpath and the new dog mustn't pose a threat (either real or perceived) to any walkers passing through. Basically I want a big, imposing looking softy who can be outside with me while I'm working on the farm and look like he won't take any nonsense, but is actually completely friendly and non-aggressive. I realise that much of this is down to how we train them, but I think we need to choose a puppy wisely to help our chances. Two breeders I've found via Google who look like they fit the bill are Calmholme GSD and Gentlebears GSD. However, I am inexperienced with puppy buying and I think just dropped very, very lucky with my present dogs who fill the role perfectly! I just wondered if anyone knew of either of these breeders - or ideally had a puppy from them - and if they are as good a fit as their website suggests? Other suggestions (either for GSD breeders or even other breeds) also definitely welcome!

Thanks for any advice :)

Have pmd u

That's brilliant furriefriends, thanks very much for your input. Much appreciated :)

If you have been happy with past dogs I would contact the breeders and stud dog owners of their sires.

Look at their pedigrees and see if they have common ancesrtry that may well be responsuble for the traits you have liked in them.

There are so many very different styles and characters within the breed owing to hugely differing selection priorities within the breed standard of their breeders, which can make 2 GSD's as different as Chalk and Cheese.

You have 2 main subsets within the breed at theshow level, wirh enthusiasts showing only at breed club events where the entry would depend on which 'camp' the judge came from, often called 'Englis' and 'Germanic' types. Then you have breedets who aim for Middle of the Road type, who often mostly show at the General Championship shows, mostly under allrounder judges.

Then you have breeders of True working dogs who breed for the Prison service, security, some Police forces, military etc.

Lastly you have breeders, some totally commercial, some less so whose aim is to supply the pet market.

These often concentrate on long coats, fashionable (suppisedly rare) non standard or undesireable in the standard colours.

Sadly most of the latter do not Health test.

If your preference is for dogs of the latter type I urge you to ensure that the parents are fully health tested.

Without this you could end up with the sweetest natured dog, (assuming the parents, and other relatives have been selected for temperament), but ends up suffering from largely preventable health issues. Hearbreaking.