12/08/2025
Why most GSD who end up euthanized for non medical reasons or abandoned end up that way, and why the GSD community shouldn't encourage first time dog owners to get a GSD as their first dog:
The GSD is an amazing creature. It is one of the most versatile dog breeds in existence - very few other breeds have so many amazing traits in one single dog - loyalty, intelligence, trainability, affection, strength ability and drive to protect, and so much more.
However - those traits can just as easily make it the worst dog to own for people who don't have prior experience with such dogs (or no experience with any dogs), and certainly those who don't understand the lifestyle and activity needs of a GSD and similar dogs (Doberman, Rottweiler, etc) compared with most other "pet" style breeds like Spaniel, Terriers, Retrievers, etc.
That same loyalty that makes the GSD such a great family member can really turn to aggression towards its owner and family if the dog doesn't see them as their leaders but rather sees itself as the dominant "member of the pack".
That same intelligence and energy mean it can more easily get bored and outright "crazy" if its owner doesn't expend that energy properly and doesn't challenge their intelligence needs by intense mental stimulation like actual work (see police and military K9 units, for example) as opposed to doing what most Labradors, Poodles, Spaniels, etc would love to do all day instead - sit on the couch next to you while you're binge watching all seasons of "Breaking Bad" the whole weekend. There are exceptions to this rule - of course, but exceptions to a rule don't invalidate the rule - I've seen enough crazed out (from boredom) poodles or golden retrievers to know that.
You can see this recurring theme in all too many posts here - owners of a GSD, who either never had ANY dog before or the only dog they had before was a quiet docile King Charles Cavalier, who now realize they didn't know what they were getting into choosing a GSD as their home pet - expecting it to thrive under the same docile and sedentary conditions as that Cocker Spaniel they had when they were kids, and all too may such GSD then end up either getting euthanized because they attacked someone (due to all the challenges I mentioned) or surrendered to shelters because their owner simply couldn't handle them any longer.
I think that there is no more prefect dog than a GSD if you have BOTH of these two things: you thoroughly know what their needs and traits are, and you have the experience, knowledge, time, and commitment to raise them accordingly.
If you don't have BOTH - you shouldn't get a GSD. Period. You might get lucky and find the exception - that GSD that behaves like the most easy going golden retriever, but just read how many people post here begging for help, and when you ask them about those two things - you realize they at best only have one, and at worst - none of them.
I think we owe it to this amazing breed to discourage people who don't have both of these things from getting a GSD as their family pet - certainly if it's a working line GSD vs getting one from a show line - which can make great pets for novice owners, but unless I had both those things - I certainly wouldn't even think about adopting any GSD from a shelter or a breeder or a previous owner where I can't have close to absolute certainty about their character (through selective breeding and proven lineage) before getting them.
I think every ethical GSD breeder MUST do a proper vetting of a prospectuos buyer to ensure they're getting the right dog for their experience level, lifestyle, willingness and knowledge about the breed and how to handle it.
There are breeders who specialize in very docile and unaggresive show line GSD, which are better suited for less capable (in terms of both things I mentioned) owners, which should be the only type of GSD such owners should consider getting - if a GSD at all, but we just see here how many people just had no business getting the GSD they ended up with. And in all too many such cases - those dogs would either end up getting euthanized for extreme aggression that with the properly qualified owner could have been avoided (or by buying the right GSD as I mentioned above - usually from the show line type rather than working line), or these dogs would end up being surrendered to a shelter (with many shelters euthanizing dogs they can't find a new home for within a certain amount of time) or just abandoned on some side road in the middle of nowhere.
I have no regrets getting my working line GSD Elijah from a family that had no business getting a dog like him at all. But I grew up in a highly reputed GSD breeder "farm" (as in - an agricultural "village" that the breeder was in, where I spent time working with them and training their dogs), I also spent a few years volunteering as a foster owner and trainer for GSD and Labs and Golden Retrievers who were then given to vision impaired veterans, and I knew how to turn my dog from attacking me and biting my arm with ferocity (I came with heavy duty leather gauntlets knowing he would be like that) when I first met him at his previous owner's house, where he was the alpha of the household - he owned the family - they didn't own him... who is now the sweetest most loving and gentle dog with my family, who sleeps with his head next to mine on the pillow every night spending hours gazing deeply into my eyes, coming over to bury his head between my legs or cuddles up in my lap and licks me so much that I need a towel next to me at all times...
He was about to be surrendered to a kill shelter when I got him. He is still a very challenging dog with strangers, due to not getting proper training and socialization for the first two and a half years of his life until I got him, but he would have been killed had I not adopted him and knew how to train him and handle him, and even with all that - he still must wear a muzzle anytime someone he doesn't already know is about to enter my house, or when I walk him, but he's alive, and happy, and loving and loved - and at home with us - he is 180 degrees from how he behaved when I got him.
If he had been my first dog, or if he was my first GSD after only having a toy poodle - I would have been one of those owners who post here for help not knowing how to handle such a dog.
If you love the GSD breed (or any other breed, for that matter) - you MUST ensure to spread this message - no one should get a dog they're not properly qualified, able, and willing (and can afford) to raise in a manner that is conducive with that dog's needs, traits, and challenges.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
