Your Passion
Our goal is that SL GSD puppies all become their family’s best dog ever, a loved and loving family member that you’re telling fond stories about for decades to come.
The GSD breed is intelligent, energetic, curious, powerful and loving. Bringing one up right is a wonderful growth experience for the whole family, but also requires time, energy and money. There is training, physical and mental exercise, playtime (hours each day as a pup but still plenty as an adult), socialization, study about all aspects of the GSD and your particular pet, and of course lots of expensive food and some expensive vet care. A GSD is a major hobby!
Great dog families have already planned how they’ll fit all of this into their already busy lives. They also understand that not everything goes as planned and are good problem solvers. They’re prepared to explain the house rules to their puppy and to properly assert leadership.
Since it takes only a few days to start ruining an otherwise perfect puppy, our great dog families will have started learning and preparing well before the puppy’s arrival, will make it a hobby to regularly play and work with their dog(s) and also to regularly work at learning how to be the best dog family they can be. Here are some pointers for families wanting to become a great dog family:
Socialization, exercise, play and attacking water at the dog park.
❖ Start with the right breed for your family. Simply put, the exceptional but demanding GSD is too much dog for most people. Study the different breeds to avoid making a mistake.
❖ Be sure this is the right time to add a puppy to your family. You’ll have more love and joy but less sleep and time and money. And there may be some mess and chewing. If you’re not sure would you consider adopting an older dog that’s more mellow? Here’s a top-notch local rescue in our town, but your town may have one as well.
❖ If you’re sure you want a puppy, do yourself a favor and begin with one that is healthy and well-started, and is already going in the right direction.
❖ Plan on early obedience training with a very good trainer. Noted expert Michael W. Fox considers this vital for guard breeds such as the GSD.
❖ Start today on learning to be a great dog family so you can shape the dog you want.
❖ Daily physical exercise for your dog, plenty of age-appropriate play and exploration. They’ll love you for it! Please educate yourself – puppy over-exercise injuries are becoming common, while under-exercise is a major cause of health issues for adult dogs.
❖Daily mental exercise: develop all that talent while learning to speak dog and bonding with your dog!
❖ Companionship: GSDs love being near you as much as possible as you go through your day. And they also love to play with other dogs – try to make time at least weekly for that too. This is not a breed to chain up outside and ignore!
❖ Consider what the GSD was bred for and, as much as practical, let your dog spend time just being himself.
❖ And above all love and respect, especially under pressure, are the foundation for every relationship including raising a great family dog. Having a dog works best when it’s about both the dog and about you – what each of you can give the other. With this breed, the more you give the more you get. You can’t out-give a GSD.
❖ In short, when you get a GSD pup you get a major new hobby which will take a couple of hours a day to do your best!