GSD

I am so sorry you had to go through getting attacked by two dogs, I got bit by a really large dog as a kid and I know that it's a scary and painful thing to go through!!!!! Having said that, I LOVE german shepherds!!!! I could talk all day about good GSD's. I've never had a full GSD, but I'm planning on my next dog being one, right now I have a GSD mix and she is the sweetest thing ever. When I was about 13 years old our neighbor got a GSD puppy for her son (it was a divorce case and she was trying to bribe him to stay with her[:@]), they named him Taco. Not only were they first time dog owners, but the lady didn't really like dogs, she always took care of him physically but he ended up being an outside dog because she didn't want such a big dog inside. Anyhow, I would always go over and play with him and make sure he had water and stuff. Taco ended up getting so attached to me that at night when his owner let him loose to "burn off some energy" he would run straight to our backyard and start barking, and he wouldn't quit until I went out and played with him for a while. For being such a big dog he was really sweet, although he had a LOT of energy!! He would let his owners 6 year old son climb all over him without ever complaining, he just loved the attention. Ok, I'm gonna stop now, like I said, I could talk all night long[sm=happy.gif]

Sorry to hear about your experience, but not all GSDs are mean. I had a purebred GSD growing up his name was Shane, he was AWESOME!!  My nephew who was around 2 or 3 at the time was very curious and if you turned your back on the kid he would disappear anyway he somehow got out of the house one day when he was over with my sister in law. We were all in the backyard and he just walked off..We started searching everywhere in the house, when we realized Shane was also gone! About 10 minutes had passed and my sisinlaw was freaking out, when a neighbor called to say my nephew was walking around the block, and she went to get him..but Shane was there and growled at her and sat at my nephews feet. Shane didn't know this neighbor and wasn't about to let her take my nephew!!
 Shane was an awesome dog, he would let the kids lay all over him, one nephew actually was allowed to "eat" out of Shane's food dish, we stopped that though. 
 Germans Shepherds can be amazing,wonderful dogs, they need to be sociliazed and cared for.
 
I miss my Shane so much, he was by far the greatest dog, and who knows what would have went on that day with my nephew if Shane wasn't around!!!
 
I don't think any breed is bad it's just how the owner takes care of it!
 
Kristie

I too am sorry you had to go through that.  I was attacked by a gsd and now I own SIX of them.  Actually, they seem to own me.


My female can be pretty reactive, but she's the biggest baby there is.  Sheba was taunted by a jerk in the next camp site when she was in a fear stage and unfortunatatly it did a lot of damage.  With her, I have to be a bit more careful in her exposure to people and be sure that I'm always in total control of the situation.  That means that I limit where I take JUST her, and am careful to always be watching for something that might upset her.  But we work on socialization within her comfort zone.  The worst Sheba EVER does is air snap....she bit once, and that was a drunk who she hated with a passion, who staggered and fell into me.  And she didn't bite very darned hard either since she barely broke the skin.  She has the potential to be dangerous if she is frightened enough, but that's where being a responsible and careful owner comes in.

My boys range from almost 4 years old down to barely nine months.  Three are failed fosters.  I can take any of them anywhere without any kind of incident.  Shadow will bark like crazy at a new person, but only because he wants to go make friends, and its a different type of bark than an "I want to bother that person" bark.  Even the most dog un-savy can usually tell that he wants to make friends with them....and we work on that still.  I do weekly walks in town around a lot of people so that he has the chance to be exposed to people in a variety of settings and I always remind him that not everyone wants to say hi to a dog his size and that quiet gets him more attention than he's frantic yips to make friends.  Surprisingly, most folks once they hear me say that not everyone wants to say hi to a dog that big, DO want to say hi.  That doesn't really help teach him not to carry on, but it does  keep him feeling that people are GOOD.  Despite his size, and mine, I'm not huge and all bulked up looking....I look pretty darned little behind all that dog....I find very few people afraid of any of my dogs.  I'm guessing that they can tell that I'm in control and that they aren't gonna be jumped.  The biggest problem I have with our walks is folks who feel that they just HAVE to pet Sheba...she's a gorgeous white gsd and they are not terribly common.  Those that act like fools and who frighten her I just tell that she might bite.      I don't  like making people afraid of her, because I think that can make them afraid of other dogs as well, but I have to protect her from situations where she could be reactive.

But, my "bad girl" is never more than a few feet away from me and she's an extremely loving and sensitive animal.  I think that in most cases, shepherds are wonderful and loving animals.  But it doesn't take much to give them a bad rap.  Just a few irresponsible owners who don't manage their animals properly, or just a few who want them because they are big, bad looking dogs and make the owner look tougher.

Some of the old timers will remember how devastated I was when Sheba bite the drunk.  I truely thought I was going to have to have her put down.  She had just had a litter (of one), she and I were living in our motorhome in a neighbors yard while I finished my degree...my family had already moved out of state....and she was really terratorial and nervous.  But, I too was nervous and unsettled living that way and she picked up a lot from me I think.     But regardless of the situation, and regardless of how annoying and menancing the drunk was and how nervous he made ME,  the fact that she'd put teeth on his skin really upset me and gosh, I felt like that one bite was enough to doom her.  Luckily, folks here talked me down from that ledge!

ANY dog can be dangerous.  In general I would say that smaller dogs are more likely to be dangerous because owners don't often think that their little dog can do any damage.  They tend not to train and socialize them as well as a responsible owner of a large breed will do...and that is a SWEEPING blanket statement.....but I honestly see more poorly behaved small dogs than out of control big ones.  As I sit here typing this, I'm surrounded by GSD's...two are crowding me into a tiny corner of the sofa, and the other four are in various spots within a few feet of me on the floor.  And honestly?  The only thing I'm feeling is surrounded by loving big lugs.        

Glenda-that really helped alot i  gusse what im more afraid of is ..getting attacked by any dog but when  i hear the bark of a GSD i jump and know that im scared  of these dogs not just omg theres a GSD .i mean tears in the eyes wanting to run away .i love all dogs nad give all dogs a chance(maybe that where i went wrong the frist time) but  it's hard to look at scars on your body and think that a animal you are suposse to care about or what not  did this to me .GSD are great dogs i know because i had a GSD/lab . She was a once in a life time dog. But i look at the things about pittys and such but im not afraid of them if you gave me a pit bull to walk up to or  a GSD i'd walk up to the pit.

Oh good. I'm glad it helped...sometimes I tend to ramble!

You are justifiably frightened.  That's normal when you've been attacked.  The best thing I could suggest is finding someone with gsds that you know are safe and doing a densensitation.....

but it wasnt just the dogs after i got bit the owners when they saw me out side would put there dogs on a leash and walk them near me and of course me being scared would walk away something a simple as walking my dogs no dont think so.It was a big tramic thing in my life  and the scars will be there all my life whether its looking on my legs or my side and see the scars or whether its seeing a GSD walking down the road and  walking away because im scared the impact of the dog bite will always be there

I still have scars on my shoulder from the gsd who bit me...despite plastic surgery.  But HE isn't representative of the breed as a whole, and I had to remind myself of that many times over the years.  I'd file a  omplaint against those owners, honestly.

well that was in texas and we moved to conneticut   its just people could have a little respect

Sorry to hear about your past experience. As was said earlier, not all GSDs bite. I was bitten a couple of times by a neighbor's Weimaraner when I was a kid. That doesn't make them bad. It was that specific dog.

I have a GSD that I got while stationed in Germany. She's the sweetest little girl. Two weeks before rotating back to the states, I had to have her shipped to my parents in Wisconsin. They were really skeptical about having her around both them and their three cats bacause of the stories you hear about the GSD.

They fell in love with her and the cats did as well.

I hope you get past your fear because the GSD can be a very gentile animal.

I grew up with a GSD being my best friend.  To this day she still tugs at my heart on a regular basis.  And like any dog, she had her tendencies.  I think the responsibility of how the dog behaves falls with the owner.  Proper socialization and training should be mandatory no matter what kind of dog a person gets.  GSD's are HIGHLY intelligent and can follow complex instructions to a "T", and they are consumately loyal.  When you reflect on your experiences with a breed, consider the owner.  More times than not, that's where the accountability lies.