I bought my first german shepard about 3 year ago now fresh out of the army. I have been talked into it by a few soldiers who had bred or worked with shephards in the past. With my army cash I went off and found some backyard breeder selling shephard pups.
All the pups live outside and I went for the darkest because that is what I was looking for. Took old solja home and it was a weekend of moving stuff so we were in and out and all around the place all day. For the first half of the day I was paranoid 6 week old Solja would take off or be hit by a car but instead he stuck to my heels all day. Come night I was nackered and put him in the laundry where he balled and cried and made a huge deal out of being isolated for the first time. I felt guilty and tiered so I took the dare and let him sleep in the room with me, after all we were out of the house the following day
When I woke up Solja hadn't gone to the toilet all night and first thing he did when we let him out was a big toilet run.
I did put a bit of work into him in the first 6 months but it was all easy, he picked stuff up perfectly. Only once went toilet inside while he was a little crook. He didn't dig holes but after 8 months became toy obsessed.
My housemate had a mate who came around four or five nights a week and would play with Solja all the time. One day he came around without anyone home and went to jump the fence. He was stuck at the top of the fence for nearly ten minutes trying to calm solja down before abandoning the idea.
One day at a family party at my mums toy obsessed Solja dropped his fetch toy within reach of my baby cousin (can't remember how young he was now but he couldn't walk or crawl yet) My cousin took the toy and he and solja were looking each other dead in the eye, Solja paitently waited for my cousin to throw the toy, not even when my intimidated cousin burst into tears and screamed at the top of his lungs was Solja irritated, he just stayed their, waiting, tail waging.
In my eyes this makes the perfect dog and while I did put a little bit of time into him it really wasn't hard work. He is fine when me or my gf or housemate are home with anyone who comes around or up to the gate.
He knows the neighbours stick their head over the fence for a chat and doesn't have a fit but one day the neighbours dad stuck he head over and nearly lost his nose.
Not once have I ever witnessed Solja aggressive toward another human, he can get irridtated from time to time with other dogs but otherwise is ok.
They are georgous looking dogs, strong, reliable, fast, trustworthy and nearly understand what you want without you saying so.
I did breed solja once and I got pick of the litter, my second german shephard isn't as good with other dogs and I didn't spend anywhere near the same ammount of time on him as i did Solja but recently me and grizzly had a week of one of one with no other dogs in the back yard and i was amased at how good a dog he can be when he is on his own. Can't recomend a better dog.
