If you train them I'm sure. Our older one is around a year old and is HUGE. He is smart and listens but is scared of other people. But we have not had any coyote problems in about a 1 mile radius from our house. Alot of the neighbors like our older one. The one posted is mine and she is about 5 months and about half the sizeof the bigger one. It took around 7-8 months for our older one to get full size. But I'd say they are very good dogs if you play with them and please teach them to stay down, or they will jump on you and push you to the ground. I've had the older one run between my legs and made me fall on my ***.

Edit-that picture was takin at about a month to a month and week old.

This is about what our older one looks like, but not him. I'd say he stands around hip high to me and I'm 5'11. They are white as can be when clean but he just loves to be dirty all the time so we let him. and they also clean themselves

 

yeah, my lab maybe a bit dumber than urs, mine ran into a tree once, ha ha but he is the best hunting dog I have ever seen, wich is really ironic cuz we named him HUNTER when he was a pup

 

Before we even thought about great pyranees we had a German/Australian Sheperd cross that I swear was the dumbest dog ever. he could sit, lay and come to you on command but while yes he caught rabbits. for the most part he'd race them, pass them for awhile, stop and wait then get em. but man was he fast.

 

I grew up with german sheppards, they are good dogs, but can tend to be a little aggressive when you least expect it. Since I have been married, my wife and I have had lab mutts. I NEVER buy a dog, always rescue or get one from someone who's dog had a litter. Sheps, will shed A LOT all the time, are prone to hip displacia, and are not very good "car riders". The lab I have now is mixed with pointer and kinda resembles a pit a little bit. She is the most protective dog I have ever had. We found her on a overpass on I-85 near our house at 4 mos old. She was dirty and full of worms and sick. We took her to our vet got her shots and wormed and cleaned her up. She is good with kids and a great swimmer, but she is a little aggressive towards men and a lot aggressive towards other female dogs. She has not ever bitten anyone, but I would not want to be the person that tries to hurt my kids, cause she thinks they are her pups.When shegoes outside,she has to find them as soon as shegets back inside. I'll post some pics in a little while.

[IMG]local://upfiles/40652/D2FD869EA5FC4A6C897957C1AA8104EE.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/40652/8B3F53F46FE0434CAADAE07278A6628B.jpg[/IMG]

 

Here's one more. She's light weight only 85 lbs. My last male was 100+.



[IMG]local://upfiles/40652/FC74EFE9D13648688A3E83D0165CBA8F.jpg[/IMG]

 

yea nick I've heard about the health problems that's why i'm looking into AKC purebred puppies that may be more expensive but I can look at all the health records one or more generations back. So far what i've found is it's about 800-1200 dollars for a puppie meant fora companion and not as a show dog. they I guess pick out the pups that are most suited to shows and charge premium while if you just want a dog to be ur buddy you still pay a high price but not near what show dogs were. I was seeing like 25-3000 dollars for purebred show dogs. I do know about the sort of unexpected aggression as you could call it but i'm hoping taking him into the dorms at school once in awhile will get him used to all sorts of people. i commute to school and live at home and I don't mean i'll take him there for like days at a time but mebbe take him to the campus walk him around and chill in the dorm with my buds for a bit. animals are allowed in the dorms and the one HA actually has a st. bernard taht is massive. I'm hoping this will help get him used to people other animals and possible make sure he won't chase squirrels and stuff all the time. I don't care if he does but I really don't want to be walking him and have him see a squirrle or something and go run right into the path of a car. I think i'd be sick if I ever saw that happen to my dog. We shall see right now I don't have the money to spend on a pup and also I'm speakign with breeders in the area about reserviing pups and when the next litter will be. looking at something like at the soonest 6 mnths before a puppy is available.

From what everyone said about labs I agree they do act stupid but when it's time to work they just go to it. A reason I like em but like I said I just want a german shepherd. My dad has owned a few and will be able to help me teach and also teach me about what to do and hearing the stories of how loyal this dog was and how it probably saved his life more than once really just makes me want one even more. My dad used to live in kansas in a rough part of town in his early 20's and had his german shepherd popeye. well one night my dad woke up and there was a dude standing outside his open window looking in. No ac so he ahd window open. Well popeye went out the window grabbed the guy and just held him down till the cops got there. guy had a weapon and everythign dad's guess is the dude was casing the house and then came upon the window my dad and popeye.

 

I have a female Sheapard and she is the best dog I have ever had. She is protective of the house and yard but will stand down as soon as I tell her. Loves people but is not fond of other dogs other than my basset hound. I have had a few dogs and I don't think you can go wrong with a sheapard. Just make sure their hips are certified and you will have no problems. They do shed 2 times a year, and can be a bit hyper but all dogs have there faults. Best alarm system you can have in my oppinion. Also one thing to remember is they are not long living dogs. I think around 10-12 is average which is shorter than other dogs around the same weight. Good luck with your search.

 

Our 4 year old Jack Russel Terrier is "aggresively" retarded.... Her nickname is DumDum

 

Rotts have pretty much the same health issues as the shepards and that's one thing that is nice about going to a reputable breeder, they have the parents hips certified by a vet. We paid $750 for our "pet" rott, it was $1000 if you wanted to breed or show it. One thing our breeder told us is really limit the jumping in and out of cars and running up and down stair until she was about 1-1.5 so her joints and muscles were developed. So we would always lift her into the truck and walk in front of her on the stairs so she didn't run and jump off. I highly recommend paying the good money for the dog, you do get what you pay for. Not only is it the health stuff that you can track, but the breeders also affect the personality of the dog and with the "aggressive" breeds, spending the money is well worth it to get the good blood lines.

From the day you get it, putting it in social situations is the best thing you can do. When bringing him around school, it will get used to so many differnt things, that nothing will bother it. The best thing we learned at obedience class is how to walk it while training it to ignore everything else so it doesn't chase the squirrel into the street. With our dog, the only thing I'm worried about is her knocking someone over because of her size. She seems to think she's 10lbs. I'm not worried about the aggressive part.

 

Hmmm, good info