Hi there, I have trained my german shepherd bitch to a reasonable standard as an "at heel "stalking dog. I accept without reservation that there are better breeds, barvarian/hanovarian etc. However, as a hot scent, obedient and companion dog i would rate the breed highly. my shepherd bitch reacts instantly to hand signals, is totally silent in the woods and has trailed a dozen or so roe and muntjac, that i have shot, admittedly, the longest trail was 80 yrds! Though in thick cover,an absolute bugger without a dog.
german shepherd
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Gazza
Well-Known Member
One of the worlds finest working breeds (if you get a good one). Many years ago I had a few GSDs and travelled the length and breadth of the country doing working trials. In tracking dog competitions the trails were just over 3 hours old but these dogs are capable of tracking older stuff. I woulod also consider that this type of dog could easily be trained to bay and hold.
Gazza is right, i bought mine as a family\ guard dog as we live in a very isolated rural location, by sheer good luck she is not gun shy and took to stalking instantly. I take care she is behind me when i shoot she is clever, responds to hand signals and is silent, i was fortunate that the first roe doe i shot this winter she saw the whole event in sequence, spot the doe crawl forwards shoot from 50 yrds, the doe leapt into the air ran 50 yrds ish then collapsed into some rushes. I was able to take her down to the strike area, made her wait whilst i found the blood trail, called her down and pointed out the lung tissue and blood. The bitch followed the trail{blind luck to be in in a gulley] straight to the doe who was dead in her tracks, the bitch watched me gut the doe and was rewarded with a bit of liver. The point being, a young dog needs the encouragement and positive result if they are going to be good, my bitch is very sensitive and intelligent, if she was in an aggressive or abusive environment, she would be useless and even worse a dangerous liability.
