While talking to a woman today with a young family who wanted a pet that was not only going to integrate well with her family but also provide protection, there have been break-ins in her area, she was worried about purchasing a Working Line German Shepherd. She told me that she had been dissuaded in purchasing a Working Line Shepherd because their energy levels were very high. They needed to have lots of exercise and in a word would be jumping out of their skin. This is rubbish. Working line refers to a straight back as opposed to a sloping back, show line. Every dog has its own energy level, but German Shepherds can be grouped more accurately not by working line/show line but Western Shepherd versus Eastern Shepherd. What’s that you say? Western German Shepherds with a straight back, working line, are larger and generally have a low energy level. What they don’t have, in my opinion, is a human introduced deformity, a sloping back, which places extra strain on their hind quarters. Weight instead of being evenly distributed across four legs is now far more concentrated on the hind legs, with sloping backs. This is not debatable, it is just physics. This introduces all sorts of health issues for the animal, I will be howled down for saying this, but you can’t argue against physics. So Working line, straight back versus Show line sloping back is not referring to energy levels but to what humans find appealing. However, breed standards and papers seem to be important, at least to some people.
So Western German Shepherd and Eastern German Shepherd what is the difference? During the cold war East Germany created the Eastern German Shepherd, this dog was smaller than the Western German Shepherd but was very strong and was used to hunt down army deserters, people fleeing East Germany and police work. This schism of German Shepherds also has a straight back but it’s energy levels are very high. So the next person that tells you that a Working line German Shepherd is a high energy dog is someone who does not know what they are talking about. The best gauge as to whether or not a German Shepherd will have a high energy level is whether they are an Eastern or Western German Shepherd. In my opinion show line German Shepherd’s, sloping backs, should be banned, but they won’t be, sadly it is the dog that suffers, again simple physics.
The woman in question today purchased a working line, straight back, German Shepherd from us. This pup will be a wonderful addition to her family and from day one will be paying for her board. The neighborhood will quickly learn that they own a German Shepherd, but not any German Shepherd a large German Shepherd. She wanted a female, a very good decision, given a young family. Read about the differences between male and female German Shepherds here (About the breed), both would be fine, but with young children the best pick is a female. So here is the girl they have chosen along with her dad, she will protect when required, love all the the time.
In a few words, this family will be safe, no one will mess with his pups!!