Dutch Shepherd Forum

Just looking for opinions on the subject, (noted that I am not going to base my decision by just one, but will take them all into account and think about myself).

I received an email yesterday about an awesome short haired Dutchie litter being bred this February/Marchish - around when the Border Collie breeding was supposed to take place.

So now I have to rethink everything, and on whether to take the Dutchie or the BC. Neither breeder needs to know until Marchish though, so I have tons of time to think about it.

My cousin (who owns a Dutchie mix, as well as a purebred - both rescues) made a pretty good point by saying that since I want to do Schutzhund and such, it might make more sense to get that pup now, since in 2015ish (when I was looking at getting another dog) I'll be just moving in with my dad/friend and I'd rather have a level headed, somewhat matured dog instead of a working pup running around. Of course, I could just put the pup off another year or so.

What would you do, given the situation? (Dutchie pups only about 100-200 more then the BC if any of you would want to know that)

Why did you decide on the BC over the DS in the first place? You must have had a reason for it..

Originally my partner and I were going to go with a BC because we'd heard that DS were not good with kids, were extreme and often aggressive. I'd even tracked down a BC breeder and everything. Then after coming across one thing online.. thinking.. 'huh this is different' and then my partner using his native country as a good source of info, we found out that DS are actually more balanced and just as good family dogs as we'd wanted without the inherent neuroticism BC seems to show all too frequently. I also would like to give VPG/SCH a try and as far as I'm aware.. BC aren't suitable for that. I've been around alot of working trials people and no one has seen a BC go to PD which involves the protection part of the training. There may well be some out there but I think you have to have a very particular type of dog and I think it would be harder to find a potential SCH dog in BC than in DS.

Also seeing as your situation will be changing in a couple of years, perhaps it might be better to wait until you are settled somewhere? My partner and I are waiting til early 2013 at the least to get our pup as it ill be around the time he moves over here. It's really hard knowing you have to wait, but you need to know if you are getting the dog just to satisfy your needs or whether you are waiting until the correct time where it wont affect the dog on too much scale. What may seem small to us.. like a simple move, could be quite a big change to a young adult dog, so it's definitely something you need to consider.

It was actually the kid thing for me too (since I have a little brother).
Someone on another forum when I was first looking at Dutchies about..18 months ago I'd say, was telling me about how her Schutzhund dog attacked her two year old because of the "agression" in him . I didn't understand that part, but I don't want to have to put my dog down or have my little brother's face ripped up. I talked to a few breeders and owners about that, and Schutzhund should be like a game (I'm thinking maybe her dog just had a "screw loose" or since she was like this, she was the only one allowed to have a Dutchie).

Plus I wasn't sure if there was even a Schutzhund club around me, and alas we were driving one day, a sign for one, I looked into them and have gone there with my Brittany (she really loves the tracking! XD) and I absolutely love it there.

My DS loves children.

I had a similar dilemma. I couldn't decide between another Laeken puppy or a DS puppy. Somehow, it happened the the Laeken puppies were all spoken for and I found my DS puppy. Sometimes it just happens the way it happens.

I'm not a BC fan, so I can't offer much of an opinion about that part.

But, any dog that bites a kid comes down to a lack of supervision of both the dog and the kid(s). Kids and dogs just aren't to be left alone together. Any dog can bite, given the right stimulus.

I don't know enough of the back story here to comment beyond saying that I hope you are absolutely certain that you can provide a great home for whichever dog you decide to get, given what sound like a lot of changes coming for you down the pike...

I might stay home and take a year or so off college (do an online course or something) due to Replay since she'd be 9 or so (just realized she'll be that old! seems like yesterday she was a chubby pup!)

My little brother's here only every other week, and Replay isn't near him without someone else due to, well him being a toddler! It was just weird to me and me being naive at the moment since my horse had just started biting my little brother for no reason, didn't want to take the risk of a puppy attacking him due to "schutzhund making him aggressive". Oh i was soo clueless then .