Quite likely, Top. They do indeed handle the cold much better as well as handle thicker tougher brush. German Shepards have a double coat. There is a coat of shorter denser fur underneath the longer coarser fur. This aids them a great deal in combating adverse weather conditions. A real PITA when it comes to shedding time though.

AlexKall, thanks for a very nice video! I wish I understood Swedish so I could know what the announcer was saying. The training they showed looked alot like the schutzhund training I give my dogs. That woman though sure had an interesting Malinois baby.

Damien435, I'm not really interested in hearsay stupidity stories, thanks.


A side note; I got word yesterday that our new female pup is on her way to us. She will replace Odin's previous mate, our poor murdered, Brunhilde. We're going to name her Freya in keeping with our Norse gods theme. She's cost a pretty penny, but will be well worth it. She comes from a very fine line indeed and is on her way to us from Germany. I breed only the German line as the American line has been destroyed. It never was a good idea to go for that sloped back. The German line has a straight back like a wolf.

Ah that sloped back! I often wondered why it is so prevalent in American shepherds. Could be an AKC spec. thing? I'd guess that something like that would contribute to hip dysplasia problems.

American breeders went for the sloped backed for purely cosmetic reasons after WWII. It did indeed cause hip dysplasia and other genetic problems as well such as ear problems, ankle problems, skin problems etc. That's what happens when you breed too close to the gene pool for no good reason. It's such a problem that German Shepards must now be OFA certified as not having hip problems in order to be allowed to be bred and registered. I have to pay $100 to certify my dogs for a problem they can never have because they aren't of the American line. More than once I've had some uneducated person tell me my dog can't be a German Shepard because he doesn't have a sloped back. I reply that he's the original line and the sloped back is a relatively recent look American breeders have mistakenly adopted.

yikes
those were impressive videos
shows that you can be all tough and intimidatory towards humans by pointing a gun at them, but as soon as you let the dags (go snatch!!) all sense of bravado disappears.

Originally Posted by Charge 7

AlexKall, thanks for a very nice video! I wish I understood Swedish so I could know what the announcer was saying. The training they showed looked alot like the schutzhund training I give my dogs. That woman though sure had an interesting Malinois baby.

Well he basicly said that its good to have a portable mic stand (first thing) and the whole alot was basicly about the dogs way of working independently without any input from the owner, that he will continnue to hold the suspect till hes releaved by his owner and when the susspect is "transported" to hold up, the dog will with his owner be at a distance and without commands the dog will attack the suspect if he does something hes not supposed to do (such as attack) and then get back to his owner when the situation is under control