Choosing a breed

I love German sheperds. I had never had an indoor dog. I grew up on a farm and animals were outdoors. I did sneak Mama Kitty into the basement to have her kittens, but even Mama Kitty didn't want to be penned up inside and would just go in to tend the kittens, then off she went again. In 1995, my now husband, then boyfriend and I got a GS puppy. My first ever "live-in" pet. Maggie was like my first child. LOL Seven years later, we got another GS puppy. Two German Shepherds were a bit difficult to deal with though. Especially since we had one toddler and another baby on the way by that time.

Maggie did not like the idea of 4-legged competition in the house and was over exhuberant at putting the new puppy in her place. In hindsight, her trying to keep up with the new puppy may have led to her back injury which eventually (after extensive treatment including surgery) led to the most difficult decision we had to make.

Right now, our family consists of three children, aged 7, 5 and 2 and our 6 year old GS dog, Shiloh. Although the idea of a new puppy is appealing to me on some levels, I want to take more care in choosing a breed that may be more docile and maybe easier to transition into the family.