Hi i have just joined this forum and am all very new to this
My husband and i are looking to bring a german shepherd into our family to complete our little family
However due to seeing so many lovely german shepherds out there with no homes we would rather give a loving home to a gsd that needs a loving home rather than go spend a good £500.00 on a puppy thats bound to find a caring home.My husband is 32 and is very experienced with gsd's while im 25 and have only ever had one bitch and this is what sadly courses our problem! we have a 5 month old baby!! My partner and i have been looking to rehome a gsd for the past 4 years and now we have a baby and settled we would love to complete our little family with a lovely gsd, however trying to get hold of one is becoming a nightmare! No rescue centre will allow us to take on any dog due to having a child under the age of 6! We completely understand that the dog would have to be slowly introduced to our baby boy if coming from a rescue shelter as u have no knowledge of the life it has had previously , the reason for a rescue home not allowing a dog go into a family with any children under the age of 6 some with the age limit of 10 is due to the fact that the dog may push the baby/child over and you could possibly sue them! Well ofcourse its going to push the baby over any dog would its doesnt sound to brilliant but it happens its not on purpose and how can u sue for something like that ?? Its really getting stupid ! How is anyone ment to grow up with a dog when where ever you go to try to re home a dog will not allow it if they have children under a certain age, there are many dogs being put to sleep and in and out of a kennel life or in a rescue home waiting years to be rehomed all because of these stupid rules. We have a lovely home with a lovely closed of garden we have huge fields and lakes on our front door step, should it really be this hard to try to give a loving home to an animal that needs it?
If anyone has any ideas other than us placing our own ad's locally please we would love to hear from you

My partner and I took on a GSD from a rescue centre, but not having children yet, meant we were ok in their eyes to adopt him. I have previous experience working with GSDs in the military which helped.

Have you tried Wirral Coucil's kennels? Last week there were two GSDs looking for a home, but looks like one has been re-homed / reclaimed.

There is still a GSD bitch in there according to their website: http://www.wirral.gov.uk/wirraldogs/Detail.asp?DogsID=6234

Good luck.

My cousin will only have rescue GSD and they have two children. Their latest one was a GSD looking for rehoming from a private advert. We had a GSD/lab cross he was a fantastic dog and great with my 3 kids who were little at the time. I would be cautious with any dog round kids -even my 2 cavaliers. But handled properly there shouldnt be a problem. My mum has a rottweiller/doberman cross which no animal rescue wanted cos she wasn't "pretty" but she is one of the most lovely natured dogs and well behaved.

id be worried taking on a big dog with a baby, its an animal at the end of the day, and could get jealouse of the baby and bite it or maul it, i dont blame rescues for being cautious, why dont you wait untill your baby is at least 4, and could push the dog away if ther was a problem. take your lovely baby for walks in the nice fields in the pushchair,and get a gsd in a few years time

I have cats and i came across the same problems when wanting to rehome a cat from a rescue they were reluctant as i had young children, i guess the rescue centres are just looking out for the animals welfare and the childrens welfare.