Don’t rely on what you may read about breeds as far as temperament, behavior, working ability, etc., as there is what the dog was originally bred for, the standard and qualities that reputable/true breeders strive to maintain and even improve upon, and then there is what the show breeder/breed destroyer breeds for.
For some reason Americans have this need to make all dog breeds conform to the same standards of behavior and temperament (which is some teddy bear/lap dog/accessory standard). You have dog shows where a poodle will be competing against a rottweiler. How can some judge say which dog is the better dog? Breeds should measured within their breeds.
It’s the same with hunting dogs. A judge will watch them prance around, feel them, look in their mouths and then declare the winner. The most important thing is ignored, that is, can the dog hunt.
But again for some reason, and I think it is an American thing, we want the look but not the work. The work being the work an owner needs to put in to keep the dog happy and sane. It’s no surprise as most people don’t even take the time to exercise themselves so how can they be expected to devote an hour, or more, a day to their dogs. So the breeders just take a working breed that is energetic by nature, because it is a working dog after all, and breed for low energy and what they call calm (but really it is mentally weak) temperament. A true working dog should be willing to escalate his response to danger as the danger escalates. The more resistance they get the more they fight. These pussified dogs that you find here will simply shut down when they get pushed.
I sometimes go on rottweiler forums and it’s sad. People will brag about not just how their dogs are gentle and calm but how they are wimps who will actually shy away from strangers. They will pretty much admit that they have their doubts about how willing their dogs would be to protect them but, and this is the crazy part, they are happy with that as they think the dog’s look and presence alone will act as a deterrent. These people should not have become rottweiler owners as they didn’t want a rottweiler but a dog that just looks like a rottweiler. The show breeders (for any working breed) are IMO scumbags but again, in America breeders are not held to the same standards as breeders in Germany, for example.
Anyway, the point is don’t assume that whatever breed you choose the breeder is actually breeding it to the standards you expect that breed to conform to. German Shepherds are great dogs and there is a reason why police and military around the world use them but that doesn’t mean every breeder is breeding “real” GSDs. That’s why you have so many of them with health and behavioral issues like fear biting.
