Pitbull German Shepherd Hybrid Mix Dog Breed Guide
If you need an agile and beautiful pet in your home, look no further than the German Shepherd Pitbull Mix. Aside from showering you and your family with profound affection, the dog will demonstrate an eagerness to please, boundless loyalty, and exceptional intelligence.
Breeders create the German Shepherd Pitbull Mix by crossbreeding the German Shepherd with the American Pitbull Terrier. Common nicknames for the crossbreed include German Sheppit, German Pit, or German Shepherd Pitbull.
Many dog owners still consider the German Sheppit an aggressive breed due to the belligerent stigma associated with German Shepherds and Pit Bulls. Nonetheless, some German Shepherds and Pit Bulls may reserve fierce reputations, but the German Sheppit will not.
However, Shepherds and Pit Bulls that demonstrate hostile aggression get the traits when improperly trained, abused, or neglected. Training your pets at an early age eliminates the risk of nurturing an unpredictably violent or aggressive pet.
German Sheppits will display their strong and overprotective elements depending on how effectively you train them.
If you create a conducive environment and incorporate socialization and consistent training into their lives, Sheppit pups will quickly flourish into obedient and unique crossbreeds.
We mostly recommend the German Pits for experienced dog keepers who can comfortably dedicate their time and energy to correctly nurturing the pups and make them the best family members and friends.
Join our team of enthusiasts as we take you through the historical journey of German Sheppits, how their parents met, their availability, exercise, health, and most importantly, their nutritional needs.
Parents
You’ll get a hybrid dog by crossbreeding two unrelated purebreds. Many dog owners prefer hybrid species due to their improved resistance and unique physical traits.
Breeders can create a Pitbull German Shepherd offspring by crossbreeding a purebred Shepherd with a purebred American Pit Bull Terrier.
Aside from increased resistance to diseases, hybrid species come with numerous other benefits, including improved coat texture and overall beauty.
Many people still believe in the ‘inferiority’ of hybrid dogs. Perhaps, painting the crossbreeds as inferior breeds to purebred species increases the chances of the hybrids getting arrogated by modern families.
To understand the nature and traits of a mixed German Pit, we’ll first review their individual parents’ attributes.
American Pit Bull Terrier
The hybrids get their name from their original homeland, America. Despite historically originating from North America, Pit Bull Terriers first lived in Ireland and England.
Terriers fall under the medium-sized canine’s classification and descend from the Molosser species group – short coatings of different colorations cover Molosser breeds’ bodies.
An adult Pit Bull weighs between thirty-five and ninety pounds and measures between fourteen and twenty-four inches tall. Several breeds will fall under the classification American Pit Bull Terriers, but only one overall dog gets official recognition as the APBT.
Once you acquire the American Pit Bull, you’ll undoubtedly become more aware of the intimidating posture because of their aggressive reputation. However, you’ll quickly understand that the trait only exists manifests in poorly trained or non-socialized Pit Bulls.
Contrary to common perception, Pit Bulls can make excellent family companions because they can progressively learn to maintain their tempers and behave calmly on most occasions.
Generally, Pit Bulls make adorable family pets because they socialize perfectly, mainly with kids and other family members.
A Pit Bull can live up to fourteen years when treated correctly and fed a well-balanced diet. Many breeders worldwide prefer crossbreeding Pit Bulls with other breed types. Crossbreeds from Pit Bull progenitors come with different coating colors, including particolored types.
German Shepherd
German Shepherds descend from an ancestral group of herding dogs in Europe. The breed gained more popularity in the early 20th Century when travelers first shipped them to North America.
Troops and police often used and still use the dog during their missions because of their trainability, loyalty, and rare intelligence.
The athleticism of German Shepherds makes them both uniquely agile and robust. An adult Shepherd measures between twenty-two and twenty-six inches and weighs, on average, between fifty and ninety pounds.
However, females weigh and measure slightly less compared to their male counterparts. Shepherds can sometimes get protective of their families and develop unique connections with their masters or owners.
In their description of the breed, the AKC painted the German Shepherd as a courageous, smart, and confident dog. German Shepherds can live between twelve to fifteen years and demonstrate remarkable strength even in their old days.
GSD coats differ in length – medium and long coats. The different Shepherd crossbreeds include German Shepherd Rottweilers and Shepherd Lab hybrids.
German Shepherd Pit Bull Mix
A breeder gets a German Sheppit after crossbreeding a Shepherd with a Pit Bull. You most likely will get obedience and loyalty from the Pit Bull Terrier (Nanny Dog) and the relentless discipline and working reliability from the German Shepherd.
In most circumstances, the pups take more after one of their parents’ traits. The offspring’s attributes depend entirely upon chance, and not even the breeder can correctly predict the predominance.
Dog owners and breeders often pit the parents against each other when reviewing German Sheppits’ common traits. We’ll examine the German Pit’s various attributes and the common behavioral characteristics any aspiring adopter should anticipate.
Appearance
German Pits tend to differ in traits. One hybrid can carry significantly contrasting characteristics from another Sheppit mixture. Nonetheless, most German Shepherd Pit Bull crossbreeds will predominantly inherit their Pit Bull parents’ traits.
The offspring will feature a broader head, shorter muzzle and take after a large Pit Bull.
Pitbulls and Shepherds reserve masculinity – expect a lean body and an agile and extremely powerful frame from a Pitbull German Shepherd Mix. The ears of a hybrid Sheppit might flop or bend over the jawline’s sides.
Temperament
Like predicting appearance, dog keepers encounter difficulties in foretelling German Pits’ exact behavior or temperament. The crossbreed can inherit any or all behavioral attributes from either the Shepherd or Pitbull parents.
A German Shepherd demonstrates loyalty, intelligence, and protectiveness, while Pit Bulls show devotion, faithfulness, and affection.
If you nurture your Sheppit correctly, the crossbreed will grow into an extremely affectionate dog. German Pits often exhibit dominating traits – they tend to feel the need to rule over other dogs by becoming the group leader.
Nonetheless, the tendency to attain leadership over the rest of the dogs won’t affect a Sheppit’s mannerisms. If well brought up with proper socialization and practical training, a German Pit will quickly become an obedient and loving pet.
Teaching your German Pit the necessary basics in training will help suppress their dominating instincts.
Sheppits sometimes play on their own. However, the hybrids will enjoy people’s company and crave attention and their love. If you raise them in the right way, you’ll as well enjoy the fun and friendliness of another family companion – the German Pit Bull.
Training
We strongly advise Sheppit keepers to approach the training program with seriousness because the pet’s overall behavior depends on it.
As highlighted earlier, German Pitbulls can sometimes display stubbornness or aggressiveness in their early life, so the training sessions’ effectiveness would significantly change some of their original and undesirable characteristics.
Every Sheppit owner should maintain the training consistency to make the session worthwhile. German Pits respect their trainers as their leaders. It would be best to use the esteem as your upper-hand to nurture the perfect German Shepherd Pit Bull hybrid.
Luckily, Pitbulls and German Shepherds both display high smartness levels and intelligence. The breeds will quickly learn and grasp all the training details faster as compared to other species.
We recommend dog owners to begin the training exercise and socialization routines at the earliest convenience – you should start coaching your pup at the beginning of her seventh week.
Nonetheless, it would help if you didn’t shy away from adopting older hybrids. Any dog keeper can still effectively train an older dog, even though the process will demand your utmost commitment and dedication.
Integrating positive teaching in your coaching routine will help significantly in the effective accomplishment, mainly when the crossbreed exhibits stubbornness. Positive coaching improves your relationship and connection by making it all about respect and trust.
Living environments and exercise
Due to their extreme dynamic nature, German Sheppits sometimes become destructive when idle or under-exercised. Their temperament and large sizes make German Pits unsuitable pets for apartments.
The most favorable living environment for a German Sheppit comprises a spacious home with a large backyard. The yard will provide enough space for the dog to move around freely.
Don’t forget to include a tight perimeter all around the backyard. A fence will prevent your dog from crawling out into the unknown and get lost.
On average, we recommend Sheppit owners to spare ninety to a hundred minutes of vigorous exercise each day. Aside from physical activity, you should set aside some time for different nimble mental exercises.
Like physical training, mental exercises require consistency. You can purchase safe synergistic toys that will keep the canine’s mind busy and sharp.
If your dog often demonstrates undesirable and naughty behaviors, we recommend improving your training to eradicate the traits and nurture a well-behaved hybrid.
German Pits will exhibit undesirable traits when they don’t exercise enough, and their high energy levels go to waste – these traits include destructiveness, aggression, excessive woofing, and digging.
Compared to other breeds, German Pits require more energetic training exercises. Once you complete the rigorous sessions, you’ll notice a calm and relaxed pup all curled up and panting by your side.
Size
We categorize German Shepherds as large-sized canines and Pit Bulls as medium-sized canines. A German Shepherd Pit Bull Mix falls under the large breeds. The males typically weigh between forty and ninety pounds.
Female German Pits weigh between thirty and seventy pounds—all Sheppits measure between eighteen and twenty-four inches when standing upright.
Large dog breeds come with particular demands. Keepers should prepare to spend more money on medical and food costs. We can’t precisely predict the ultimate size of a hybrid dog, so you should keep your finances in check, just in case the crossbreed grows surprisingly huge.
Ensure you create adequate room for your large dog because German Pits can easily reach the unimaginable height and weight statistics.
Health
A Pitbull German Shepherd can live up to twelve years if adequately exercised and fed. Pits generally exhibit remarkable resistance to common health complications.
Nonetheless, it would help considerably to take your dog to the local vet for frequent checkups. The vet should also recommend the appropriate immunization and vaccination schedules; therefore, we advise that you always adhere to the recommended medical roster.
Hybrids can sometimes inherit common sickly traits that often affect their parents. To understand the predispositions that could befall your crossbreed, we’ll review the different health complications experienced by both Shepherds and Pitbulls.
Hip Dysplasia
The complication comes from the German Shepherd parent. The German Sheppit’s joints become malformed and grind on each other instead of rotating smoothly.
Skin problems
German Sheppits inherit their skin complications from their Pitbull parents. Mites (Demodex) attack the Pit’s hair lodes – they often affect a dog with weaker immunity.
Regularly visiting the vet for checkups and staying on the lookout for any unusual signs and symptoms will significantly help take care of your dog’s health.
Nutrition
A large dog like the German Sheppit requires a quality meal with lots of calories. The keeper should provide between three and four cups of the meal at equal segments of the day.
We recommend high-quality dry meals and grain-free foods containing between 1000-2800 and 900-2200 calories for males and females, respectively.
Most brands indicate the dogs’ activity and size with the recommended feeding guidelines on their food packaging stickers. You can use the instructions while feeding your dogs to avoid incidences of underfeeding or overfeeding.
Nonetheless, we advise owners and breeders to consult their vets on their dogs’ recommended food amounts.
Vets will provide a better insight on the correct nutritional apportionments for dogs by enlisting the right amounts of fats, carbohydrates, and proteins you need for the healthy growth of a German Shepherd Pitbull hybrid.
Coating colors
Most German Pits take after their Pit Bull parents in both physicality and genetics. German Sheppit coatings also predominantly resemble their Pitbull progenitors’ coats – they feature short or medium-length and relatively short coats.
German Sheppits enjoy living in a warm climatic condition compared to a cold one because of their short coats. German Shepherds often feature the same coating colorations, while Pitbulls sport quite a variety.
The Pitbull German Shepherd crossbreed will also flaunt a multi-colored coat like the Pitbulls. Standard Sheppit coating colors include mixtures or pure shades of black, tan, brown, and infrequently grey and white coats.
Overall, German Pits slough moderately and don’t manifest any hypoallergenic characteristics.
Grooming
Generally, grooming a German Sheppit requires less time and effort than any other hybrid because of their short coatings and mild sloughing.
Pitbull German Shepherd hybrid skins display high sensitivity to external factors – we thus recommend their owners to bathe them once every month.
Bathing your Sheppit hybrid regularly will easily strip their skins of their naturally-occurring oil and leave them dry and exposed to irritation.
We also recommend their cleaners to use the recommended shampoo types – specially designed shampoos will preserve their sensitive skins and prevent irritations.
The dangling crossbreed ears can easily suffer infections – their flopped designs prevent effective air distribution and present a high risk of canal infection. Besides, trimming the nails once a month will keep the hybrid’s paws healthy and clean.
Grooming your German Sheppit from an early age will keep them accustomed to regular hygienic routines and prevent them from becoming aggressive or fearful towards the procedures later during their adult life.
How much do Sheppit puppies cost from breeders?
Buyers can easily find Sheppit breeders by searching them online. Nonetheless, the corrupted modern market can pose numerous safety risks for aspiring dog keepers.
To avoid falling prey to a cunning breeder, we recommend that you find a trustworthy one by carefully researching and reviewing them before finalizing the acquisition process.
Renowned breeders operate within the ethical codes of conduct required for every professional breeder and take every step to ensure their pups’ safe and healthy condition.
You can start by examining different online reviews on breeders, requesting their puppies’ health papers, and meeting both the puppies and their parents. If you find your findings to your satisfaction, you can proceed with the final sale and safely acquire the pups.
Buyers should never acquire puppies from mills or puppy farmsteads due to the poor observation of health standards in such places. A puppy raised in a farm or mill will often suffer various health complications.
German Sheppit litters will contain between five to ten puppies, with each varying in attributes and coloration. It would be best to visit and examine the puppies if you plan to buy them from breeders.
Meeting your new puppy will help you in determining if their personality will match your lifestyle. German Shepherd Pitbull hybrid prices may differ depending on personality and physicality uniqueness, such as special coating or eye colors.
A Sheppit pup costs between $800 and $2,500. The variation of the price will depend on the pups’ unique physical traits, ages, and unique behavioral attributes.
Acquiring a Pitbull German Shepherd hybrid from a rescue center will cost you lower than the usual market price because the institutions only require enough donations to cater to your pup’s medical expenses and ensure she arrives home healthy.
Rescue centers
Adopting German Sheppits from local shelters comes with various benefits. Many rescue stations frequently adopt the hybrids. However, the shelters often witness low adoption rates due to the still reigning aggression stigma that many dog owners associate with the crossbreeds.
Just like other breeds, Pitbull German Shepherd crossbreeds require loving abodes. Rescuing a dog amounts to saving a life. The act also creates a satisfying experience for the dog, rescuer, and other involved parties.
Besides, the adoption process costs far less than the acquisition of a puppy from a breeder.
Keeping a German Shepherd Pitbull Mix as a family pet
- Sheppits require lots of physical and mental exercises to stay healthy, active, and happy.
- When correctly trained, Pitbull German Shepherds grow into loyal, affectionate, and smart pets.
- The hybrids require intensive training due to their assertive personalities.
- Homes with backyards provide the best living and training environments.
- Pits will adjust and show remarkable progress if you nurture them in homes without other pets.
- The Mix will often become territorial and act dominantly in the presence of other pets.
- German Pits love people and will protect their kin in the event of danger.
- Detachment anxieties can affect the crossbreeds if left on their own for long hours.
- The athleticism of the breed demands an active society or family.
Conclusion
A German Shepherd Pitbull will fit a specific family but not every household. However, you can always adjust your surroundings and flex your routines a bit if you still find it fun and life-changing to keep a German Sheppit.
Before deciding to raise any pet, including the German Pit, please ensure you research the breeds you plan to rear and their characteristics. Avoid any social media propaganda and any irrational statements that portray the German Pit as the villain.
Unlike common hearsay, the facts only lie beneath your eyes. If you plan to adopt the hybrid, it will help if you visited a breeder to observe the younglings before making your conclusion.
A reconnaissance will help you determine the breeder’s professionalism, the puppies’ general health, and all other essential details you may need to know before adopting the crossbreed.
Fortunately, many rescue shelters adopt Pitbull German Shepherd crossbreeds. You’ll quickly find your perfect pet at a local rescue and an affordable cost. Before you adopt a German Pit, we advise that you first consider your plans and living situation.
Pitbull German Shepherds require spacious environments because of their large size. We recommend homes with backyards.
Besides, the trainer or dog keeper should adequately prepare to cater to all medical and nutritional expenses. Large German Pits require lots of rational calories to sustain their dynamic modus vivendi.
We advise dog keepers to adopt the German Shepherd Pitbull hybrid because the crossbreed will guarantee you absolute loyalty and affection and ultimately make the best family companion.
