Labrador, German Shepherd or a desi dog — what would you pick and why?

The two breeds most people here start with, and the one almost nobody considers.

• Labrador — easy, good with children, eats things it should not, sheds forever, gets fat.
• German Shepherd — needs a job or it invents one. Guards without being taught, which is a problem if it was never trained.
• Desi — already built for this climate, far fewer vet bills, and usually free.

Which did you go with? And knowing what you know now, same again?

GSD, and I would again — but only because I had the time. Anyone who works twelve hours and wants a GSD is buying a problem, not a dog.

Lab. Easiest dog imaginable with my two kids. The shedding is genuinely unbelievable though, nobody prepares you.

Desi. Cheaper, tougher, smarter than people give them credit for. The only downside is that half your relatives will ask you when you are getting a "proper" dog.

Nobody has said the obvious thing yet: the vet bill. My Lab has had two ear infections and a hip x-ray this year. My neighbour's desi has been to a vet twice in six years, both times for vaccination.

On Lab shedding — a proper undercoat rake instead of a normal brush, twice a week. It does not stop it but it moves about 70% of it from your sofa into the bin. Worth the 1200 rupees or whatever they cost now.

Let me answer my own thread properly, since I have now had all three.

Labrador (2016–2021). Wonderful with people, ate a chappal and a TV remote, got fat the moment I stopped measuring food. Died at 11 of something the vet thought was likely cancer. Would recommend to a family with kids and no illusions about the hair.

German Shepherd (2019–now). The dog I have learned the most from and the one I have most often got wrong. He guards without being asked, which sounds great until a cousin walks in unannounced. If you do not give this breed a job it appoints itself one and you will not like the job it picks. Two hours a day, minimum, of which at least a bit has to be thinking rather than walking.

Desi (2021–now, off the street outside my shop). Has cost me almost nothing, has never been ill, understood house rules in about a week, and is the one that is actually good with strangers. If somebody asked me today, knowing what I know now, this is what I would say: get the desi. The other two are dogs you take on for a reason. The desi is just a good dog.

What I would tell my 2016 self: it was never about the breed. It was about whether I had two hours a day, and in 2016 I did not.

"If you do not give this breed a job it appoints itself one and you will not like the job it picks."

I am putting that on a wall somewhere. Three years with a GSD and that is the entire experience in one line.

From the rescue side: we get surrendered GSDs and Huskies constantly, and almost never desis. That is not because desis are unwanted — it is because nobody buys a desi on impulse for status and then discovers it is a lot of work.

Reading this thread six months after buying a GSD pup and feeling personally attacked. He is currently 9 months old and has appointed himself Head of Barking At The Gate.

Would add a fourth option people never consider — an adult dog instead of a pup. You skip the destructive year entirely and you can actually see the temperament you are getting instead of guessing.

Nine months is the worst of it, for what it is worth. It gets dramatically better around 18 months if you keep the training up. Do not give up in the middle — that is exactly when most people rehome them.