I never really thought of myself as owning a purebred dog until I ended up raising then taking care of my father's GSD. (Dad was badly injured when Axel was just 9 weeks old and Axel turned out to have way too much energy for him after he recovered, so he has been at my house 5 days a week for a couple years now, he and my dog Zeus go to their home on Mom's weekends.)
I really can't understate: not only did my prior 3 dogs
not prepare me for how intense he would be, raising Axel was like a 2nd job I had to pay to do until he was about a year old.
He never stopped, I had to judge when he was over-tired and kennel him so he'd actually sleep. The landshark phase was unreal and pushed me to the edge of my patience. As he got more mature his impulse control improved and I got better about managing his energy but he's never had a lazy day in his life (He's hurt himself a couple of times running around on ice and keeping him calm to heal is rough. Rest? What is this ""
rest"" you speak of?)
He can also be very bratty and willful. He doesn't like it when people/dogs break The Rules and I get chronic migraines and struggle to keep him engaged those days, not that he doesn't care I feel poorly but he's super bored and that frisbee isn't going to throw itself. And if he gets too bored he will antagonize people/dogs for drama (one reason why he's at my house 5 days a week.) When he's decided to cause problems for fun I can say "Game Over!" and he'll stop for long enough for me to muster the energy to do something more acceptable. It's not really a problem on days I feel well, we have a routine and my dog Zeus helps play off what energy is left. He's also parrot-like in that he needs enrichment, not just exercise. He wants to think and be challenged.
I adore him, he is so different to any dog I've ever had in just how much he engages with his environment and myself, wonderfully fun but you really do have to be ready to adapt.
He's a working line, west German show line cross from a good breeder (specifically trying to breed back more drive and soundness into their show dogs) but with that mix came a dog with more energy than inhibition so he can struggle to control himself when he wants something.
I always thought of them as stoic dogs but no, he's a massive dork. Playful and with a delightful sense of humor. Loving, brave, loyal, intelligent, interactive, creative, protective, gentile, playful, silly, willful, and a brat at times.
He really is special, honestly I'm going to be heartbroken when my mother retires and they want him back full-time (and they'd be taking my mutt Zeus too, they're buddies.)
(He can pretend to be calm and stoic though.)