Free: Contests & Raffles.
Some folks I used to work with had english mastiffs and they made pretty good gaurd dogs. They had a male and a female, the male was something like 240 lbs. They were calm and gentle even around their kids. It was actually kind of funny to visit them because the guy was like 5' and the wife was 4' something and then these huge dogs running around.
If you decide on german shepherds.Let me know.I can steer you to a breeder in Lacy that has some fantastic dogs.She has several from her kennels that are in law enforcement,search and rescue,compaion etc.
We have had a few german shepherds and fortunately never a hip problem in them.Our last male lived to 14 years and never had a problem with his hips.
I have a lab/heeler mix and he is a very smart, family oriented medium sized dog. He is a fabulous judge of character. (I know this sounds weird...but) We had construction guys at our house last summer doing remodeling for about 3 weeks and he was OK with everyone after the first day except for this one guy. He was reading some kinda body language off this guy cause he would watch him all day and follow him around. All the other guys could pet my dog but not this guy, the hackles would go up if this guy tried to come with in 5 or 6 feet of my dog. Later the foreman admitted to me that this guy was an excon and that he had let him go a couple of weeks after they did our job. Coincidence? Maybe. Also, he was not the most agressive in his litter. The best word to describe his behavior when we looked at the whole litter is circumspect. He was quiet, cautious (but not fearful), Friendly, (but not overly so). He was not the first to run over and lick you to death, but was not the smallest or most timid in the litter either. The only problem is he doesn't have a thick enough coat to be an outside dog in our E.Wash winters. Good luck with your search.bigdave