I recently had a double heart breaker. First my old German Shepard died, he was 14 years old and went all of a sudden, Dr. said likely a heart attack. We also have a minature poodle (9 years old) and a minature Schanuzer (12 years old) but I decided we needed another German Shepard. I adopted a beautiful 13 week old puppy from am Airman that was being deployed and couldn't take it with him. At 13 weeks he would sit, stay, fetch and could open most of the doors in the house, smart puppy. Two weeks after acquiring him he got sick, I took him to the vet and was told he had parvo and was beyond the point where he could be cured. (Dr said if the white blood cell count was low it was almost impossible to cure them, his was VERY low) I had him put down, funny, after only two weeks we had become partners, it was a hard decision to make, but necessary.
I have been looking for another one, but haven't found that special dog yet. I preffer to adopt rather than buy, there are plent of really nice dogs available through severl web sites. If anyone here in Texas is looking for a Shepard take a look at Central Texas German Shepard Rescue, Austin Texas German Shepard Rescue or North Texas German Shepard Rescue. They have some very high quality dogs available. I fell in love with a three year old female at Central Texas site, her name is Mia, (check out the site and look into her eyes) but she will not work with the other two dogs so I am still looking. If you are looking for a German Shepard it is worth checking into these sites.
Dee. Good luck with your new friend, I hope you have many happy years with him. Rat Terriers can be testy at times so be patient in your training.