I’ve had German Shepherds my whole life and in my opinion there is no better breed. (You can look through this thread to see some of mine.) You need to really be ready before you take one into the family. They are incredibly smart, which is a blessing and a curse. They will try and please you to no end, but communicating to them what you want can take a lot of training. They try and find their own way to accomplish things other than what you show them because they are so smart. It takes patience and work which never ends. They also like to be defiant a lot. Imagine a 3-year-old’s temper paired with a 16-year-old’s defiance. They also get bored easily and will create their own fun if you don’t engage them. Their own fun often involves destroying things. There’s your dog.
However, once you get them trained they are as loyal as can be. My experience is that each Shepherd will find it’s own human in the pack and stick with them. They choose, not you. Males tend to defend an area (your house and yard) whereas females tend to defend their human. Not that they can’t do both and will, that’s just what I’ve noticed. Both of our current Shepherds have chosen me as their human, but if I’m traveling they sleep on either side of my wife.
Good luck with your plan!
Stealth_81