thats a shame sian, suprisngly though to alot of people, alsations / german shepherd dogs are actually very soft dogs, all mouth and no action in alot of respects the trouble is when they do bite then are big heavy dogs with huge jaw pressure and so can do alot of damage when they do, smaller dogs are actually more likely to bite than GSD’s having a natural braver more aggressive (small person lol )disposition but when they bite they dont do the same damage and so it is treated less seriously, that said a dog is usually only vicious if it has been allowed to be its all down to training and socialization, people forget that socialisation is as important and should be part of the training.
As with anything there is exceptions to this and sometimes damage can be done to a dogs psyche as a young pup before they even enter a new home that is almost impossible to ever correct completely.
But correct discipline,love and pack leadership knowledge and communication to the dog, this need never happen.
Nervous dogs are usually far more dangerous than apparent aggressive looking ones also.