Seeking GSD with special temperament qualities - Page 6

 Now that I have gone stupid Cassie will live her life out here in the home and on the the land and the forests she feels safe in. The sun is going down and the tin roof is contracting and making noise and Cassie has come to find protection from her imagination under my chair as I type this. She growls and worries and cannot find peace. 

No side picture as she will stay still long enough to get one.

Felloffher and Turk. Thanks for the only two rational posts. Fellffher you may hear from me someday. 

A rare moment of quiet after digging in the sand.

Koach

GSDsRock
Thanks for your sanity. It is a rare commodity.
Koach
Highly driven sport dog is not what GSD should be. Indeed. But I have never seen a dog I would not like to have or could live with. I know that you decided to give a dog 1 more year chance. WOW!!!! How generous! It worries me if someone wants to dispose of a dog or "spend another year" to give her a chance ( what a struggle)  with word like yours. I think one of my dogs would be perfect for you, but you have just failed my screening process. I too would be happy to take this  dog of your hands. I even pay the shipping.
Prager Hans
http://www.alpinek9.com

Koach,

I've been following this thread since you first posted it and held my tongue but your latest post just makes me wince.

I had a dog who was a mis-fit with my family from the start.  He was a lot like your Cassie, highly reactive to any sound or stimuli, pacey, anxious and would get muddled when in drive.   He didn't have a mean bone in his body but you could look in his eyes when working him and see that no one was home he was so lost in himself.

He also came from West German working lines but that's just an observation, not tantamount to this point.

The time finally came when I simply could no longer live with him.  His needy/reactive personality did not work for me and I knew I had to find him a new home or put him down.  Of course he couldn't go to just any ole pet home or even into a GSD rescue because of his issues but I set out to work closely with a person who worked in rescue and we carefully mapped out the best home situation for him.

It took some time (and I took a hell of a bath in terms of what I paid for this dog, giving him up for free in the end) and during that time I had to make myself stay away from the dog because my inability to fit with his temperment just made things worse on him.  He knew I was displeased, he didn't understand how or why and it made those personality traits that drove me nuts come out more and more in him.

It got to the point that my female, who I have a very close bond with, took to jumping him because she could feel my displeasure in him and the situation just kept escalating.

Thank heavens perserverance paid off and we found a home that fit him.  He went to that home and within a month had become their dream dog.  I still get emails from them telling me how he's their constant companion and sharing pictures. 

I'm happy he's elsewhere, he's happy he's elsewhere, his new family is happy to have him.

Where I'm going with this is it's all well and good for you to come on here and say you've surrendered to the pressure from the board, that now you're going to keep her and being all noble and dare I say sounding martry'ee but the truth is, you still resent her and that's just going to keep making her worse and you'll resent her more and she'll get worse and it just cycles downward from there.

You've had multiple offers from people here and they're a lot more generous than the deal I finally made!  These are not clueless pet people getting fed the KoolAid of some well meaning rescue just trying to unload a dog, these people are listening to your account of her issues and are making these offers with an understanding that she's sharp, possibly has a medical condition and is highly sensitive.

Consider talking further with someone here about rehoming her.  Just because you and Cassie are not a fit for each other doesn't mean you have to be stuck with each other for another 9 to 10 years.

Culling will always be a sensitive issue as is pro choice/right to life debates.
I still feel sorry for some dogs but it is not due to the practice of culling.
Ladies.....LOL

Prager and RLHAR thanks for your input.

Yes at least one more year of intense work at de-sensitizing and hormones checks, etc. after that we will leave her alone and let her live as she is for the rest of her days.
This of course means that there may not be room for another dog but after some time goes by we will revaluate our situation and see if her condition and our space will permit the arrival of another dog.

Aside from her problems we have a great time together, she gets 2 x 30 minute ball throwing sessions plus a 2-hour mountain bike ride or hike in the forest every day. When we go to town to shop she gets to visits the pet shop and choose a bone for herself. Lives in the house and sleeps at the foot of our bed. Visits the grandchildren and they visit her. Not bad for a mental case! As we don’t have any other dogs she gets to visits with other GSD and Mals 2 or 3 times a week. She’s been on canoe trip and even had a close encounter with some wolves. She is an athletic dog with great jumping ability and awesome speed but no nerves. Her prey drive is out of this world and even when the day is over she wants to chase her tail or hump her bedding.

Koach
 

 Koach,

Since you decided to keep her may I suggest you give her a break on the intense work at de -sensitizing and harmone checks and just let her be a dog for a while. No expectations, just let her be....You may be pleasently suprised at what you end up with in a few months.  I have seen a few dogs like yours make pretty remarkable turn arounds when the daily routines and high expectations of Mom and Dad lighten up a bit.

Good Luck
Frank

Thanks, Prager, for your kind words.

Koach, the more you tell us about Cassie the better she sounds. I think she'll turn out rather well.

Cassie may never be the ideal dog that you lost, but I'm venturing to guess that your previous dog was a true superdog. These are extremely hard to replace, which is why they're called once-in-a-lifetime dogs. I had one myself 25 years ago, and I've not seen his like again. He was wise and kind and a fearless warrior. I've tried to get another one like him, and I've had many GSDs since I lost him. Some were dingbats and some were fine dogs, but none were the superdog he was. And yet I've loved them all dearly. They've all done the best they could with what they have. I can't ask for anything more than that. It's more than most people do. I also figure that I’ll have the right to demand a perfect dog only when I’m perfect.

I currently have a one-year-old male GSD who can be most kindly described as a ditz. I got him as a puppy from an excellent breeder. Although he is extremely intelligent, he has gone through multiple fearful phases. At one point he decided for two weeks that little girls were terrifying (now he adores them). He is currently petrified of big open cardboard boxes (closed ones are fine, don’t ask me why). He is just starting to get over that. I have worked with him and socialized him extensively and it is slowly but surely paying off. He has stopped his senseless barking at harmless people. He recently barked quite appropriately at a group of potentially dangerous drunks. But he is still stubborn and snotty and insolent and fearful on some days. This will pass--like a kidney stone, but it will pass. Yes, he will be culled, but only by being neutered. I suspect that he will turn out just fine, but this painfully slow, inconsistent maturation is not something I want to pass on. Despite my grumbling about cheerfully strangling him, I wouldn’t consider killing him for a second.

If I were attacked, he would suck up all his fears and do his best to save me. I show this the honor it deserves. This is such a wonderful and awesome thing that even the Bible honors it: “Perfect love casteth out fear” (I John 4:18).

There is nothing irrational about compassion. It's the core of what makes life worth living. I hope that someday you experience enough compassion that it makes more sense to you.

The Bible has something to say about compassion, and I think it’s useful even if someone is not religious:

“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (I Corinthians 13)

Compassion is far more rational than we realize. I remember a GSD that needed surgery for terrible dry eye syndrome. Her owners have a very disabled boy and couldn’t afford the surgery. The “rational” thing to do was to kill the dog and give the family a puppy. (Of course, it wasn’t really so rational, since the boy loved the dog and would have been heartbroken. And he might have wondered when his parents were going to euthanize him and replace him with a healthy child.) (Continued below.)

But the “rational” thing didn’t happen. Instead, the situation was posted on pedigree database, and incredibly kind and generous people “irrationally” donated money for the surgery. The dog had the surgery, which was successful. Not long afterward, she saved the life of the family’s little girl by protecting her when a stranger tried to abduct her--something a puppy could not have done.

Koach...believe it or not but getting another stable dog may actually help..anytime you add a dog to the family pack it changes dynamics...
My educated guess based on experience would be that if you get more calm, relax dog Cassie may just draw that energy and calmness, seeing other dogs relax and laying, sleeping, acting calm she would be drawn to that energy and stability of mind and follow....but that will only work if you are the alpha in the pack otherwise you run into a chance of having a new dog become Cassies follower which in this case i highly doubt it....I would have thought with your years of experience with dogs you would have known that already...

GSDsRock, the Nala story was one of the better moments on the PDB.

LF, you make some very good points. This story still seems to lack a happy ending, doesn't it, even with the reprieve.