Love the quiet, but ever present German Shepherd - Page 1

Funny story:
I and my son were on the way home from a college visit (Gigg'm Aggies) and we stopped at a convience store for a break.  Max was with us, in the back seat.  I was waiting in the car when my driver side door opened unexpectedly.  Before I had time to turn around, I heard a startled scream.

Max had his head out the window and inches from a woman's face.  He did not make a sound or give any reaction other than sticking his head out to see who opened the door.

The poor woman had gotten my car confused with her rental (right next to mine) and opened the wrong door.  Having a large GSD poke his head out immediatly nearly gave her heart failure.  We laughed at the mistake, admired Max, and went on our way.

When the chips are down, I will not guarentee Max would do anything, but presents is 95% of all it takes.   Now if I can just get him to smile at the perfect time.....   roflmao

I left the old van I used to drive some years back outside a friend's house
one night.  Circumstances meant that I left Vida sleeping in the body of
the van (where she normally travelled loose, I had barriers fitted at the 
tailgate, and across behind the seats, but these were mesh or bars, not
solid ones).

Came out in the morning to find the passenger window had been yanked
down and opened, and someone had obviously leant inside the vehicle to
try to pull out the radio / search for anything valuable.   Just as obviously,
they had dropped whatever they picked up and exited rapidly - having had
a snarling Shepherd head poking out at them through the (wide) bars ! 
They must have just woken her up as they leaned in, we did not hear any
overnight barking, from inside the house.  But NOBODY touched her van !!!

Taz is like Max - curious, but silent.  I have been known to say someone
could steal the whole car and drive away in it, and he wouldn't murmur.

LOL! I can just imagine that womans face. Good boy Max!

You are right when you say that presence is sometimes all you need. That is exactly why I love that my dog can come to work with me every night - and I believe she knows her job. She is very serious when we are out, and is not afraid to let some weirdie know that shes got my back. Very good judge of character too, which I love.

There was one time, last summer, when we were waiting at the gas station where we meet up, for my boss to show up with his end of the delivery. I was standing outside the car with the back door open, chatting with my co-workers. Qira was hanging out in the back of the car with the frisbee, so was content. Anyway, as my boss was arriving, we had these two girls come walking over asking if we could give them a jump start. We both said no, that we needed to get working and such. Something was off about them, that I didn't trust. The one steps closer, insisting that we give her a jump because her friend just got raped and maced etc. When we said no again she starts walking closer - right next to my open car door, and starts arguing more, when Qira pops her head out - no teeth, no bark, no growl, just poked her head out. The girl saw her, and her eyes flew open and she screamed "OH my GOD! They got a mutha-f*kin K9 in that ve-hicle!!" She grabbed her friend by the arm and started dragging her back up to the store. I couldn't stop laughing - espescially the next night when the clerk was telling me that they were up the freaking out about it, and he told them that the dogs are up there every night and if they had a problem with them, they should leave. LOL

I would sometimes take Tasha (the gal in my sig) with me while I was doing nursing visits. I didn't live in or visit areas where people were likely to think I was carrying drugs, but the "Visiting Nurse" placard in my front window might have tempted someone to break in.

Tasha was EXTREMELY posessive of the car. If you so much as laid a finger on it, she would jump at the window, snarling and barking. I'm sure in the 14 years I had her, she gave more than one person a pair of wet pants.

This particular day, as I assessed my patient, it became obvious a trip to the hospital was in order. The man's son called 911, then I said I'd have to go and move my car, to make room for the ambulance.

"Just give me your keys. I'll do it," he replied.

I handed him the keys, totally forgetting my watchdog was on duty! 

Suddenly, I remembered, and went racing through the house, to find he was already behind the wheel of my vehicle, and backing it up!   Tasha was sitting calmly on the back seat.

I think one of the best traits a true GSD can have is discernment, and I like to think that's what Tasha was using in this particular case. I guess she could sense the man's confidence, and decided to let him into the car without any argument. If he has shown nervousness or fear I am sure the outcome would have been quite different!

Re: just the presence being enough...

The lady who runs the local pet food store is used to dogs of all shapes and sizes. But even she took a step back, and exclaimed 'holy ****!' when I opened the tailgate of my SUV, to reveal 2 German shepherds, and Shiloh shepherd, even though the dogs were displaying no aggression whatsoever!

I am just not sure what Max would do Hundmutter.  There have been once or twice where he growled at someone approaching but nothing more.  As my mobility continues to drop, I am relying more on him for support, so I do not encourage any sign of protectiveness.    I suspect that if anyone really tried to take my car, Max's only concern will be if they brought him any cookies.    

Now Cirberus on the other hand, her reaction can be a bit more unpredictable.  She really has no love for anyone other than our family and the common people in and out of our home.  We have worked hard to get her to simply ignore everyone else and we are there.  If she was in the same situation as Max was, though, her response probably would have been vocal.  She does not really bark, but her growl is definitely a scary sound, especially when she curls her lips up.  Control is the key; I always have 100% control over her.  I am a firm believer that an untrained dog that bites or snaps is a liability and I caused the situation (due to lack of control, not knowing my dog, etc).

I love all the stories.

Bravo is completely friendly, he expects to be the center of attention where ever whe go and will even lean on straingers as they pet him. Coming off the practice field with sleeve still in his mouth, a child came running out of the stands and gave him a huge hug, he stood calmly - I about pee'd my pants! I should have more trust in my dog.

I was in a not so nice area of town. A panhandler came to the car and Bravo went into defence mode - teeth bearing, lunging at the car window, barking and growling like there's no tomorrow. Just moments later, we were at a park, and he was his sweet self, but when another shady charracter came up, Bravo once again went into protection mode. This time on the end of a leash. Once the guy left, Bravo was instandly back to being his friendly self, enjoying attention from anyone that wanted to pet him. Some of the people from the park explained that the guy was really bad news and they were relieved that he left.

Bravo has gone into this devence mode only a very few times, but when he does, I don't ask questions, I trust him.

 

Yeah, I don't really know if Taz would let someone take the car;
I know he has been good & quiet when mechanics have gone into it.
He's another dog who loves everybody and expects everybody
to love him;  but I think I would trust his judgement if he did ever
take a dislike to somebody.  Given it's so rare, I'd credit any
distrust from him much more than Vida's noisy outbursts, simply
because he has the sounder temperament.
 

Good point.  I too would probably give Max more credit to the dislike as he almost never reacts. 

Interestingly enough, he is not a friendly dog either.  He just sits back and watches, doesn't engage or generally react to a stranger.   He has the ideal temperment for a service dog.