Sober Reminder - Page 1

Well I had a sober reminder a couple days ago that despite my own love and adoration for our noble GSD breed, there are people who have very different experiences with the GSD.

I was at Tractor Supply getting some cat food and had my young male in with me.  My young male is a sable and one small step up from stuffed.  He loves people and I have taken to calling him Ferdinand the Bull.  In this case he had gotten bored with Mom reading cat food bags and was flopped at my feet in the aisle with his chin on my foot asleep.

As I stood, dithering a young girl, maybe about 9 came up and politely asked if she could pet my dog.  I said sure and in short order she was hunkered down loving on him and he was rolled on his back soaking it all up.

Her mother came over and we were chatting fairly good naturedly and she asked if my dog was a mix.  Sable dog, I'm used to this and since she and her daughter had both been polite I just chuckled and explained that no, he was a sable GSD.

This woman's face went sheet white and she quickly called her daughter back to her.  I'm sure my surprise showed on my face and the woman apologized but explained that their neighbor had a German Shepherd who jumped over the fence and bitten her older daughter as well as another child who had been playing in the yard.

She explained that they no longer used their backyard and that recently the dog had gotten out of his yard and pinned them in their car in their driveway, aggressively charging them anytime they tried to get out of the car.

She apologized again, said she hadn't realized my dog was a GSD because he wasn't "classic" red and black, saddle back like their neighbor's dog but despite my assurance that my boy was very well behaved she wanted no part of him and quickly moved on with her daughter.

This isn't the first time I've run into someone who's been afraid of my dogs because they are GSDs but it never ceases to catch me flat footed and makes me more than a little upset at the GSD owners who are irresponsible and allow their animals to terrorize others, thus giving the breed as a whole a black eye.

I would just say, "yes, I know what you mean! I stay away from white people ever since that Dahmer guy."

LOL

Were it an asshole I'd consider it but someone who is genuinely freaked out by my dog I try to be a little more sensitive.

Insert any breed into this scenario. People in general are ignorant.

You should have told her to invest in a shotgun, so they would be able use their backyard again.

Only if she'd promised to shoot the irresponsible dog owner.

RLHAR,  Right? If only...

Not a bad dog.................bad owner.