Your personal history of "dog ownership" - Page 2

He really doesn't get it, does he? :(

When I was a kid, I couldn't have any sort of furry pet due to my brother's allergies. I had to make do with my relative's farm dogs, most of which were collies/collie mixes, with maybe a bit of GSD thrown in.

One of my uncles had a dog that today would be impossible to find. It was a purebred sable and white collie, but not a Lassie collie. She was the Scotch collie the way it was meant to be, before the show breeders ruined it. She was about the size of a border collie, and her coat was maybe a bit longer, but not by much. Current collies carry so much coat they need a full-time hairdresser, and they are in danger of getting caught up in the bushes and not being able to get free, if they were ever allowed to run loose on a farm.

Anyway, this dog, whose name was Sparky, loved to play with us kids, but was also a wonderful guard dog and herder. My aunt said some of their neighbours were light-fingered, and when the weather turned cold enough that they had to put Sparky inside at night, things would start disappearing.

One day, a salesman came visiting while the men were out in the fields. He was loud and aggressive, and Sparky planted herself between the man and my aunt. As his sales pitch got louder, and he began to wave his arms around more and more, she began to growl at him.

He took his cap off and whacked her with it, and told her to shut up. Before he finished his swing at her, her teeth were buried in his wrist.

My aunt looked him in the eye, and said, "Now you asked for that! Don't complain!"

Now, THAT'S the sort of temperament I want in my GSDs. Not a man-eater, but a dog that judges the situation, and takes action when they feel there is a real threat to itself or its owner.

 

Baerenfangs Erbe, YOU'RE the bad-ass of this place--look at you, handling the well-respected Gildo [a dog which is spoken of as having 'real' aggression and showing 'real' defense, and as producing the same] at such a young age. 

THIS is what a REAL GSD is, and was meant to be--a dog that was at home in a family setting, but could bring the pain when the situation called for it...with a stable temperament and the intelligence to recognize the latter. 

Great photos, everyone...it's fun seeing the dogs that helped make each of us who we are. 

 

The dog is definitely more badass than I'll ever be. haha

And yes, I absolutely agree. That's why I could only chuckle at a certain person when he said we don't know anything about "real dogs". 

Gildo is as real as it will ever get and yet we had no issues handling these dogs. From a very young age on we were there at the kennels letting dogs in and out, helping to feed dogs, groom them and play with them. We ran blinds and played helper and dog. 

We always got a puppy to raise or even a young adult to take around the block. And then as teenagers, we had chores. We lead the dogs from the kennels to the runs, cleaned the kennels while the dogs were inside, fed the dogs green tripe etc. 

Never once in my life did I feel like I was in danger. And I handled dogs that a few adults backed away from. If one of the dogs had ever bitten us Kids, that dog would have not been allowed to reproduce. 

Stability and Balance is what makes the dog. He was an asshole on the field, yet a pet dog with us. That's what a REAL shepherd is supposed to be and what I'll be striving for. 

Baerenfang what a great shot...

Yeah, Barenfang, great shot, thank you - people tend to forget that "dogs" are just "dogs", no matter their achievements. Even well known dogs are living somewhere, with family involved, not on another planet, and during daily life they have to behave like "normal" dogs.
They are special, because they are able to do something other dogs are not able to do, but otherwise they are dogs...
Really great shot...

This photo was taken in 1949, this is a war dog from WWII that was owned by my Greatgrandfather. My Greatgrandfather was in Germany in WWI and brought back a GSD and they have been in my family since. I have even earlier shots of some of his GSDs, but the images are not that great.

Love this pic!

Gosh, i wish I had the picture of Caro vom Allerswald and me. I think he was 7 when my Dad bought him and I was just a toddler. I was literally sitting in a highchair and tossing him food. If I should ever get a chance to go back to Germany, I'll scan every picture I can. We had so many VHS tapes about dogs that many people only know from stories and they had to be tossed...