Even though I have a long history with dogs, I didn’t become a true dog owner and lover until recently. Although I was always impressed with how smart police dogs were, I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would have a German Shepherd.
On the islands, the German Shepherd is still called the Alsatian and is one of the most respected dogs in the country to this day. Since I became a dog lover I like to talk about German Shepherds and how I acquired the little love of my life.
What awesome dogs German Shepherds are; very intelligent, strong and loyal dogs that look good, or is a good looking dog. Most often employed by the military and police for search and rescue missions, they are known to be the best bred dogs for work. Some of their great characteristics are that they are extremely loyal to their owners and to the people they are familiar with, even children, but they can also become very attached and show aggression towards people they do not know.
These dogs are known to have two coats, the lower or lower coat is made up of short hairs that do not shed frequently, while the outer or upper coat constantly shed to show short or medium hairs, with long hairs being less common.
I got my German Shepherd at work one day when one of the young men I worked with mentioned to a group of women that his neighbor’s dog and two two-month-old puppies jumped into his pool. He said his neighbor really didn’t want to keep the puppies because someone else’s dog had mated with their dog without them knowing and they didn’t need too many dogs so they wanted to give them away.
Needless to say, the puppies were going to be gifted and all the ladies were excited asking what kind of puppies they were. Since the ladies seem to prefer smaller breed dogs, he was calling out smaller dog breed names and apparently the two dogs had found new owners among the staff.
The young man agreed to take the puppies to work with their new owners, as there were two dogs to give away. When the ladies saw that the dogs weren’t the smallest breed dogs, they hoped the excitement and interest would subside because instead these puppies were a German Shepherd mix. German Shepherds are large breed dogs that are generally between 22 and 26 inches long and their ideal height is 25 inches. Those women didn’t want the big dogs because these dogs weigh between 49 and 95 pounds. A dog ended up having an owner of the ladies who had promised to take him. The other puppy was waiting in a box, waiting for someone to want to take it home.
After leaving a meeting the night in question in which the young man brought the dogs, I saw him standing in the lobby looking puzzled with a box containing the remaining dog. When I was concerned why he was still working, he said that he did not know what to do with the puppy that nobody wanted and that he did not want to take it to his neighbor because the dog would be delivered to an animal shelter.
I was not yet a true “dog lover”, but I agreed to bring the frightened German Shepherd puppy home with my two children. My kids had been asking for a dog for years, but I never wanted one until they were old enough and responsible for caring for it.
When I called and told my kids that I was bringing a puppy home, they quickly rejected the idea because they never believed that I would bring a dog home. Remember, as an islander we never bring dogs inside the house, but that’s what I did. As soon as I got home with the scared little dog, my kids quickly grabbed her and bathed her with love.
We named our little shepherd mix Nahla, who is now seven months old. The boys are doing very well training the dog. She has a great temperament for our family and is a sweet and loving dog.