by Cody Tyler

Created on: October 25, 2008

Living in the country has distinct advantages if you're a dog lover. Especially if you love big dogs! We have open acres of grassy green fields for our dogs to romp around in. We have a pond for them to swim in. And we have all sorts of wildlife, especially deer, for them to chase through the tangled trees making up our woods. (After years of chasing deer they still haven't figured out that they'll never catch them...and the deer know it!)

Our favorite breed of dog? German shepherds. Aka police dogs, attack dogs, protection dogs or just down right vicious dogs! I have to shake my head at people who have this misconception. They are obviously not familiar with the breed.

German shepherds are a herding dog who want a job to do. They are happiest when they are "helping out" even if helping out means retrieving a ball for you. They need lots of exercise but will also sit at your feet and be content.

German shepherds are a gentle breed, although they may jump up to greet you upon your arrival! We have four shepherds right now. Two of them are rescue dogs, one is from Germany and another one from Georgia. One of the rescue dogs,Obar, arrived here when he was approximately 6 years old. He had been neglected all of his life but you'd never know it. He is the mellowist of our 4 dogs. The dog from Germany named Gunnar, who came to the United States when he was 2 years old is the Alpha male. He has to be the most tolerant alpha male alive. We've fostered dogs, we've walked our dogs with our neighbors dogs and we've had friends bring their dogs over to play. These dogs were of course strange dogs to Gunnar upon their first meeting. And yet, Gunnar was never threatened by their pressence. I've seen smaller dogs so possessive that they try to bite anybody that comes near their owner. Not that they are any big threat, but you get the idea.

Along with being dog friendly all four of our dogs love people. They will compete for anybody's attention! They want pet, they want to be played with...they just want attention. Do these sound like mean dogs to you? I didn't think so. But German shepherds can and are trained to be mean. They will attack for their master if trained to do so. But it is not their natural instinct to be mean, although their instinct is to protect their owner, but only if they feel their owner is in danger. Police dogs who attack are trained to attack and protect their handler. They are rewarded for doing so. When you see German shepherds on TV you see them being

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