THANKFULNESS

I wrote four other articles this morning and hated them all. That said, doesn’t mean you or I am going to like this one any better! Oh yes it is tough being a writer. We are self critical and sometimes can be real “pain in the neck” perfectionists. Some days we wake up with a bit of “brain fog” and thinking of writing about anything can become a real challenge for us. But I’m thankful that I can write anything at all when I have three German Shepherds running around from one room to the next dropping dirty toys or bones on my lap. Or like “Bu” dripping water from her sloppy mouth all over me and my desk as I try to write any article at all. It’s non stop raining this morning so I find myself surrounded by the breed of dog that I try to write about five days a week. When I can no longer tolerate their overly enthusiastic personalities contributing to my insanity for one second more, I am so thankful for the invention of the dog crate!

When I read the e-mails from a list about which is the better dog, the one that has won at the Specialty show or the one that has won at the All-Breed show, I’m thankful that I’m not showing anything right now. I wouldn’t want to contribute to anyone’s jealousy getting out of control, so I’ll just let others remain in that “enviable” position!

Then when I read on a list about the problems of the Parent Club and its lack of new membership, I’m so very thankful that I turned down running for the presidency (NOT) of the club. Can you just imagine a club run by a peace loving woman who detests fighting and “I’m better than you” types of mentalities? Can you just imagine what it would be like belonging to a club that truly was for the betterment of the German Shepherd Dog, rather than for the betterment of ones own personal agenda?

A post was sent over one of the list several years ago telling of one of the most horrific cases of dog abuse I had ever read up to that time anyway. It was a story about a puppy named “Mooie.” She was the puppy that had acid thrown all over her body and face. It was this heartbreaking story that led me to write about a puppy that I never met except through the horrors of her photographs. My article didn’t save the unfortunate Mooie, but it would open up a door for me to write other articles about the abused and neglected. It would also introduce me to the founder of Last Hope, Safe Haven, Dawn Restuccia. I was saddened for the precious little Mooie whose life was sacrificed and whose story was read all around the world but I am thankful to that little baby as well. Had her story not been told, I may never have met Dawn and her unselfish efforts to be the voice for those who couldn’t speak for themselves.

Owning my own list and blog has afforded me the opportunity to meet some new people in the breed while maintaining old and cherished friendships as well. How else would I have been introduced to Bruce and shared in his fantastic stories of life in the wild on “God’s mountain” that he shares with his wife Carol and their three dogs? Or how about Kathy and her white German Shepherds that like Bruce both have contributed generously to articles here on my blog? Kathy’s unique way of sharing a story with us and her wonderful artistic drawings adds to the enjoyment of my readers on this blog. Both of these fine people and others like them as well make me realize just how thankful I am to have been introduced to their friendship.

And how about my longer standing friendships? Many times I write about some of my dog friends experiences here on my blog. Sometimes they don't even know that I'm writing about them until they read it here. They give me so many interesting things to write about. I'm thankful to one of my dearest friends Lorraine who is one of the more sweeter people in the breed. It's through some of the heartaches that she has endured that I find a need to write a story surrounding it. Also recently I got goosebumps when she and I had one of our most interesting conversations about "OUR" dog Kharu - I bred him, she loved and owned him. It was the story of how he came back to pay a visit to the home where he once lived and died.

Not to be outdone by Lorraine is my friend Marilyn, who will enthusiastically give me a call. I'll ask her what's up and she'll tell me that she has the next article for me to write about on my blog. Her suggestions are for articles about this world and not the spiritual world like those I've shared with you from Lorraine and Kathy. So yes I'm thankful to Marilyn, but because she and I can talk for hours sometimes, I wish I would write down what she called be about because by the time I get off the phone, I forget the reason she called me in the first place!

These people and others that write to me privately and offer suggestions for articles here on this blog, I'm very thankful for.

When I read about the dangers of giving too many shots to our dogs or the dangers of putting poisons on our dogs to prevent ticks from enjoying their chubby little bodies, I’m very thankful for the knowledge of some of the people on the lists that I belong to. If I need to know how to dry up a hot spot or how to take weight off a dog, all I need do is type in my question and my inbox will be filled with opinions, educational viewpoints and just down right good old common sense. Belonging to some of these lists, I would dare say that it has saved some people thousands of dollars!

And for those of you that have read this “blog about nothing” today, I am thankful that you stuck it out with me! What do you expect on a rainy, dreary, gray, miserable day anyway…………..a literary masterpiece?

And I just know that my Amber who is laying right here next to me while I type this is very thankful that she NEVER has to go into a crate like her wild daughters. Instead she lays patiently looking up at me (almost in a hypnotic trance like state) waiting for the next butter pretzel she’s sharing with me to drop her way. Yes life is good for Amber. She’s very thankful, indeed!

And aren’t you thankful this article is finished?


My rating: one can never have enough friends in this breed: (4)

"GREATNESS" WAS BURIED TODAY

I went to a funeral today to watch “Greatness” be buried. It was a sad occasion indeed. “Mediocrity” stood up at the podium and read a eulogy about “Greatness.” There wasn’t a dry eye to be found by those who were in attendance. “Mediocrity” said that all of us in this church today could only hope to strive to be like “Greatness” was. When talking about “Greatness” the word ordinary never came up in conversation. All conceded that he was beyond reproach and no one ever questioned his integrity.

There were those that never made it to the funeral today. “Must be right” decided to give her point of view while writing to someone on an e-mail list why the club needed to stay the way it was. “Meekness” could only shake her head in agreement as no one ever listened to what she had to say anyway. When backbones were given out, someone else got hers as well. So “Meekness” just went along with “Must be right” because well, maybe she is right after all!

Then there was “Good Old Sap” who goes along with everything everyone else says because being liked is more important to him then being right. He figures if the majority wants to change the club, well he’s up for anything.

“Old timer” tells everyone to leave everything alone. The club has survived all these years with things the way that it always has been. “Old timer” doesn’t like change. She believes leave things alone and stop trying to change them all the time.

“New beginnings” is bright eyed and hopeful. She wants so much to learn and hopes that she can follow in the footsteps of “Greatness” some day. “Cranky old geezer” has her nose way too high up in the air to take “New beginnings” even remotely serious. She’s of the thought that you start at the bottom, scrap and claw your way to the top like she did. Don’t look for any hand outs from her! Nope “Cranky old geezer” and “New beginnings” don’t even correspond with one another.

And how about “Under the disguise of?” “Under the disguise of” is the guy that aims to please everyone. One day he’s serious and the next day he’s the joker. Most of the time the rest of the crowd enjoys reading his e-mails and laughing at his jokes. But there are those other times that the crowd doesn’t appreciate his brand of humor when they are trying to get something serious done. “Under the disguise of” can be very shrewd while trying to win the popular vote of the day.

“Leader of the Pack” is the one everyone thinks has all the answers to the clubs problems. Sometimes she does and other times, well lets just say, everyone is left to draw their own conclusions. When she has the answers, she’s a saint. When she doesn’t, there are those that wonder why they voted her in to office in the first place.

“Quarrelsome Ed” is the guy that say’s white if you say black. No if you say yes. “Quarrelsome Ed” is the one that is out to prove everything you say is wrong. If someone says the club should stay the way it is, “Quarrelsome Ed” will say, “No it’s time for a change in the club.”

“Don’t give a damn anymore” is tired of all the bickering in the club and feels that nothing ever is accomplished anyway. So he’s moving on and won’t be renewing his membership dues come the end of the year. He feels the money he puts out for his membership dues will find a better purpose.

“Sick and tired” is moving on also. “Sick and tired” is sick and tired of all of the bickering, jealously and back stabbing. Not only is she giving up on renewing her membership to the club, she has chosen to get out of the German Shepherd Dog breed all together and has just bought herself one of those expensive designer dogs where they don’t have any AKC conformation shows anyway………well not yet.

So some remained and some left and some wondered if they should stay or leave. And those that went to the funeral of “Greatness” walked with a heavy heart from the church to his burial plot. Oh “Greatness” would have been so proud of the stone that his loyal friends bought for him. He would have looked at the headstone with pride as he read the words for all those to see that ventured past his grave site. They would read: “Here lies “Greatness” which only few hope to ever achieve; loyal beyond compare. Heaven opens her gates for him because what Heaven sends it calls home again.”

And so the battle rages on about the future of the club. While they continue to “get their points” across, some forget about the real reason they got involved in the German Shepherd Dog breed to begin with….to promote, to love, to get the word out about the best dog on earth. They forgot today that “Greatness” got buried. They forgot that today they buried the German Shepherd Dog!


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My rating: The German Shepherd Dog: (4), Club woes and troubles: (1)

WEST COAST BRED VS EAST COAST BRED GERMAN SHEPHERDS

Most people when they think of a German Shepherd dog they think that they all look the same. What comes to mind is a black and tan medium size dog of good proportions. These same people don’t even know that the German Shepherd dog comes in a few different colors or that their coats might be different lengths.

Is there really a difference in a dog that’s bred on the west coast compared to a dog that is bred in the East? They both have the same breed standard. If you went to a German Shepherd dog National specialty show, could you pick out the dog from the West coast and the one who was bred on the East coast? Should there be a difference?

This subject came to me when talking to a friend of mine who lives in the west and bought a dog that was bred on the east coast. She told me that she was having a harder time getting the points on this dog. She said that he wasn’t the type of dog that the judges put up on the west coast. Her dog is a hard dry, good moving dog. For those unfamiliar with the terms this means the dog is not a plush coated, “take your breath away” type of dog. He has a beautiful masculine head and is all male, but he lacks the trimmings that are so evident on the west coast dogs.

When one thinks of the west coast bred German Shepherd, the Covy Tucker Hill kennel might come to mind. These very well known breeders have produced so many champions that I’ve lost count. These dogs were known for their exceptional beauty. They had all the “trimmings” of what makes a dog beautiful to look at…..plush, good pigment, deep bodied, etc.

When one thinks of the east coast dogs, you might think of Mary Ellen and Bob Kish’s Kismet kennels. Most of the time their dogs have been hard, dry animals with excellent top lines who possessed strong backs.

Now the argument can be that a good dog is a good dog no matter where he lives. This may be true but I know that many times when I see a west coast judge come to judge a show here in the east, I will see them put up the type of dog that they are used to seeing. I’ll give you an example. One time I showed a youngster under a judge who came from the west to judge here in the east. My young dog was a hard, dry type of animal who had an exceptional top line and a wonderful side gait. The judge couldn’t make up his mind between my dog and the second dog. He kept switching them back and forth with my dog leading most of the time. He eventually pointed to the second dog as his winner and mine was awarded second place. The judge said he’d be happy to take either one of these two dogs home.

Later on I sat and watched the rest of the show and when it came to the judge’s winner’s class, there was no denying what he liked. All of his winners were consistent in breed type……dark, deep and plush coated. I wasn’t upset because had my dog been in the winner’s class, he would have stood out as being very different from the rest of the dogs this judge put up all day.

So although we have a breed standard for judges to use when they make their decisions on their winning dogs, it is how the judge interprets the standard and what he is used to seeing or owning. A good judge will judge the individual dogs quality and not be swayed by what he’s used to seeing or owning. A good dog is a good dog, is a good dog!

Some will argue that the west coast has the prettiest dogs and that the east coast has the best moving dogs. What about the dogs that are bred in the central part of the country? Maybe the central part of the United States has the best of both worlds having combined the best dogs from both sides of the country.

Some I heard say that the west coast dogs are more of a “wet” dog…..deeper, looser and that their top lines are not as good as the east coast dogs. Then some say that the east coast dogs are more ordinary or common in looks than the pretty west coast dogs. In an ideal world, the breeder aims to have the best moving and best looking dogs.

Take a look at the two dogs on the top left of this page.....Maturity winner Chieftain's Nuance and Chieftain's Rajah. Both of these dogs I bred. They were both from my BIM Ch Arbar's Xanadu ROM. They had different sires. The bitch, Nuance was sired by an east Coast ROM Grand Victor who was a wonderful mover, but not beautiful in breed type. The male Rajah was sired by a west coast ROM champion who was a very pretty dog. You can see that the male was better looking in breed type but the bitch was by far a much better mover.

Many times breeders will not ship their bitches from one coast to another to breed to a stud dog. Because of the economy some breeders are not willing or able to put out the money to do frozen semen breeding so they end up breeding to dogs in their own area.

When a judge judges a National specialty show, naturally he gets the best dogs from around the country shown under him. A good judge isn’t swayed by a particular “type” of a dog. He will select the best representative of the breed according to the standard to be crowned his Grand Victor or Grand Victrix. As I type this I’m wondering where most of our Grand Victors and Grand Victrix’s have come from. Were they bred on the west or east coast or somewhere in the central part of the United States? I wonder if anyone has a record of this. So has the west, east, or central part of the United States produced more winners?

My rating: a good one is a good one whether east, west or centrally bred: (4) judges judging according to the standard: (3)