|
|
|
|
Hi everybody! My name is Nico. I'm going to tell you a little about myself
and about German Shepherd Dogs in general.
If I may boast about myself here a little, I have a world-champion bloodline.
Both my Father and Mother, all grandparents, my Great Grandmother on my mom's side
and my Great Grandfather on my Father's side have all won many, many awards.
My bloodline and family breeding has also been very controlled for many generations.
That is why I'm considered rather large for a modern day German Shepherd.
Let me explain what this means, if I may?
You see, after WWII they started breeding German Shepherds
(I'm just going to call us GS or GSDs from now on. It's easier to type, and my
paws don't fit on this keyboard very well anyway)
to make us a little smaller than we were at that time.
Breeders thought a slightly smaller GSD would be a little more agile
and make better working dogs. The American Standard also started breeding us to have more of a
sloped back, which is very common in American Standard GSD's nowadays. The slope of the back
was originally intended to divide our strengths between our front legs and hind quarters better.
The front legs were for power while the hind legs gave us more lift and agility.
They also intended us to be faster runners and quicker in turns.
However it's become more of a show trait for American StandardGSD's
while German Standard and most working dogs have the straighter back.
Thankfully, not everyone feels the sloped back is good and some breeders intentionally kept the older
characteristics in the breed. That's why some German Shepherds have the more sloped back
and some are more square, or have a straighter back.
That's also why I'm considered to be a large specimen of the breed. They also
purposely kept the size in my bloodline.
But, along with that, something else very special was also maintained in my bloodline.
If you ever see me in person, look at my eyes. They are a couple or even a few shades
lighter than most GSDs you'll see these days. They're still very brown, like a GS eyes should be,
but they're considered to be noticeably lighter than most are today.
But what does that mean? All the old-school breeders and long-time German Shepherd
enthusiasts that I know have a saying that I've heard over and over.
"Supreme intelligence travels on the light-eyed gene."
You see, German Shepherds are known to be highly intelligent dogs.
However, the older GSDs from the Rin-Tin-Tin era and before had an extra special
sense about them. They also had eyes slightly lighter than those commonly found today.
Researchers found that the same gene that gave them the lighter eye color also
directly corresponded to the normal IQ level found in the breed.
So, the lighter-eyed Rin-Tin-Tin era GSDs had what was considered
a "supreme" intelligence even more pronounced than most GSDs today.
However, we've had some really bad things happen, too.
Along with the popularity of the GS breed of dog came some horrible tendencies in society.
Puppy mills started churning out GSDs by the hundreds of thousands, with absolutely
no regard for the health and welfare of the breed.
People also started breeding GSD's with about anything that had a tail.
Soon, the breed was plagued with hip and elbow problems, and some of my fellow
GSDs started displaying tendencies of aggression. That aggression was because of all the in-breeding
the puppy mills were doing.
(Also, as we all know, any dog can be made aggressive
by the way it's raised. It's not all the breed's fault.)
GSDs grow quickly during their first year of life
and this growth tendency was accelerated by greedy, unreputable breeders.
People loved to be able to say that their huge, muscular 80-pound dog was only
six months old. This caused the hip and elbow problems to run rampant in the GSD breed.
All these poorly bred dogs started to saturate the market
and by the late 1970's, a good breed with a pure bloodline was getting hard to find.
That's why my bloodline has been protected and kept true
to the old characteristics of the breed.
There are still very reputable breeders out there and a good GSD
is one of the best pets you can have. We are fiercely loyal, highly intelligent,
brave, strong, we love children and are very, very protective of our territory.
Don't even worry about the house while you're gone. We'll take good care of it.
That's our job and we thrive in that capacity.
We normally get along well with other animals and our shepherding instincts
make us great companions and guards for when the kids are out in the yard playing.
I can promise you that no one,
and I mean NO ONE
had better dare even try to do anything to one of our children
while one of us is around!
They will see just how vicious we can be
and how committed we are, to the end, stopping at nothing
to protect one of our loved ones.
Many of the people I know will only allow their children
to play out in the yard as long as the GSD is out there with them.
We fall deeply in love with our family and would give our life
without question to save or protect one of them.
We live to serve, we love to serve, and we'll die to serve.
That's what we are.
We are German Shepherd Dogs.
And I am one.
