Posted on 02/28/2006 3:52:28 AM PST by Glacier Honey
Who knew
My Maddie is half Chow & half Lab and they would have to pry her out of my cold dead hands!
There is now. ;-)
Bravo! Want on my GSD ping? :D
As for "pits", I don't know for sure but all the time I've had discussions or done some research (this was subject of an English paper I did in college - 13 years ago), I've never quite seen Bull Terriers lumped in w/the others. While I think they may all be related and all had more or less the same background (as did the Bulldogs, let's not forget that), they are definitely distinct in type w/their big roman-nosed heads. I don't see them pinned too much as "pit bulls", altho I'm sure the fraidy-cat fools running around Joe-Schmoe Land would be glad to lump them in if you tell them they were made to bait bulls.
Again to the GS - yes, I think you're possibly correct. Well, at least my most beloved dog ever was the perfect GS, and amongst other things she showed herself probably smarter than a whole pack of Border Collies (literally). She outsmarted them as a youngster in their own home (my aunt's) - as if she knew it better and how to exploit it better than they! While closing a glass-pane door on them when they ran out to fetch a toy we'd toss into the opposite room, the Borders would just sit at the door and hope you'd let them back in. My Shana then encountered the closed door when fetching - and promptly turned tail and ran around the other long way thru the house to get back to us in our room!
"Bravo! Want on my GSD ping? :D "
Sure.
I love them. Also coonhounds and Irish Setters, but they are nowhere near GSD in the brain department.
"While closing a glass-pane door on them when they ran out to fetch a toy we'd toss into the opposite room, the Borders would just sit at the door and hope you'd let them back in. My Shana then encountered the closed door when fetching - and promptly turned tail and ran around the other long way thru the house to get back to us in our room!"
The Border collies and dogs like them are good at learning to do what they are taught. Presented with something unanticipated, they might be befuddled. A good German Shepherd can recognize a new problem and figure it out.
Police work, rescue work, military work, guide dog - they all excell at it. Maybe they have more wolf blood in them than most other breeds - I think wolves are smarter than most dogs. They have to be to survive.
Anyway, you knw how you have a "picture" in your mind for most words? When I close my eyes and think "dog", pop!! up comes a picture of a German Shepherd - all the time.
Yep. We would both be standing up for our dogs. I might have to buy a gun if something like that came down.
Feel free!
I can't say for sure about lots of breeds, because I've never lived w/them (well, not that I recall - my family had a string of loser dogs - no GS - before I was really senscient), and only actually experience others in limited amounts. As it is, they wowed me as a child (seeing K-9 come to our school for demos) and I've been stuck on them since! I've had a total of 4 purebred GS (1 other was a fake - shows you how much AKC papers are worth), 3 of them for significant time. My older sister got the "bug" well after I obtained my beloved Shana (pure GS #2, 1st registered); she's had 4 also by now (and to think she thought she might want to try a Bichon Frise - LOL).
It wasn't enough to have the police demo impress me. Finding out the history, and looking around - not only does the GS do everything now, it really *started* that everything, too. As a utility & versatility lover, I can't beat that and so, can't get past the GS and never will get over it. ;-)
Love me, Love my dog!
LOL
I might and aren't you supposed to say what a lovely dog my Maddie is?
ooops...Malinois
A Mans Best Friend -
The Story of Old Drum"
Ever wonder where the old saying, "A mans best friend is his dog," came from? Well, if you guessed Warrensburg, Missouri, you were right!
Senator George Graham Vest won a court battle and the ears of dog lovers everywhere when he paid his famous tribute to the dog during the 1870 Burden vs. Hornsby court case in Warrensburg. The speech included the line, "The one absolutely unselfish friend that a man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is his dog."
The "eulogy to the dog" won the case for Charles Burden whose favorite hound, Old Drum, was shot by a neighbor, Leonidas Hornsby, who had sworn to kill the first dog that came onto his land. Although Hornsby had hunted with Drum and acknowledged him to be one of the best hunting dogs he had ever seen, he carried out his threat when one night a dog was found prowling in his yard. That dog was Old Drum.
Burden immediately sued Hornsby for damages and the trial quickly became one of the strangest in the history of this area of the country. Each man was determined to win the case. After several appeals, the case finally reached the Supreme Court of Missouri. Burden was awarded $50 in damages for the loss of his favorite hunting dog. Vests eulogy to the dog, which he made in his final appeal to the jury, won the case and became a classic speech.
Through the direction of the Warrensburg Chamber of Commerce and coordinated efforts by many dog lovers across the country, Old Drum was immortalized in a stature on the Johnson County Courthouse lawn in Warrensburg on September 23, 1958.
While no record was kept of the last half of Vests tribute to a dog, the first portion has fortunately been preserved. It was this speech that originated the saying, "A mans best friend is his dog." George Graham Vest speaking:
Gentlemen of the Jury: "The best friend a man has in this world may turn against him and become his enemy. His son or daughter that he has reared with loving care may prove ungrateful. Those who are nearest and dearest to us, those whom we trust with our happiness and our good name, may become traitors to their faith. The money that a man has, he may lose. It flies away from him, perhaps when he needs it the most. A mans reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of ill-considered action. The people who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honor when success is with us may be the first to throw the stone of malice when failure settles its cloud upon our heads. The one absolutely unselfish friend that a man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him and the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog."
"Gentleman of the Jury, a mans dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground, where the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he may be near his masters side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer, he will lick the wounds and sores that encounters the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince. When all other friends desert, he remains. When riches take wings and reputation falls to pieces, he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens."
"If fortune drives the master forth an outcast in the world, friendless and homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him to guard against danger, to fight against his enemies. When the last scene of all comes, and death takes the master in its embrace and his body is laid away in the cold ground, no matter if all other friends pursue their way, there by his graveside will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws, his eyes sad but open in alert watchfulness, faithful and true even to death."
Return to the top
From http://www.warrensburg.org/drum.htm
When dogs are banned, only criminals will have dogs.
when they add 3-legged Golden Retrievers over 10 yrs old to the list I'll be in trouble, LOL
Huh? Never!
LOL
I like the dogs very much, but they'll never be quite the stature of my GS!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.