Owning a German shepherd taught me more about self-awareness and safety than any class ever did

sheknows.com ^ | 5/10/2016 | Anna Burke

[chrisinoc]

There are things I love about being a woman. The perils of walking and traveling alone and the safety concerns that accompany it are not among them. As an avid hiker and a stubbornly independent person, this has always irritated me. I don't like that constant, nagging feeling of unease. I don't really enjoy double-checking for my pepper spray in my purse or carrying my keys between my fingers on my way back to my car. I particularly hate getting catcalled, followed and leered at.

Then I got a German shepherd.

The catcalls were the first thing I noticed vanish as my little bundle of love grew into an 85-pound dog with a serious set of teeth. Then I realized that the leerers crossed to the far side of the street to avoid passing me and my best friend. In fact, the majority of the people who approached me were suddenly small children and their mothers, or other young women, all of whom wanted to meet my fluffy sidekick. Life was great. Not only did I feel safer, but I started to think about what my dog was doing to make this possible and how I could use those tricks when she was not around.

[chrisinoc]

My favorite T-shirt: I have a German shepherd and a gun as a backup.

[Joe 6-pack]

WOOOF!

The Doggie Ping list is for FReepers who would like to be notified of threads relating to all things canid. If you would like to join the Doggie Ping Pack (or be unleashed from it), FReemail me.

[Innovative]

Great!

I like all dogs, but German Shephards are great dogs. I used to have one a long time ago, still remember him fondly.

[Menehune56]

Ping

[AnotherUnixGeek]

The catcalls were the first thing I noticed vanish as my little bundle of love grew into an 85-pound dog with a serious set of teeth. Then I realized that the leerers crossed to the far side of the street to avoid passing me and my best friend.

Quite a neighborhood this woman lives in.

[elcid1970]

Said to be the smartest breed, with the intelligence of a 10 year old human. Unfortunately, not very long lived.

[Innovative]

Actually, I think at least some GSs are smarter than many 10 year old kids.

[chrisinoc]

Here’s my shameless promotion of some of our dogs available from our rescue (southern CA, Las Vegas area, and central AZ adoptions only).

These dogs will watch your back.

http://www.gsroc.org/dogs/stitch/

http://www.gsroc.org/dogs/cheyenne-8/

http://www.gsroc.org/dogs/remington/

http://www.gsroc.org/dogs/tessa-3/

http://www.gsroc.org/dogs/bruno-ii/

http://www.gsroc.org/dogs/nikki-5/

[dragnet2]

I love all dogs, but the soft spot in my heart is reserved for German Shepherds. Raised numerous GS dogs throughout my life, and they are wonderful.

And it seems the more people I meet, the more I love my dogs.

[EinNYC]

They are certainly smarter than the students in the high school I was in today. No one would put away their phone, they wouldn't even sit down in their seats. The handouts were wadded up and used as basketballs into the wastebasket. So you had a whole classroom of "students" intently using cell phones and paying no attention whatsoever to the work at hand. You figure out the demographic.

So yep, a German Shepherd would definitely qualify as far more intelligent than one of these lovely creatures.

[rlmorel]

When was the last time, as a man, you heard other men cat-calling a woman?

Doesn’t happen. At lest not in America, with grown men. Stupid teens, maybe, but even they get discouraged when their buddies say “Hey, shut up, you make us look like idiots!”

Just doesn’t happen. Perhaps in some non-American neighborhoods in this country, but no normal one.

[MtnClimber]

We currently have four dogs. One is a one year old German Shepherd. Another is a black version of Joe 6-packs Belgian Tervuren. Ours is a Belgian Groendal who we fot after our Belgian Tervuren passed away. The perps avoid dogs because they know dogs can sense their character and the big ones can do something about it.

[moovova]

Beautiful animals.

[Churchillspirit]

I know they do great work....but they are too wolf-like for me.

[the OlLine Rebel]

PERFECT! Exactly why I like a serious dog (never mind how great they are besides being natural deterrents).

GERMAN SHEPHERD PING LIST

This is a low-volume list … so don’t worry!

(Please Freep-mail me if you’d like to be on or off the list.)

[chrisinoc]

My favorites are sable colored Remington (tripod) and blonde colored Stitch.

[A CA Guy]

Teaches you to not leave food on the table unguarded.

[1_Rain_Drop]

Someone gave me a 1 yo female GS. A nutjob. One day I realized that having her is like having a loaded gun. I feel safe now.

Btw, I had to apologize to a woodchuck today because of her. She stuck her head into one of their tunnels and working hard at inserting her entire body in there. While I was trying to pull her away, I felt a tug on my pant leg. It was a woodchuck. Not happy.

[dragnet2]

My sweetheart AKA, “Lambchop”, won’t go potty if I’m looking. She drinks filtered water and sleep wherever she pleases. Lambchop can detect stupid people and meat 200 yards away and she seems a bit aggressive towards both.

[donna]

Seems to be a New York City thing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYHQSZWbR04