"And one New Years eve, he came to the party with us but wanted to leave before midnight. Just before midnight, he returned with a large german shepherd in heat, his date. They hung around for a while and then left again so there are a lot of weird looking german shepherds running around Douglas county KS."
This is NOT a good example to set for pet people. Dogs who aren't deliberately set for breeding should be neutered, and certainly NOT allowed to run around wild screwing other dogs and making unwanted babies. I know MALE owners of MALE dogs don't give a damn cuz "it's not my problem", but that's just wrong.
Well, you're probably correct but this was 30 years ago. It was a much simplier time in a small town. All three of my male animals are neutered although I really wish my cattle dog/border collie could breed. I do think that restriction of breeding to pure breds is harmful to the species. The best dogs I've known were mutts. Even my standard daschund was no show dog but the biggest, ugliest pup in the litter, a throw back.