"first, a lot of the public view (and fear) German Shepherds as "police" or "guard" dogs, and second, German Shepherds bond very strongly to people and the program is difficult on them because first they form a strong bond to their puppy raiser, then to their trainer when they go back to CCI, and then to their eventual handicapped owner."
Yup, Shepherds are very much 1-man dogs. (And 1-woman.) Or at least, 1-family.
As for the "fear" - I think that's great. People SHOULD have some fear and respect of all things a blind person. Criminals would love to take advantage of a weakness like blindness. Shepherds would be great for keeping them away. They won't be much scared of any "yella" Lab!
That is an interesting point.
Bump
>They won't be much scared of any "yella" Lab!<
A couple of years ago, a local dog club put on a Temperament Test. One of the dogs tested was an elderly yellow Lab, accompianied by her elderly owner.
The last test involved a "suspicious stranger", who hits the ground with a riding crop. When the weirdo came out from his hiding place, the Lab looked visibly alarmed. She then very deliberately placed her full body in front of her beloved master.
There was not a dry eye in the crowd.
I suppose there's always the exception. I had thought your opinion correct and always had more than a little bit of fear of them.
Then I met Lady. I had a part-time delivery job a while back and, after parking in a farm yard and proceeding to the door, a HUGE Shepherd came bounding around the corner of the house right for me and shaking the earth with barks.
I froze and held out a hand. I got a sniff and and she turned and retreated.
This turned out to be a regular stop and the next time she ran out without barking and jumped up on me for some petting. The next time she did the same, but returned with a frissbee. After that as soon as she got around the corner of the house and saw it was me she turned and went back to get one of her toys.
She made a Shepherd convert out of me. I told the folks to never get rid of her without calling me!