Let me start out by saying that up until getting Cooper, I was strictly a cat person. Stereotypical girl thing I know, but cats are easy. You feed them, water them, clean the litter box, open the door to let them in and out, and pet them on the rare occasion they want your attention.
In 2001 my daughter learned of someone who was trying to find a new home for their puppy, a 10 month old German Shepherd Dog. She begged me for a straight week, night and day about this dog. The only kind of dog I ever wanted was a GSD, so if it had been any other breed I would not have given in to her. They didn’t really tell me a lot about the dog and I didn’t know enough to ask any questions.
So the husband shows up, jumps out of his van, hands me dog bowls, a bag of food, toys, AKC papers and a leash. He pats Cooper on the head, tells me thank you and leaves. There I am standing on the street with a dog that was HUGE thinking “10 month old puppy?!?” (remember I’m a cat person)
Luckily I had a fenced in backyard and that is where he stayed for 3 days, leash still attached.
He would growl whenever we tried to get near him. Brittany was the one he warmed up to first, and things started to get easier from there, finally. Me, I was busy researching how to be a good dog owner.
He knew basically nothing. We began working with him, playing with him, and in general just building his trust in us. After a couple of months we were all bonded well enough and his true self started to emerge. Once he trusted us, his obedience training began in earnest. Fortunately, he was pretty smart and caught on quickly.
Cooper was bursting with ENDLESS energy and with the GSD smarts, he was quite creative in his energy outlets. We also noticed he was obsessive in the truest meaning of obsessive compulsive, when it came to playing ball as well. He was driving us CRAZY!
While attending the SPCA annual pet fair in August 2002, I watched a demonstration by a K9 search and rescue team. The light came on…Cooper needed a job! I attended one of their trainings, where Cooper was evaluated by them and determined to be too shy for the work.
Not to be deterred I set out to improve his socialization and began to train him myself with the search commands he would need to learn. Five months later I found a team that did offer us membership.
Our training schedule was intense. We trained weekly, multiple days per week, for years learning air scent search wilderness and urban. Here we are on a rubble pile.
And cadaver search on both land and water. Here we were at a farm where we could practice both.
I continued with his socialization training, obedience training and we enrolled in an agility class.
He totally loved the “game” as SAR people call it. I think his favorite activity was riding on the front of the speed boats the water rescue teams used to get us to water search areas. He would stand on the front of the boat nose high in the air with the boat speeding and bouncing along. I think the boat operator liked that he liked it too. Here we are on the PPL lake doing a search for a drown duck hunter. He pinpointed the spots and the divers did the rest.
If boats were his favorite, then the high-line was his least favorite. But he did it and that comes down to the trust he had in me.
In 2006 we got out of the SAR business to concentrate on other activities. Now he enjoys a life of leisure and regular activities of hiking, backpacking, patrolling the yard during the day and the inside of the house at night (ugh), and just hanging on the porch with his girl Sophie. He is still obsessive about playing ball.
Facts about German Shepherds.
The German Shepherd Dog was developed in Germany over 100 years ago by Capt. Max von Stephanitz who wanted the ultimate, highly intelligent utility dog that was capable of whatever task his owner required of him.
The breed has a dense weather proof coat and is an EXTREMELY heavy shedder, doing so only once a year but it lasts for 365 days.
Of the herding dog group, GSD’s are natural guard dogs, and protective of family and property without the need for specialized training. They ARE NOT naturally aggressive, but proper socialization is necessary. Once accepted by a GSD your are his friend for life; they are extremely loyal and wonderful with children.
German Shepherd Dogs are the 3rd most popular dog breed in America.
GSD’s must be with their families or their temperament can become unstable. They are NOT yard dogs and require a firm hand and a handler who is consistent.
