There is often debate about the true nature of my favorite dog breed: the German Shepherd. Usually when one thinks of a German Shepherd, they think of a vicious attack dog. Kind of like this:
To start off, I would like to talk about Shepherds as working dogs. When I refer to them as "working dogs" I mean the K9 forces in the police and military. According to uswardogs.org, K9 units are used as: sentry dogs, scout dogs, explosive detecting dogs, and search and rescue dogs. German Shepherds save lives on a daily basis. However, German Shepherds do not only help in the military and police. They often serve as service dogs which can detect seizures, guide people, and serve as therapy dogs.
Furthermore, German Shepherds are also super protective and agile. I recently heard a story about a dog named Haus and her loving 7 year old owner, Molly. One day in Tampa, Florida, Molly was out picking up dog toys in the back yard and suddenly Haus started jumping around and barking.This was because he spotted a rattlesnake. Recognizing the danger, he stepped into action, putting himself between Molly and the snake, and ended up taking 3 bites from the snake to save Molly.
By now, you may be asking yourself "how can they even do all these things?". The answer to that is actually rather simple. On almost every listing, German Shepherds are ranked at least the 3rd smartest dog breed. To put this into perspective, according to an article by livescience.com "The dogs at the top of the pack are on par with a 2.5-year-old".
Whether it is their wolf-like appearance or just bad publicity, people always seem to have a bad impression of these great dogs. Not only do they help people ranging from any ordinary citizen to police, to the military every day, but they are also super protective as well as highly intelligent. After all, how could you dislike a face like that?
My dog Daisy being intelligent
Your dogs look so cute! Great argument! ~ Mrs. Kopp
ReplyDeleteThe way you put it, it's astonishing that people's popular opinion of these dogs is so negative. It amazes me what the German Shepard can do, and I'm sure more people than Molly owe their lives to these animals. And as far as those pictures go, I don't know who could dislike faces like those. --Mr. Johnson
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