In
bringing a German Shepherd into your home, you are making an addition
to your family and he will quickly feel a part of it. Your house,
your garden, your possessions and in fact all that you own will from
then on be in his special care. He needs your love, but he also
needs correct attention to his grooming, exercise, food, and general
welfare. Once given these, your German Shepherd will
devote his very life to you. Your life will
be
richer for this as well as for the companionship and love you both will share.
Before you decide whether
to adopt one of our dogs, please take a minute to review the following
Top Ten Myths of Adopting a MAGSR dog.
Myth
1: I have small children, so I want a puppy.
Without a doubt, this is the most common
reason people want a puppy. A sweet, small puppy just seems like the
best choice for sweet, small children.
You know that cute Kodak commercial
with the puppies climbing all over the giggling little boy? Have you
ever noticed how short it is? That’s because they could only film
for a few seconds before the welts rose, the blood dripped, and the
boy began to scream for his mother. Puppies have needle-teeth that
they happily sink into anyone who walks by. They also have sharp nails
that scratch when they jump up -- and on little Ryan, those front
feet land right around his face.
Puppies
leave "presents" that your toddler always seems to
find before you do. Puppies wake your children during the night. And
a puppy doesn’t know the difference between his stuffed toy and Sarah’s
Piglet that she MUST have to fall asleep.
And suppose you get a puppy when little
Morgan is 2. In six months, Morgan will be about 1 inch taller and
3 pounds heavier. However, the 8 month old puppy will now be as tall
as Morgan and outweigh her by 30 pounds. And those baby teeth will
have been replaced by big snappers that need to chew.
Of course, puppies and small children
do successfully cohabitate. But, in our experience, your child will
go through far less Neosporin and Band-Aids with a calmer 2 + year
old dog who is road-tested with children.
Myth
2: It’s better to get a puppy. With an older dog, you never know what
you’re getting.
Seems to make sense, except the exact
opposite is true. All puppies are cute; all puppies love everyone.
It’s not until a dog hits sexual maturity that some innate behavioral
problems start to surface. We can’t even estimate how many calls
we’ve had from people who paid thousands of dollars for a purebred
puppy, who is now a year or two old and biting people, attacking other
dogs, or engaging in some oddball neurotic behavior. Purebred is not
the same as well-bred, and sometimes it feels like the disreputable
breeders grossly outnumber the responsible ones.
The truth is this: when we list a 4
month old puppy, we can only guess what kind of adult she’ll make.
When we list an 18 month old dog, we can predict pretty accurately
what kind of dog you’ll have forever.
Myth
3: If you train your dog right, he’ll stay in the yard without a fence.
Many people believe this, right up until
the moment the dog is hit by a car, eats poison in the neighbor’s
garage, or is stolen. We insist on a fence or leash walks. Rescue
dogs are typically either strays (which means they have a history
of wandering) or owner-surrenders (which means they’re going to go
look for their ex-owner first chance they get). We just can’t risk
it.
Myth
4: When I was growing up, we had a PERFECT German Shepherd.
No, you didn’t. Trust me, he was
only perfect because you were 8 and didn’t have to clean up after
him and be responsible for him. I know you believed he was perfect,
but you also believed in Santa and honest government then, too.
I had a perfect GSD named Max when I
was growing up. He died in my freshman year of college, and has since,
in family lore, gone on to be canonized as "Saint Max". Bow your head
when you say it. Everyone in my family seems to forget the time
St. Max was hit by a car he was chasing. Or the time he bit the kid
biking by. Or how he used to sneak in and sleep on the furniture when
no one was home. Or the time he had diarrhea all over the hardwood
floors. Or how he used to eat the Christmas ornaments off the bottom
half of the tree.
Since I’ve been an adult, I’ve never
had a perfect German Shepherd--but every single one of them was
perfect for me!
Myth
5: German Shepherds stop being puppies around a year old.
BUUUUZZZZZ! I’m sorry. Try 2 or 3.
Many shepherds don’t calm down and hit their stride until they’re 4 or
5. And you know that wonderful mental image you have of the
stoic and noble shepherd sitting on the hill surveying his domain? He’s
9!
Myth
6: I want a dog without dominance issues, so I want a female.
In the wacky world of GSDs, that’s just
not true. For starts, it’s impossible to make gender-based absolutes.
But once you spend time around GSDs, you’ll start to notice there
are plenty of hyper, dominant females out there. You’ll also notice
lots of mellow, roll-with-the-punches males (especially after they
make that all-important trip to Dr. Knife).
It all depends on the individual dog,
but don’t think for a minute that a female is a sure ticket to a passive,
submissive pooch.
Myth
7: White GSDs are mutants.
Well,
if they are, more breeds should mutate.
People who don’t like white shepherds are
often, coincidentally, the same people who have never spent any time
around them. While the AKC does not YET recognize the whites,
most other registration organizations, like the UKC, do!
Many die-hard black and tan’ers have
had their minds changed by the fabulous whites that have come through
MAGSR. And if you still don’t believe me, check out our Success
Stories page. For more information on the MANY GSD colors
go here.
Myth
8: My 8 month old German Shepherd is biting people. He’s not lunging
or growling, but he makes little nips on arms and legs. I can’t keep
an aggressive dog.
The secret here is to look at the last
4 letters in the breed name: herd. German Shepherds herd. It’s what
they do. And chances are, that’s all he’s doing to your friends and
family.
This is called this mouthing. It’s what
happens when those cute little puppy bites go uncorrected. And if
your dog’s doing it, he will continue to do it--and do it harder and
stronger--until you DO correct it.
Fortunately, it is relatively easy to
fix in most dogs. There’s lots of tips on the internet (just search
for "dog mouthing") and your vet can probably help as well.
If the problem is really out of hand, you may need to call in a trainer
for a few sessions.
Myth
9: I’m unsure about getting a rescue dog, because I’m afraid he won’t
bond to me.
That sound you hear is all the people
with rescued dogs falling over laughing. Because the exact opposite
is nearly always true--your rescue dog will CLING to you.
Look at it from the dog’s perspective.
He’s spent the bulk of the last year on a 6 foot chain in someone’s
back yard because he committed the unconscionable sin of no longer
being a puppy. At some point during the day, someone may remember
to bring him food and water. The only attention he gets is when they
yell at him for barking - or worse.
Finally, they take him for a car-ride--dumping
him in a wooded area where he can have a "fighting chance."
Despite everything, he waits there for their return or tries to get
back home. He finds water somewhere. He raids trash cans and gets
sick. If he’s extremely lucky, he survives long enough for an animal
lover to find him and bring him to the shelter.
Then he sits in the loud, scary shelter
run, starting to lose faith that his family will ever find him. The
kennel people are nice, but he is one of a hundred needy dogs they
have to care for so he gets no real attention.
Finally, the shelter calls us. And you
take him home.
You not only bring him into your house,
you give him his own bed and bowl, and maybe a crate where he feels safe.
You speak quietly to him. When he messes on the carpet, you don’t seem to
mind--you just take him outside and then clean it up. You feed him
regularly AND give him toys and treats and nylabones. He sleeps in
your room. He may even have a big brother or sister to play with.
He gets kisses and hugs all the time for "no reason". And when he goes out in the car, he always comes back.
Your rescue dog’s biggest fear is that
you will spontaneously combust. GSDs are particularly
sensitive about the connections with their people so once they have
the attention they so desperately crave and need, they do whatever
they can to ensure they never, ever lose it.
He’s not going to let you out of his
sight for one minute. People with rescue dogs learn to function with
a 70 pound shadow following us everywhere.
That said, there are some dogs who just
never learned to connect with people, but that becomes apparent very
quickly--long before we place him with you.
Myth
10: I don't want to have my rescue dog spayed or neutered because
it's not natural/ she should be able to have a litter/I want my children
to see the miracle of birth/etc.
MAGSR's spay/neuter policy is not negotiable.
If everyone prevented irresponsible breeding, we'd be happily out
of business. Do not humanize your dog--no one's asking you to neuter
yourself. Your dog will be healthier and more comfortable once s/he's
shifted into neutral--and will also be a much more pleasant companion.
Neutered male dogs roam less, mark less
territory, and are generally less aggressive. Spayed female dogs avoid
the messy and annoying heat cycles, and are not at risk for unwanted
pregnancy. And both males and females are less likely to get certain
illnesses.
As for the miracle of birth, well, there's
another "rite of passage" occurring to 20 million dogs a year in this
country, 25% of them purebred - euthanasia. It happens every day at your local
animal shelter. But most parents are not as eager for their children
to see that.
Article by Betsy Morris
of MAGSR. Reprints (and modifications for breeds) permitted as long
as you give us credit!
