I'D BE LOST WITHOUT YOU!

As usual, I never know which subject that I write about will generate the most �buzz.� My last three articles seemed to be the ones that did just that, especially yesterday�s topic about trying to find homes for show puppies. The old timers as well as the �new timers� had plenty to say about the subject. But most agreed their main focus is getting their puppies into the best homes possible whether that is a pet home or a show home.

I�m been wanting to write something about the emotional aspects of this breed�s temperament for awhile and then today on my list someone and I were corresponding about this exact topic.


I�D BE LOST WITHOUT YOU!


When someone thinks of the German Shepherd Dog they think of this big handsome, noble breed of an animal. They expect that this is the ultimate family protection dog one that is easily trained and obedient. I�m assuming that they think that this dog is one of steady nerves and ever watchful of his environment. They probably think that there isn�t too much that this dog can�t do and do it very well! But do they really know this breed at all except for what they read about him or see on the evening news? What�s it really like living with one of the worlds most popular breeds of dogs?

Well yes of course this dog is all of the above and more. For although this dog is known for his �warrior� type of exterior, if people only knew that this is one of the biggest babies when it comes to their owners, they would be shocked. Many times if you walk down the street with your German Shepherd, you may find that some people step aside to let you pass. It�s the respect for this animal�s reputation that ensures his easy passage wherever he goes. Little do they know what this dog is like at home. Should we keep it our secret?

Just what is the German Shepherd like to live with? Well of course they all have their own different temperaments and dispositions. But on any given day this dog for all his bravado, is nothing but a pussy cat when it comes to his owners. Like people some are more affectionate than others, but all of them share the same need for their people�s approval! That�s why this breed makes such an excellent choice for his working and herding abilities. He loves to please. He loves what he�s doing because of the rewards he receives from his owner. I truly believe this dog�s purpose on earth is to please man. The German Shepherd has one of the biggest hearts. He gives his love freely to his owner but it is a very jealous and fiercely possessive love. If a song was ever penned for a breed, than I�m nominating two songs for him, �You�re the reason I�m living� and �Addicted to Love�. And the book I would nominate for him is �The Purpose Driven life.� There isn�t anything this breed won�t do for the love of his master.

The German Shepherd can be a monster of a dog if challenged by a person of a suspicious nature and intent. His beautiful face can be changed into �someone�s worst nightmare� if he suspects someone plans to do him or his master harm. He�s quick and he�s accurate in his pursuit of the one of �ill will.� I live alone but I sleep well with three German Shepherd bitches that don�t welcome the stranger knocking at my door.

So all right we know that our German Shepherd will lay down their life for us, but this dog is not snarling and barely his teeth every hour of the day. So what can one expect from living with this dog? Well again depending on his genetic makeup he can be a dog that lays down and minds his business content that all is well in his world or he can be one that is constantly on the move with an insatiable appetite to investigate every corner of his world. That said, I think that they are one of the most emotional of dogs. Granted I haven�t owned too many other breeds except for a couple of mixed breeds growing up. But I have friends and family that own other breeds.

The German Shepherd can be one of the most gentle of dogs with children and smaller animals. I�ve seen videos on the internet of our breed being �told off� by a much smaller and more aggressive dog. The German Shepherd takes it with his head down and those brown �cow like� eyes of his like if he�s saying �Are you done yet little fellow?� One bite and it would be all over. But if they love someone or something, they can take an awful lot. We have all lost our temper with our dogs at one time or another. Come on, you know you have. No matter how much you may love him, you have lost your temper with him at some time in his life. I know I have. Sometimes I may feel guilty for yelling at them and there are other times I don�t feel guilty about it at all.

Because this breed is so loyal, they can be stuck to your side twenty four hours a day if you let them. Because they are so intelligent, this makes them so very nosy. I�ve always said that I can�t live with a stupid dog. Well you know sometimes I regret saying that. This breed never misses anything, and their need to know what�s going on at all times never ends. You get up. They get up. You move. They move. You eat. They want to eat. You want to be left alone. They don�t want to leave you alone. You go into the bathroom. You have unwanted company. There�s no privacy when you own a German Shepherd Dog. From the lyrics of �You�re the reason I�m living���..�I�d be lost without you� certainly applies to this breed. That�s the German Shepherd all right! I should be so lucky to have a man with this much loyalty and affection��although I could do without him following me into the bathroom also!

Oh yeah and talk about the emotions of the German Shepherd Dog. Some of them talk to you by whining, moaning and groaning twenty four hours a day. Some of them bark at you when you correct them for being naughty. Oh I�m not talking about a vicious bark. I�m talking about an �answering you back� type of bark. If you yell at them or correct them, Oh my Lord, you would have thought you just crucified him! Head held down, tail between his legs, he retreats to his bed like a rejected child. He lays there with those eyes looking at you just waiting for you to look in his �sorrowful� direction. If you do, the tail starts to slowly �bang, bang, bang� on the floor, a whimper of �Don�t you feel sorry for me yet� escapes from his throat just waiting for your forgiveness. This all from the big, mean �Don�t even think of messing with me� German Shepherd Dog. Their world is crushed when met from disapproval from their masters. Addicted to love? They sure are!

I guess we wouldn�t have them any other way though because it�s all of what makes a German Shepherd a German Shepherd! Big, bold, loyal, noble, purpose driven and impressive is words that describe this breed very well. Love to please, needy, nosy, dependent and addicted are also words that describe him very well.


From the book: THE PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE:  WHAT ON EARTH AM I HERE FOR?.....You are about to embark on a journey of discovery. You are going to discover the answer to life's most fundamental question: 'What on earth am I here for?' And here's a clue to the answer: 'It's not about you ... You were created by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense. It is only in God that we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance, and our destiny. Every other path leads to a dead end.

My rating:  The German Shepherd Dog for all reasons:  (4), Living and loving this breed....second to none: (4)

IS ANYBODY KNOCKING ON YOUR DOOR?

So well known breeder calls me yesterday as the night before we got cut off in our conversation as one of her bitches started whelping a litter. We chatted about the new litter. I asked her about the older litter of two pups and her other litter by her Select Champion bitch bred to a top Select Champion male. She tells me that she sold the whole litter except for one she still has. �Oh I thought to myself, well that�s great.� I asked her what show homes some of her better ones went to. Her reply to me was, �What show homes? There all went in to pet homes!� �What do you mean you sold all of those pups into pet homes?� I questioned her. She said. �Barbara there is no show people knocking on my door to buy show puppies!� I�m thinking to myself, �How could this be with two superior parents?� Now this isn�t the first time that she has told me this. And she�s not alone. Another breeder friend tells me the same thing about her Select Bitches puppies. Her puppies sit and they sit with her until finally she�s left with several six month old puppies and she finds it harder to sell them now that they�ve lost their entire fluffy puppy coat.

So it got me to thinking, why are these breeders (or any breeders for that matter) spending literally thousands of dollars in preparation for a breeding when it really doesn�t matter anyway? If you don�t have the show homes for your show puppies to go into, why spend all that money on doing a breeding like this? Why not just breed to a local dog that�s a nice representative of the breed and save yourself money and the aggravation of looking for show homes for your puppies? If all of your puppies are going into pet homes anyway, then why not breed locally?

These breeders aren�t isolated cases. I hear this time and time again. People are not looking to buy show puppies. They�re not looking to pay more money for them. They are not looking to put the work into conditioning and showing them. They just want a loyal companion for their families. To compound and make matters worse, I read and hear that some breeders plan to stop showing all together.

Most breeders tell you that they breed for themselves. But ultimately most of their litters will go into pet homes. It�s just impossible to keep all of the good ones in any litter until they grow up. And who would want to anyway?

I would venture to say that famous stud dogs are being used less and less compared to just a few short years ago. Are breeders breeding any less? I don�t know. I believe the pet market will still be there for awhile, but I know that the show dog market is dwindling. There was a time when the better known breeders had their show puppies spoken for before they were even born. But even they are no longer hearing that familiar knock on their door.

I remember so many years ago in the German Shepherd Dog Review where people would take out two page ads on a new litter that they were advertising. I�ll never forget some breeder had pictures of all his top puppies from his litter displayed on those pages. I don�t remember who the litter was out of or who the breeder was, but let me tell you those puppies were breathtaking. I bet he had people knocking his doors down to buy one. I was a small breeder, but if I put an ad in the Review, I never had a problem selling my show quality puppies. Even if I owned now the same top quality bitch as I did then, I don�t think I�d have anyone lining up outside of my door. The times they have changed!

So it certainly isn�t the lack of well bred litters that are available. It�s the lack of interest in those well bred litters. It�s just the lack of interest PERIOD! I�m going to venture to say, it�s not just in the show dog community. I had someone recently say to me (non-show dog person), that he honestly could say that he knows very few happy people today. �How sad is that� I thought to myself. But you know what, when I stopped to think about it, he wasn�t too far off the mark. So this atmosphere of the doldrums doesn�t just exist in the show dog world community. It�s something in the air. I guess it would be selfish of us to ask people to �lighten up, buy yourself a show quality puppy when they can barely pay their mortgages. Spend your money from your already overly abused checking account to show her. Take out a loan to breed her. Can�t sell her puppies into show homes? �Sorry �ain�t� my problem.�

You know each generation always says that they�re glad that they lived in the times that they lived in. I don�t know if that will hold true for this generation or not. It�s yet to be seen. A friend and I were just talking about this last night. We both concluded that we lived in some of the best times in the show dog community��the 70�s and 80�s. The entries were huge. The crowds were thick with multi-generations of top breeders. The Review kept you entertained all month long until the next one made its appearance in your mail box. There was no internet, but we kept AT&T happy and wealthy calling coast to coast to our breeder friends. The dog show parties were abundant. A match show could be found most ever other week-end. Dog clubs were active. I loved the era that I came from in the dog show community.

So I don�t know how many of you reading this has people knocking your doors down to get one of your show quality puppies. I truly wonder how much longer they�ll be a market for those well bred show quality puppies. Will show puppies become a thing of the past? Will all puppies born go into pet homes? Will the champion stud dogs be left to wonder why he's not "entertaining the ladies" any longer?


My rating: The importance of breeding to a champion show dog: (1 - 4), Availability of show quality puppies: (4), Availability of show homes: (1 - 2)

EVERYONE'S GONE TO THE MOON

Yesterday�s blog about Specialty Clubs drew a lot of conversation on the different e-mails lists that I send this blog to everyday. One e-mail stood out in my mind. Someone wrote to me and said that she found this subject interesting as she contacted a specialty club in her area and she never heard from anyone. That�s very telling. Then someone called me this morning and asked me to continue this subject and perhaps talk about the lack of entries at shows. We touched upon some of the reasons that the clubs are falling that I wrote about yesterday. She agreed 100% with one writer that said that some of the fault lies with having access to the internet. We would have normally gone to a club to discuss certain things about the breed. However, with modern technology we no longer need to leave the comfort of our overstuffed furniture to get the answers to our questions about anything pertaining to our breed. You can �Google� anything and you�ll receive a gazillion answers. You can go on a German Shepherd Dog e-mail list and there�s a world of knowledgeable people willing to help you. We�ve become a lazy society. I jokingly said to my friend, �Heck why go to a dog show? We can have a virtual dog show right on our computer!�

So lets take this subject another step further as my friend requested. If the clubs fold up, so do the shows. The clubs are the ones that are responsible for putting on the shows. No club�..no show���hmmmmm, I wonder where that would leave the AKC? Would the AKC become just be a place to register dogs? They would no longer be anything called an AKC registered show.

So my friend brings up a very good point to me in our conversation about shows. She says to me, next time you go to a show take a look around you. What do you see? Who do you see at these shows? She answered her own question��she said most of the people that go to these shows are over 50 years old! She continued by saying it is very rare to see any young people. Very good observation, my friend! Where is the youth in our breed? Oh sure we have the junior handlers that love to show. But what percentage of these kids will actually be the breeders and ultimately the future of our breed? Have we seen the last of the likes of the Covy Tucker Hill or the Fran-Jo kennels? Are the days of the big show producing kennels a thing of the past? Who will the next great German Shepherd Dog book be written about? Will the author have to rely on the great dogs of the past to fill the pages of his up coming best seller? Will there be anyone left to even be interested enough to buy his book?

Serious show people still hunger for those major producing shows every week-end. Without them they can not finish their dog�s American championship. So they telephone their friends, they announce it over the e-mail lists asking for people to help make a major at these shows. Sometimes they�re successful in getting the right amount of entries by maybe one or two dogs, only to be sadly disappointed when those one or two dogs don�t show up making the show not able to hold the major points. Where does the fault lie? Again it goes back to the specialty clubs. If we want to have major pointed shows, we can�t depend on calling our friends or soliciting people on the e-mail lists for their entries. It might work for one or two shows, but ultimately it will fail. The only answer in my opinion is to strengthen relationships with your club members so another club doesn�t die a slow death.

Someone else wrote to me yesterday proudly telling me how well her club is doing. Perhaps someone from her club can tell others how they do it. Tell them how they attract new members and how they keep those that they have ensuring that they come back time and time again. Give the membership a reason to show up and I believe they will. If people are made to feel that they are important and that they count for something, I believe they will show their �pretty little faces� there each month. We can�t ask people to come out each month to an atmosphere filled with moans, groans, whines and complaints every time they walk through the door. We can�t ask people to come out only to be ignored when they get there. Give people a reason to come out and I believe that they will. Make them feel welcomed. Answer their questions. Mentor them. There is no better way to get to people than to make them feel like they are needed. It makes them feel good and when people feel good, then they�ll come back to the source that�s making them feel that way. Act like you don�t appreciate them. Act like your can�t be bothered with them because you�re better than they are because you�ve been around forever. Then watch the walls come crumbling down and say good bye to the once great club that you helped build.

The new generation needs the older generation to help show them the way and to pave out a future to ensure that our beloved German Shepherd Dog is properly presented to the general public. The only way we can do this is by educating them. There is no better teacher to the �newbie� than the seasoned experts of the breed to help lead the way. If we truly love this breed, each and every one of us owes it to the �best dog on the planet� to ensure that the next generation gets it right! It�s not fair to die with so much knowledge inside us without sharing it with the next generation. You may not get your name in the history books, but what you leave behind ensures that the German Shepherd Dog is properly taken care of and his legacy for generations lives on. The breed will love you for it!

No longer is it true���Give them a show� and they�ll come! I believe if we don�t start making showing dogs a fun and positive experience we will eventually see (like my friend suggested) only the geriatrics of the breed showing up. Then we can all sit around and complain about our arthritis, aches and pains without the worry of those pesky �youngins� (newbies) snickering and giggling at us.

Then one day, there are no more shows. The geriatrics no longer shows up because �Everyone�s gone to the moon!�


From the book: "FRIENDS TO THE END: THE TRUE VALUE OF FRIENDSHIP".....Friends and life. Life and friends. The two are so tightly interwoven it's impossible to imagine one being remotely worthwhile without the other. As Bradley Trevor Greive points out, "there are very few truly solitary creatures on this planet. And most of them have serious personal hygiene issues." What makes friends so special? What does our choice of friends say about us? What sparks the best friendships and keeps them burning? In Friends To The End: The True Value of Friendship, BTG uses hit trademark witty narrative illustrated with irresistible animal photos to explore the daily magic we experience through our friends. Best described as a cross between his famously successful Dear Mom and The Blue Day Book, Friends to the End examines themes such as why we can't live without friends, how great friendships grow from humble beginnings, how to identify different types of friendship, what to do when good friends turn bad, and why it's all so worthwhile. "When I think back to all the really great or the horrendously bad times in my life," says BTG, "I can't help but think about how my friends made the former all the more enjoyable and the latter at least survivable. I want this book to help people appreciate friendship for all it is and all it can be." Friends to the End promises to have the same cultural impact achieved by his previous books. His modern classics The Blue Day Book and Dear Mom have been New York Times best-sellers and made the author a household name in more than 35 countries. BTG's seven previous volumes have sold more than eight million copies worldwide.


My rating: The importance of dog clubs: (4), The importance of mentoring: (4), The importance of friendships: (4)

NOBODY SHOWED UP!

I must have started in the breed when it was a gentler, kinder time. I got my first AKC registered German Shepherd back in 1972. In a couple of years I bought my very first show dog. I subscribed to the Review and started placing ads in it. It was one of my favorite things about belonging to the German Shepherd Dog Club of America. Lots of ads of beautiful dogs, lots of informative articles, just lots and lots of everything. I guess you could call those times, �times of abundance.� Although I do remember a gas shortage and waiting in lines for a limited amount of fuel for my car. But otherwise, things were good and I went to lots of shows and showed at plenty of puppy matches. I belonged to two specialty clubs and was the newsletter editor for both of them.

Clubs were always a place to socialize with your friends and catch up on the latest �gossip� in the German Shepherd Dog world. Members brought their puppies out to socialize them. Many brought their adult dogs as well. There were interesting educational programs with some great guest speakers. Someone would bring the coffeepot each month and someone else made sure Dunkin Donuts made their umpteenth million sales for the day. We�d pour ourselves a cup of coffee, grab ourselves a donut and sit down with our friends and brag about our newest litter. Oh we�d do those things that were necessary to running a club as well. We�d talk about the �health� of the treasury, the voting of judges for our spring specialty show and where we were going to hold our Christmas party. This was what going to a specialty club meeting every month was all about. We got things done but at the same time we were having fun doing it.

Just what is a specialty club anyway? A specialty club is for one breed of dog and the people that own and love them. They put on AKC specialty shows and matches. The club is there to promote the welfare of the German Shepherd Dog. Its doors are open to all that love the breed. There is nothing nicer than when a young couple joins their local specialty club. Ever watch how they come through the doors at their first meeting? Some of them are a little shy and hesitant at first. They may feel a little uncomfortable not wanting to stand out as the novice person in the group. As the months go by, that shyness is substituted for active, eager members of the group.

The problems begin to arise when the same people do all the work to make the club function and to make money to keep the club strong. Time and time again, I learn about one specialty club after another folding. Why is that we may ask? It could be for any number of reasons. Many point a finger at the economy. Others say that no one shows up at the meetings anymore. Then there are others that say the club�s meetings have become boring. Then there are those others that say there just was no �welcome� feeling when they walked through the doors of the club. People were ignored. Newbie�s were alienated. Not many were friendly or approachable. No one wanted to work and help the club grow. Who wants to give up their personal time to walk into an atmosphere like that?

Then there are those who had other reasons to complain. Like two of my friends that belong to specialty clubs on either side of the United States. Both complained to me about the very same thing and they don�t even know one another. Both are successful breeders. Both own show winning champions, one owning Select champions and the other owning Group winning champions. Well you would think that they have lots to be grateful for and lots to brag about. Sure they�re both grateful, but their brags fell on deaf ears I�m told.

Picture if you will, your boy just took a Select at this years National Specialty show. You�re elated as you should be. A couple of weeks later you go to your clubs meeting. Not one person acknowledges your dogs win. Not one person comes over to congratulate and shake your hand. The president of the club before starting the business for that night doesn�t even make a special announcement about a member of their club doing so well. Yup, this member really wants to come back and do it all over again next month.

I don�t know about the club that you belong to, but I know when our clubs did a newsletter and a member�s dog did some winning, their brags would be on those pages. They would be congratulated in that newsletter. They would be recognized at the club meetings. At the annual Christmas dinner, we gave out awards to the workers of the club and to the top breeders. This was just the way it was��members extending good will and cheer to their fellow members. How much is this done anymore? When you expect people to give up their free time to come out to a meeting on a Tuesday night and volunteer for committees only to be met with a sour face, and a grunt for a greeting, you might have your answer to part of the reason that some clubs are falling.

Clubs are made up totally of volunteers. They are the backbone of any club. Without them, there is no club. I don�t know maybe it�s the overall attitude in the world today. Many people just don�t feel too cheerful. Going to clubs should be a fun thing even if you are volunteering your time to work for the club. You�re around friends. You�re discussing dogs. Life should be better than it is. I�m not out to change the world. I don�t have any magic wand that�s going to make people happier and friendlier with one another. So you go to the club with good intentions and you come home wishing you didn�t give up another one of your nights when you could have been home helping little Johnny with his school work. You vowed to yourself that you�re not going back again. Come next month, you find yourself making that one and a half hour trip all over again. Why? Because you love the breed. You want to be involved in everything about it that you can. Yes, you give a damn. But even your best intentions can�t hold up a whole club that is heavily burdened with lack of participation and lack of finances.

Little Johnny is going to get a lot better grades now. Mommy will be home one more night a month to insure that he does. And as for the German Shepherd Dog breed? Perhaps we�ll have to find another way to promote it. The breed hasn�t lost its popularity. It always will remain the noble breed it was meant to be. Perhaps it�s us that have stumbled a little bit. But because most of us have the same courage as the breed we love, I�m convinced that we won�t stay down for very long.

The club's meeting will be next Tuesday. What happens if nobody shows up?

COAT CONDITIONERS - DO THEY REALLY WORK?

A few days ago on one of the lists that I belong to people were talking about coat conditioners. Some like one product while others preferred another product. Like in anything in life, some products may work for some of us and another product works for the rest of us. Manufactures will pay advertising companies millions of dollars to come up with the right adjectives to entice the consumer to buy their products. When it comes to show dog people, the majority of those products are bought by us. Buy this shampoo, use this coat conditioner, spray this product, and add this supplement to your dog�s food. You too will have a dog that walks into the show ring ready to blow the competition away. But do they really work? Well yes and no.

Last year I did an article right here on this blog about some coat conditioning products. I tried to review some of the more popular products that show dog people use and like. They must all work to some of your satisfaction or you wouldn�t be buying them. But I�m here to say that there is no �Miracle in a bottle!� Why do people buy these products? Well they�re looking for their dogs to have a healthy, shiny coat and then there are some that are hoping that it will give their dog a longer, plusher coat.

Before any coat conditioning product can do anything at all for your dog, your dog needs to be healthy inside. He needs to be fed a good quality food. He needs to be free from worms and other diseases. What�s going on inside your dog will show up on the outside as well.

One of the most important factors in what a dogs coat will look like is his genetics. It always amazes me when people look to buy a product that will change the length of their dogs coat or give their dog a plush coat rather than a shorter, drier type of coat. It �ain�t� going to happen.

Most people know that I sell Vibrant Pets Ultimate Formula supplements. Although it has flaxseed and omegas listed in its ingredients to help enhance the condition of your dog�s skin and coat, I never sell this product as a coat conditioner. Rather I sell it as a HEALTH conditioner. My feelings are, healthy insides makes for a healthy outside (skin and coat). That said one time a large kennel bought this product from me because her dogs all were hard, dry type of animals. She expected by using this product that she would get lush, plush coated animals. This didn�t happen. Neither I nor anyone else could ever make that statement about a product. Why is that? Because if it isn�t in the genetics of your dog to have a longer, plusher coat, then all the top products in the world is not going to give it to them.

Genetics is what determines the length and pushiness of a dog�s coat. Not a supplement or a spray or shampoo. What a top product can do is give your dog a healthier, shinier, fuller looking coat. And some of the shampoos and conditioners can even �fatten� the hair shaft of the dogs coat to make it look fuller. What these good products do is ENHANCE what �mother nature� gave to him. How a groomer grooms a dog can also make the dog appear to have a fuller coat. But if it isn�t in the dogs genetics to be plush, then he never will be.

I was a licensed skin care specialist (esthetician) for many years. I�ve sold some of the most expensive skin care on the market. Did it mean that the $100 jar of cream was going to be better than the $20 jar of cream? Well like in anything else in life, something being more expensive isn�t necessarily better. Ingredients are the key factor to look for in a product. Some products will definitely do more for you than another product will. That said, not everyone that buys an expensive product will go from an overly oily complexion to a soft, dewy complexion. Products can help correct some things, but it won�t change what a person has a predisposition for. The same things are true for dog coat products. If products could change our hair and skin, then Prince William who is a very nice looking young man in my opinion would be able to afford to buy the best hair conditioners on the market. He like his father before him is losing his hair and probably will have a bald spot on his head like his father as well. It�s in his genetics.

What I�m trying to say is that don�t expect to get a longer coat on your dog by using a product. The only way that you will get the kind of coat that you want it be is by breeding to it and incorporating it in your bloodlines. Oh sure some of the better products will make your dogs coat look beautiful, healthy and shiny too. But looking to add length or add a plush coat��then breed to it. If they ever make a product that guarantees these attributes, then I want it for my hard, dry bitches and I want to sell it!

My rating:  Vibrant Pets Supplement:  (4), good quality coat conditioners and shampoos: (4)

LOTS OF TALENT IN THE GERMAN SHEPHERD DOGS WORLD!

Wow it�s already the Fourth of July week-end! I hope you all have some wonderful plans with your family and friends. I�m sure there will be lots of cook-outs, parties, and just good old �hanging out� type of fun. I�m sure some of your dogs look forward to these events with all the special foods that they can grub off of your guests. Have fun and be safe on the roads everyone.

Besides all the wonderful breeders we have in the German Shepherd Dog community, we also have so many different talented people. Most of us don�t even know of some of the talents of the people that we meet. I get to meet lots of people because of my writings. People introduce themselves to me all the time through their e-mails. I love it because I get to discover there�s a lot more to some people than just showing dogs.

I got to meet one of these people that I�ve done a couple of articles already about her writings here on this blog. Her name is Kathy Sater-Partch. Now I already knew that she was a great writer with her wonderful stories that she has so generously shared with us, but I didn�t know the wonderful artwork that she does. I didn�t know that she was the lady that did the drawings (cartoons) of the German Shepherd �Sedona� that has been in the German Shepherd Dog Review many times. Well when she sent me some of her work, I just knew that I wanted to share it with my readers. Multi-talented��that she is!

By the way, if any of you would like to share a story with us about anything pertaining to our wonderful breed, I�d be happy to look at it. You could be a writer, artist, photographer, metal worker��as long as it�s associated with the German Shepherd Dog. Please get in touch with me. Perhaps I can display your story in one of my articles here on this blog. Now onto Kathy and her fantastic �toons� as she calls them. This is what she wrote to me about herself.

I am a retired professional percussionist of twenty six years. I have been an animal photographer and fine artist for forty-eight years. I am totally self-taught in the arts. My mother, Muriel Sater is an artist, my brothers, as well as my mother�s only sibling, Lois Chruthers and two of her four children. So I believe it�s in the genes.

I have won numerous dog photograph competitions and been honored for my fine art.

I have done numerous commissioned pieces. And of course art for family and friends. I have also done commissioned advertising signs with custom lettering.

I do realistic fine art. My favorite mediums are oil, pencil and ink. My cartoons are the humorous side of me. They were created in 1989 after my late white German Shepherd girl, UKC JoKay's Sedona, CD, CGC, OFA (see the above picture). I was asked long ago if I would do a German Shepherd Dog cartoon for a newsletter. I said, �I don�t do cartoon�s but I�ll think of something.� That�s how it all started. As I created the cartoon�s I kept adding more detail. My sister-in-law, Lynne Sater suggested I should start calling the drawings Art-toon�s because of all of the work I put into them.

Sedona was always such a funny girl. Just living every day life with her had given me most of my ideas. Almost every Sedona design is created from a photograph I had taken of her. I have hundreds of her poses yet to be used. Then I eventually added the funny dark sable guy, Otto with Sedona. Otto and Sedona are always teasing each other.

Please note that the words are not large enough for you to see of the dog and the grave stone.  So this is what it says:  "HATEFUL HARVEY.....Known as the best dog catcher in the county"

I do all of my Art-toon's in full color now. Each original design is 8.5" X 11.5" done in colored pencil, and black ink. Otherwise the most of them were done in black colored pencil and black ink. They have been published internationally. I have made many T-Shirts with the Art-toon�s on them. And now greeting cards will be available as other items.

My main goal in life is my German Shepherd Dogs, family, friends, music and my art. Without those things there wouldn�t be much to look forward to. I hope Sedona and Otto will bring a smile to your face.

Kathy Sater-Partch

Thank you Kathy for sharing your talent with us. Your love for the breed shines through in all of your work. You can take a look at Kathy�s wonderful work on her website at:   www.JoKaySedona.com

So this just about wraps up another week here on the blog. I can�t believe that this month marks the one year anniversary of me putting this blog together.

PUT ME IN COACH

PUT ME IN COACH
By
Barbara J. Galasso


The hallways are alive with activity as the doctors and nurses rush to do their duties. People come and go to pay their respects to the ill. Announcements are made over the intercom calling Dr. James to come to the third floor. Patients are pushed in wheel chairs to their next CAT scan appointment. And so the day goes on as all the days before at the North side City Hospital.

The sun tries to sneak its head through the cloudy grey morning sky with little success. The quiet peace of morning is interrupted by the shrieking sounds of the ambulance rushing down the street heading to the back entrance that leads to the emergency room. People who live in this neighborhood are all too familiar with this unnerving sound of doom as they peek out their windows more from habit than curiosity. They've seen enough to satisfy their curiosity in the past, but today they bring a young boy in.

"Doctor, our son, how is our son?" the father anxiously asks as his wife clings to him for support. The doctor looks tired as he comes out of the operating room. "Well the good news is that your son made it through the operation just fine", he tells the anxious but relieved parents. The mother almost collapses from exhaustion. "Yes, do sit down", the doctor tells them. You've been through a great deal of stress. It seems when your son, was hit by that car on his way to football practice, it threw him and he landed on his back. He has extensive damage to his vertebrae, severed nerves in his legs, a broken collar bone and a dislocated hip.� The mother lets out a gasp and begins to cry.

"What's the prognosis, Dr. James?� the father asks. "Well I'll tell you Mr. & Mrs. Baxter, Johnny's not going to be able to play football for a very long time, if at all. He's going to need extensive physical therapy." "Oh no, Mr. Baxter says. Football is his life." Mrs. Baxter breathes a sigh of relief just happy that her son is alive.

The first few days pass and Johnny is heavily sedated because of the pain he sustained from the accident. When he wakes, it's decided that the father will be the one to tell him about the seriousness of his injuries. The mother sits quietly by his bedside as the doctor stands in the far corner of the room over by the window. Dr. James is rather thankful for the noise that the radiator is making today as it drowns out some of the words that are spoken between father and son. But it's not nearly loud enough when the father tells his son, "Johnny, you may never be able to play football again." A loud hysterical shriek can be heard coming from Room 56. Dr. James then decides he needs to step in. He tells Johnny there is a 50/50 change he can resume his life with physical therapy. "And what are my chances of every playing football again?" he cries. "That my son, I can't guarantee you.� Johnny yells at all of them to get out of his room and leave him alone. He decides to suffer his grief by himself as only a 16 year old boy can do. He sobs aloud, and even with his door shut, his broken heart is shared by those who walk past his room.

For the next few days, Johnny refuses all food and is forced to be fed by IV again. He pulls the needle out from his already very black and blue hand. The nurses keep reporting his uncooperative behavior to the doctor. The doctor sends a physical therapist in by the name of Mr. Hardy to talk to him. He tells him that in another two weeks, they will begin their work. "What's the use? Johnny screams. I'm a cripple". Don't play with me Doc. You know I don't stand a chance in hell. He rips off his blankets and says, Just look at these legs. Where the hell do you think I'm going with these?" Mr. Hardy tries to reassure the boy that it's his attitude that needs fixing and not his legs. "You want to get well he asks him. Then change your attitude. I'm not here to tell you son that you're ever going to play football again, but if you have a defeatist attitude, that's exactly where you will remain.....defeated!"

The next day as Johnny lays staring at the TV screen, a small knock is heard tapping at his door. "Might as well come in, he shouts out. Everyone else does." The door is pushed open and a young girl Johnny's age comes in led by a big German Shepherd Dog carrying a magazine in his mouth. "Hey, he screams. What's that dog doing in my room, and who are you?� he demands. "Hi Johnny, my name is Cindy and this here is Spike," she tells him. He's a therapy dog and he just loves to pay visits to see all the people in the hospital," she tells him.

Spike with his tail wagging and a glisten in his eye, goes over to the bed where Johnny is watching him with a scroll on his face. The dog gently places the magazine on the bed and looks Johnny straight in the face and lets out a friendly bark. "Get that beast out of here, he sarcastically tells her. I don't need a flea bitten dog in my room. Can't you see I have enough problems already? Now take him and yourself and get out of here."

As the last sentence comes out of his mouth, the physical therapist comes back into the room. "Remember what I told you about your attitude son? he reminds him. "It's all in your head, it's all in your head, and he repeats himself. You want to get better? Then change those thoughts in your head. This dog will be part of your rehabilitation. He will be helping you to walk again. That's if you decide that you want to walk again. Or you can lay there and feel sorry for yourself and never walk again. It's your choose. 50/50 chance? How about putting the odds in your favor son?" With that, Spike comes over and nudges Johnny's hand looking for a pat on the head. Johnny's first inclination is to pull his hand away, but he catches the eye of Mr. Hardy, and thinks better of it, and begrudgingly pats the dog on the head instead.

The next day a wheel chair delivers Johnny to the physical therapy room. Mr. Hardy is waiting for him. "Good morning Johnny he says to him. Glad to have you with us today. Let me tell you son, this is going to be tedious, repetitious, and painful work, day in and day out. There will be only one day of rest in between and that will be Sunday, and that's the day you�ll pray for relief from me. I'm here to drive you and to push you, and I push hard," he tells the boy. I want you to think of me as your coach just like you had a coach for your football workouts. Well this is going to be your physical therapy workouts." Johnny interrupts him. "Where's that big dog Spike fit into all of this?" he asks him. He tells him, "He's going to be your legs, your brain, and your direction. He will wear a harness that you will hold onto and he will lead you until we feel that you're strong enough to stand and walk on your own. We already know you're up for the challenge because you showed up here today for your first try out. Football practice is in session son. So let�s get to work shall we?"

The days and weeks pass by slowly with set backs and failures. Johnny gets more and more discouraged. But Mr. Hardy pushes him even harder. They put him in the water therapy tank and then take him out and massage his legs. They stand him up and have him hold onto the walking bars on the side of the mat. "Come on boy, move those legs," Mr. Hardy shouts out to him. His legs never budge.

Mr. & Mrs. Baxter feel Mr. Hardy is driving their son too hard and complain about it to Dr. James. Dr. James has a talk with him about it. Mr. Hardy tells him, "Sir, this boy's got a physical problem. We all know that. But I need to re-train his thinking again. I must get him out of this "I can't do it anymore attitude.� I know what I'm doing here sir." Dr. James say's �All right Mr. Hardy. I trust you. You're the best in the business. If this boy is to walk again, you're the man for the job." Mr. Hardy corrects him and says, "Sorry to disagree with you Dr. James, I won't be the reason Johnny walks again. It's all up to him. It's in his hands. He has to have the will to want to walk again. I can only give him the tools to do it with."

One day Spike is lying on the floor when Johnny comes in for his physical therapy session. Something is different today. Normally soothing, relaxing music is playing. Today is different. Today Johnny hears an old rock and roll song blaring over the speakers. It's music from his parent's generation but he recognizes it because it used to play in the locker rooms before a football game. He hears the familiar pulsating beat of �CCR� singing but for some reason, he can't quite remember the words today. Spike decides to get up from his resting place and goes and pushes the boy in the behind. "Hey, watch it before you make me fall,� he yells at the dog. Mr. Hardy watches silently from a distance. Spike nudges him again and this time, takes a little nip at him. "What's the matter with this crazy dog, Mr. Hardy?" He asks him. Mr. Hardy just shrugs his shoulders as if to say, "I don't know." Spike goes behind a chair and Johnny sees he's picking something up and when he turns around, he sees he has a football in his mouth. "Hey, be careful with that, or you'll puncture it with your big teeth,� Johnny says angrily.

Spike drops the ball about two feet in front of Johnny and starts to bark at him. Then the dog goes to the boy and starts to pull on his pajamas. "Hey, Mr. Hardy this dumb dog is going to make me fall," he protests again. Mr. Hardy says, "Looks to me like he wants you to play with him," he says and continues to do his paper work. Spike barks at Johnny again and pulls at his pajamas even harder this time. "If I could only get my hands on you," Johnny says. He can feel his face flush with anger. Spike picks up the ball again and stands there looking Johnny straight in the face with that never ending wag of a tail of his challenging him to try to take the ball from him.

Johnny tries with all his might and feels himself start to fall. Naturally his physical therapy aides are there with him through this whole ordeal. He shrugs off their help, and he concentrates with all his might as the dog continues to stare at him with that confounded football in his mouth. Johnny is mumbling something to himself now. Again he tries to move his legs. The aides are watching as they witness a small half of an inch movement of his legs pushing him forward. They look over to Mr. Hardy, and he stops them from saying anything by raising is hand in the air and the other he brings to his lips indicating for them not to say a word. Johnny pays no attention to them as he focuses on Spike with the ball in his mouth. Another half inch he propels his body forward. And then another half inch. And then another. He is now one foot away from the dog. The dog picks the ball up, walks over to him and drops the ball at his feet. As Johnny starts to collapse, his aides catch him. With that he turns to look at Mr. Hardy who gives him a wink and a �high five� as he hears the final lyric to the song he was trying to identify earlier..............."Put me in coach, I'm ready to play........today.�


From the book: "WHEN LIFE IS HARD"....When life is hard, you know, really hard, we often spend all our time pleading, begging, yelling, refusing, and questioning. While none of these things are necessarily unusual, they are missing the ultimate point. When life is hard, when things get ugly, when all hope seems to be lost� that is when we are able to display the superiority of the life lived in God. It is in those moments of despair, when we question what is happening, when we don�t know what to do, when some trials never�seem�to�end, that we can lean most heavily into God�s promises and truths. Working his way through five questions we've all had run through our heads trusted pastor James MacDonald helps us to understand what we should do now. We begin the journey by looking at different types of "trials" and figuring out exactly what we're dealing with and recognizing that God certainly knows. Second, the obvious question: "Why?" God sees us going through trials and we long for two things: for them to be over and to know why they happened in the first place. Next, we need to know what to do with these trials when they come (and they will most certainly come). Fourth, we have all wondered it, can trials be refused? Are God's purposes really being fulfilled in the midst of this trying time? And lastly, God reveals Himself to us through these trials. . . and sometimes, they just don't ever end. Why doesn't this trial go away? God refines us. Often in so many ways that we can't even see. Should we just try to weather the storm? Or is there something greater in God's vision for these difficulties? God told us to expect trials�don�t be surprised when they come (they are on purpose). Grow when they come. Find hope when they come.


My rating: German Shepherd Dogs as therapy dogs: (4)