Fearsome shepherd

This is Jasper. (He looks a lot like Brody that I have currently.) He came from someone over in the Valley. The volunteers who first met and evaluated this dog weren't too sure about him and said they weren't comfortable placing him with any foster home other than me. When Jasper arrived I immediately understood why.

He was basically insecure and fearful, but Jasper had developed a coping mechanism that worked well for him. He has the biggest, most fearsome bark I have ever heard on a German Shepherd. The bark rivals that of a rottweiler in force and volume, and it has an edge to it that makes you think twice before approaching the dog. When Jasper was scared of something, he would bark at it, and more often than not, it would go away. The bark is used as the first line of defense by most dogs, but Jasper had raised it to the level of a fine art.

I'm not generally scared of shepherds. The old saying "he's more scared of you than you are of him" applies here. In most cases, if you don't show fear and tell them to stop being stupid, you can do whatever you want. Jasper, however, had my respect. We co-existed for a week or two, with me coming into his kennel to clean and feed a couple times a day, but otherwise leaving him alone. Eventually he came to trust me and I could handle him, but I knew that this was not a dog that could be placed with just anyone.

But Cheryl is not just anyone. She's an experienced dog trainer and behavioralist (I took one of her classes), and more importantly, she knows shepherds. She hadn't owned a shepherd in a while and she had a house full of obstacles--including cats, a poodle, and a lot of human and canine visitors. But, I knew that if anyone could handle this dog and overcome his behavioral problems, it was Cheryl.

One big obstacle (her husband's reluctance to take on another dog) had disappeared when a robbery occurred in the store where Cheryl had been working. He heard Jasper's big bark and liked him right away.

Over a year and a half later, Jasper remains a work in progress and probably always will be. But he now barks on command, he has much more confidence and less fear, and mostly he has learned to trust and take direction from his handler. This is one of 3 or 4 placements that I'm most proud of, because the dog and adopter had such perfectly complementary abilities and needs. Oh, there have been no more robberies.

This picture just arrived today. He's now poodle-safe too!