STAY - Allie Larkin's First Novel

This is a press release about a novel "STAY", written by Allie Larkin, one of my dog lover friends who lives in Rochester, New York, with her husband, Jeremy. The novel features two German Shepherds, ARGO and STELLA, and a three-legged cat. You can find the pic of majestic ARGO in the cover of STAY itself. This book is a must-have collection in the library of all GSD lovers. The novel delineates the life of a young woman whose friendship with lovely black German Shepherd helps her recover from a broken heart. Using her own camera, Allie snapped a few shots of her beautiful dog, ARGO, and as soon as we saw his trusting eyes, we realized that ARGO was our star.

I wish all the very best to my friend Allie for her first novel STAY that has been published June, 2010.

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“Smart and with emotional depth, this is a cut above the romantic comedies that flood the market every summer.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Larkin debuts with a funny and touching story about love, loss, and dog ownership.” —Publishers Weekly

STAY - a novel
By Allie Larkin

Your browser may not support display of this image. There are many ways to get over heartbreak—Ben & Jerry’s and marathon episodes of reality TV are common survival tools—but buying a hundred-pound dog over the Internet surely isn’t one of them. In her debut novel STAY (On sale: June 10, 2010), Allie Larkin proves that sometimes life needs to get more complicated before it can get better.

Savannah “Van” Leone has been in love with Peter Clarke ever since she literally fell head over heels in front of him on the first day of class. Now, six years later, instead of standing across from him at the altar, she’s standing behind her best friend Janie, as Maid of Honor, trying to mask her heartache and guilt as Janie marries the man of Van’s dreams. Before her mother passed away from cancer, she told Van never to let Peter go, but as Van watches the couple exchange vows, she knows that her fairy tale ending was never meant to be. After the wedding, Van drowns her sorrows in Kool-Aid–vodka cocktails and reruns of Rin Tin Tin and does what to many seems absurd: She buys a German Shepherd over the Internet.

Together, Van and her new companion, Joe—a clumsy, slobbering hundred-pound beast that only responds to commands in Slovak—begin to mend the pieces of her shattered heart and get her life back on track. And it doesn’t hurt that Joe’s vet is a rugged sweetheart with floppy blond hair and a winning smile, who brings soup when she’s sick and always holds the door open for her. But, when Peter gets back from his honeymoon, Van is forced to come to terms with her new and old feelings in a decision that affects all the people she’s ever loved.

Warm and witty, poignant and laugh-out-loud funny, STAY is a big-hearted, unforgettable debut about friendship, love, and a German Shepherd named Joe.

# # #


About the Author:

Allie Larkin lives in Rochester, New York, with her husband, Jeremy, their two German Shepherds, Argo (featured on the cover of STAY) and Stella, and a three-legged cat. She is the cofounder of TheGreenists.com, a site dedicated to helping readers take simple steps toward going green. STAY is her first novel.

STAY
By Allie Larkin
Dutton

* $25.95 * ISBN: 978-0-525-95171-1

www.allielarkinwrites.com

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DFS Crufts 2010 Breed and Class Results For German Shepherd Dogs - Pastoral Group

Friends....The Cruft Dog Show is on! The world's most prestigious dog show the most visited one that witnesses lacs of spectators and thousands of contestants is the Cruft Dog show. The Cruft Show 2010 is the 120th annual event which started on Thursday, March 11 and will be on till Sunday, March 14. The first day of the Cruft Dog Show was the for working and pastoral breeds. Held at the Birmingham National Exhibition Centre, UK, the Cruft Dog Show 2010 is featuring 180 dog breeds composed of 28,000 distinctive specimens. Here are the results of Breed and Class for the German Shepherd Dog (Pastoral group), judged by Mr. R W Kinsey. Check out the results below...

Breed Results

• BEST OF BREED

CLOKELLYS LAGOS (Dog)
Owner: MRS C KEEN

• BEST PUPPY

VENEZE ERIK (Dog)
Owner: MR & MRS J & P CULLEN

• DOG CHALLENGE CERTIFICATE

CLOKELLYS LAGOS (Dog)
Owner: MRS C KEEN

• BITCH CHALLENGE CERTIFICATE

HAZROH QUAXIE (Bitch)
Owner: MS D, MR R B, MRS JJ & MISS HJ NELSON, WATSON & DO

• RESERVE DOG CHALLENGE CERTIFICATE

CH OLGAYANS HOTEI (Dog)
Owner: MR B E & MRS O BARLOW

• RESERVE BITCH CHALLENGE CERTIFICATE

CH MASCANI ODESSA (Bitch) Owner: MS M LAKIN

Class Results

Veteran - Dog
Entries: 4 Abs: 0

• 1st - CH MIRRWOOD SCHIFO AT REYANHEATH (MR & MRS REYNOLDS)
• 2nd - JOTANN ADONIS (MR L & MRS J ASKHAM)
• 3rd - MARLISH CADEAU CDEX (MRS R PRICE)
• Res - AMAZING WARRIOR OF ASTRADINE (MRS A G SHAW)

Special Puppy - Dog
Entries: 5 Abs: 0

• 1st - VENEZE ERIK (MR & MRS J & P CULLEN)
• 2nd - SILKENWOOD MIKAEL (MRS H A & MISS S Y BIBBY & GUNNER)
• 3rd - SUZDANS ERASURE BLUE (MR A J & MRS S P FORMAN)
• Res - ANCHAZ BRAX (MRS M HUMBERSTON)
• VHC - CHALKSVILLE SPIRIT CATCHER (MR S P THOMAS)

Special Junior - Dog
Entries: 10 Abs: 2

• 1st - MASCANI IKON (MRS S HUTCHINSON)
• 2nd - SILVERLEIGH VERMER (MR R & MRS M DAVIES)
• 3rd - KIPLYN ATLAS (MESDAMES & MR J MCCOWLIFF, EASTWOOD, REILLEY & HAY)
• Res - CHALKSVILLE DARK LORD AT PADAWAN (MR G P HAINE)
• VHC - ZAKASIA FENNOR (MISS D & MR R SLADE & BALL)

Yearling - Dog
Entries: 15 Abs: 0

• 1st - CLYNALWIN'S GIOVANNI (MISS C DENNETT)
• 2nd - IOLANDA QUIDO (MRS I JERMEY)
• 3rd - RAZERALICH BLAZE (MRS M MCCOUBREY)
• Res - PARHILEON VOM ICE (MISS D S FINNIGAN)
• VHC - LORLEACH LEON (MRS ALLERTON)

Post Graduate - Dog
Entries: 20 Abs: 2

• 1st - IOLANDA INZZAGHI IROK (MRS E SCOTT)
• 2nd - SHERNAA VODKA (MR & MISS PRINCE & AYLING)
• 3rd - NIKONIS ARTHUR (MRS R I & MR M J ANDREWS & REES)
• Res - AIEKO FROM PETERWELL (J, C, G K & L ADAMSON, JACKSON & MUNKLEY)
• VHC - TIRGRAM TIM VOM HAUS DEXEL (MRS M DAVIES)

Limit - Dog
Entries: 12 Abs: 0

• 1st - ROBUNAS VARGAS (MR R MCPHEE)
• 2nd - ROMAINVILLE MONTEIRO (MRS K GEORGE)
• 3rd - IOLANDA BUGATTI AT SAROCAL (MRS T, MRS I & MISS S JERNEY & SMITH)
• Res - FAYRELANDER WALTZ IN NELLINKA (MR M & MR C & MRS K PUCKNELL & AUSTEN)
• VHC - BLACKTORS BULAN AT PENNYBECK (MR & MRS G S JONES)

Open - Dog
Entries: 15 Abs: 4

• 1st - CLOKELLYS LAGOS (MRS C KEEN)
• 2nd - CH OLGAYANS HOTEI (MR B E & MRS O BARLOW)
• 3rd - BALKO VOM GLEISENAUER SCHLOSS (MRS T J HILL)
• Res - VENEZE CONNER (MR & MRS J & P CULLEN)
• VHC - CH NIKONIS COLIN (MRS N G FARLEY)

Working Trial - Dog
Entries: 1 Abs: 0

1st - JAKE AT JOTUNHEIM SCHH3 CDEX UDEX WDEX (MRS A E TOHME)

Good Citizen Dog Scheme - Dog
Entries: 15 Abs: 0

• 1st - IOLANDA BUGATTI AT SAROCAL (MRS T, MRS I & MISS S JERNEY & SMITH)
• 2nd - CLYNALWIN'S GIOVANNI (MISS C DENNETT)
• 3rd - IOLANDA MASERATI (MRS T, MRS I & MISS S JERNEY & SMITH)
• Res - FOURANFASS LE DAUPHIN (MR P G & MRS H C H CORKIN)
• VHC - TRACELYN RUSSELL WATSON (MS M J CRISPIN)

Veteran - Bitch
Entries: 12 Abs: 4

• 1st - DELNAT RUMOURS (MRS E LOWE)
• 2nd - MILLJOHN WHO'S THAT GIRL AT JOTANN (MRS J WILLIAMS)
• 3rd - STARKSTROM ISOLETTA (MRS P J EDGINGTON)
• Res - RHEINMEISTER CHI-KI-MI (MR E W & MRS C A SPELMAN)
• VHC - MILLJOHN BEWITCHED (MRS J S JEFFORD)

Special Puppy - Bitch
Entries: 4 Abs: 2

• 1st - CHALKSVILLE SPIRIT OF KINTARO (MR T& MRS S MULLARD & BARNES)
• 2nd - ANCHAZ BARETTA (MRS A & MR M WALDEN)

Special Junior - Bitch
Entries: 12 Abs: 1

• 1st - DRAYCORE CHILLI (MR R & MRS J KIRBY)
• 2nd - KORZWIN MALTA (MISS H GIBSON)
• 3rd - NORWULF ZONDA (MISS K JONES)
• Res - SIMONITE CHYNA SILK (MRS C THOMAS)
• VHC - KYMARA'S CHIARO DI RIKARDA (MISS S MURRAY)

Yearling - Bitch
Entries: 17 Abs: 3

• 1st - JASUETER GOLDEN GRACE (MR P J, MRS S J & MISS J S BINDEN)
• 2nd - IOLANDA QUINA (MRS I JERMEY)
• 3rd - ALL ONE SUIT (MRS L E HAMILTON)
• Res - MERJUKE'S HOPE (MISS S & MR A WIDDOP & EASBY)
• VHC - SAMSTAG JANA (MRS S E WORLEY)

Post Graduate - Bitch
Entries: 16 Abs: 6

• 1st - CERYSTAR LOTTI (MISS D S FINNIGAN)
• 2nd - NIKONIS YERA (MRS N G FARLEY)
• 3rd - OLGAYANS LORELEI (MR B E & MRS O BARLOW)
• Res - SILVERLEIGH QSHELLEY AT KOMODO (MR & MRS A F ROBERTS)

Limit - Bitch
Entries: 14 Abs: 2

• 1st - HAZROH QUAXIE (MS D, MR R B, MRS JJ & MISS HJ NELSON, WATSON & DO)
• 2nd - WILLOWDALE KEIFA (MRS G SHEFFIELD)
• 3rd - IOLANDA ESPRIT VON NORVISTEG (MR H WRIGHT)
• Res - AVANTI STARR (MR M ROBINSON)
• VHC - VONMEISTER FANTA (MR R & MRS P POWDRILL)

Open - Bitch
Entries: 13 Abs: 4

• 1st - CH MASCANI ODESSA (MS M LAKIN)
• 2nd - BINE VOM GLEISENAUER SCHLOSS (IMP DEU) (MRS S E WORLEY)
• 3rd - CH LARARTH SASSY (MR D C, MRS S L & MR B BOWEN & WADLOW)
• Res - KORZWIN JILLI JW (MRS L & MR K BARCLAY & WILLIAMSON)
• VHC - CH LINSDOWN GEORGIA SHCM (MR T& MRS S MULLARD & BARNES)

Working Trial - Bitch
Entries: 1 Abs: 0

• 1st - TYGUARD CHILLI AT MANPOL CDEX UDEX WDEX ( GREATER MANCHESTER POLICE)

Good Citizen Dog Scheme - Bitch
Entries: 7 Abs: 0

• 1st - MERJUKE'S HOPE ( MISS S & MR A WIDDOP & EASBY)
• 2nd - STARKSTROM ISOLETTA (MRS P J EDGINGTON)
• 3rd - CHANNBELLE CHINA GIRL (MR D W & MRS L BALL)
• Res - NETSRIK IMAGINATION (MISS K TAYLOR)

Note: All owners of the above mentioned dogs are requested to provide us with the pictures of their dogs qualified in DFS Cruft, 2010. we will be happy to incorporate the pictures with their show results. Many many congratulations to all owners and dogs above qualified in the ring of DFS Cruft 2010.

Check out what have happened in all the four days of Cruft Dog show, 2010

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How to handle an Overly Aggressive German Shepherd Dog

If you are a lover of German Shepherd Dog breed, chances are that you have always liked to meet new German Shepherd owners and mingle with new dogs. By doing so, I am sure that you have, at least once in your life time, met shepherds with strange behavior. Overly aggressive German Shepherd Dogs are menace to not only the owners but also the other animals and friends of their owners they meet. The fact is it’s due to the lack of knowledge of the owners that many shepherds become aggressive. Well, aggression is a genetic trait that stimulates the protective drive of the breed. Over aggression in German Shepherd Dogs is a psychological imbalance and a serious fault in the breed, being a deviation from the standard of GSD behavior.

Now this topic is all about tips and tricks to handle an overly aggressive German Shepherd Dog. The piece includes some points that may help you make your German Shepherd Dog learn good habits. The process of teaching should start at the very young age, but since most dogs start displaying aggressive behavior in the later age you need to be well equipped with the technical know-how of teaching good things that can be applied at any point of time in his/ her life. Remember German Shepherd Dog is a very intelligent breed and has the tendency to please their master. This is a very important thing to understand. Make your dog please you and show that you are pleased when he shows desirable behavior. Most GSD owners, I have come across, cannot understand how to get their overly aggressive shepherds to learn good habits. Dogs are not humans and understand things in a very different ways. So often, when an untrained trainer is training your German Shepherd Dog he is actually contributing to the behavioral problem, thereby making them worse! My first tip to solving this problem is to find the right trainer, who knows how to communicate with and train a German Shepherd Dog with all full proved techniques.

Here are four German Shepherd Dog training tips to give a try before making the decision to have them put down.

1. Most important problem area: Unscientific breeding is the most important problem area that needs to be spared a serious thought over. Overly aggressive German Shepherd Dog all through his life shows warning signs that it is not like the other friendly canine companions. Choosing the right German Shepherd Dog breeder is very important. Both the fear based aggression and dominant aggression are due to poor breeding, while territorial aggression and predatorial aggression in German Shepherds are normal and desirable to a certain degree.

2. Training sessions: To start off with you need to boost up the confidence and make your dog feel the sense of security while setting the training session. Overly aggressive German Shepherd Dogs usually have some kind of fear psychologically week with low degree of hardness trait in their character. With lack of confidence and psychological resiliency to unpleasant and strange situations you cannot solve such behavioral problems. I would suggest you to create a perfect environment around the training zone. You can invite a few friends of yours whom your dog knows well. With the gradual passage of time you can invite a stranger along with your friends and go on for stroll in the park with them and your dog. Gradually increase the number of friends and stranger. This is a very important socialization technique and should be a slow process. By making slightest haste in this you may unknowingly contribute to your shepherd’s behavioral problem instead of solving it. This will pull down his stress level and make him feel comfortable.

3. Mingling with other dogs: Most aggressive dogs cannot tolerate other animals within their vicinity, which makes them show aggressive behavior towards them. This problem in the German Shepherd Dog personality can be solved, though not a very easy task. Mingling session has to be at as soon as possible. Keep your dog on the leash in a region having a few other more confident and calm dogs. Hold the leash tight and as soon as he shows signs of aggression, just give him a jolt with a sharp “NO”. Repeat it whenever he shows signs of anger. Keep a constant eye on him and you can predict how he will be behaving on a specific situation a few seconds prior to he actually shows the aggression signs. As soon as you can predict his behavior, give him a jolt with a sharp “NO”. It will take a lot of time to socialize your German Shepherd Dog with other dogs. You need to be patient and consistent and handle him correctly.

4. Keep your dog away from other aggressive adult dogs: Remember dogs are pack animals and they live a pack life. Their specific behaviors are usually the resultant products of staying together within the pack, which is very natural. If they do not consider their owner as the pack leader they will take it upon themselves to become the leader of the pack which tourn out to be quite detrimental. If you have a new addition to your kennel, keep the new dog or puppy away from the other aggressive members of your kennel. Studies have shown that dogs and puppies that are in contact with the other aggressive mates usually become aggressive as times pass by. Get the new dog surround with cool tempered, confident, well mannered, playful dogs with positive behavioral traits.

To conclude with I would like to say that your aggression towards the dog will never solve the problem of aggression your dogs. So don’t lose your cool on your dogs. You have to be patient and tactical enough to handle a overly aggressive German Shepherd Dog. A German Shepherd Dog who have been battered can turn out to be overly aggressive at to humans. Here's how to help battered German Shepherd Dogs regain confidence.

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Wishing you Merry Christmas

Some relationships grow stronger with time! And this has what happened with me and my readers of this blog. With passage of time Aringsburg’s German Shepherd Dog has grown to mark its name in the web. I’m blessed to have dog lover pals like you, who have loved my blog. I have always cherished your thoughtful comments placed for many of my posts on my dream breed – the German Shepherd Dog.

Let me take the opportunity of this Christmas time to wishing you and your dogs and other members of your family and friends all the millions of reasons to be happy. May my Lord bestow His blessings upon you all and upon all animal lovers on the planet. Let us pray for peace for the homeless animals around us who are devoid of love and food.

Wishing you Merry Christmas and good life ahead! "May Peace be your gift at Christmas and your blessing all year through!"

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Purely Genetic Traits in German Shepherd Dog: German Shepherd Dog Character

Genetic Traits in German Shepherd Dog

Some of the character traits in German Shepherd Dogs are purely genetic. Just like the components like pigments, anatomy etc. are engineered into the dog genetically, so are these traits. Well bred GSDs have all positive traits in common. This post on character traits in German Shepherd Dogs is going to talk about the purely genetic traits in the breed - starting from the physical endurance to agility, distractibility and a few more!
Physical Endurance: Physical endurance describes the overall physique of the dog including sturdiness, muscular tone and general physical condition. This is a genetic trait and breeders must keep this in mind while breeding. A well bred dog usually has a good physical endurance. A dog with an excellent physical endurance spends less energy while working. This ensures both quantity and quality of work within a specified amount of time.

Agility: Agility is another remarkable feature in German Shepherd Dog breed. Agility describes the total coordination of the dog, including its natural fastness. Reputed breeders keep the Agility trait in mind while breeding, so that the dogs natural tendency to pursue things with fastness and surefootedness is not spoiled.

Sharpness: Alike these traits, Sharpness is transferred genetically! This is why not all German Shepherds are equally sharp. Degree of Sharpness is how intensely he reacts to a stressful situation. It is also a by-product of his intelligence. For instance, if your Shepherd bites you for no apparent reason, and if he is sharp enough, he will immediately realize his fault. This will make him cool down to his normal status.

Feral Tendency: Feral tendency is a purely genetic trait, which is a tendency to revert to an animal in the wild. A well bred dog has a higher feral tendency and will act more intelligently than the other dogs. A dog with high degree of feral tendency can be more easily trained and acts more obediently during the period of stress and pain. Dogs with low feral tendency will mis-behave in stressful situation.

Distractibility: Distractibility is environmentally influenced genetic trait that describes the tendency of the dog to get distracted from its allotted work. High degree of distractibility trait means the dog is highly influenced by the environmental factors, which is not a desirable trait as it hampers the working ability of the dog. Remember, GSD is a working breed. Most well bred dog are have amore or less high degree of distractibility, but that doesn’t mean that dog is genetically weak. Most well bred dogs have the ability to maintain the competency, but hidden. All you need is to carry on a rigorously typical training session to make use of the competency and attentiveness hidden within them.

Dogfight Tendency: This is purely a genetic trait in German Shepherd Dog and other dog breeds also, but many canine behaviorists have defined it as a Genetic trait, based on environmental influences like distractibility. Most people seem to get confused with Dogfight trait, as this trait typically resembles closely with what we call “Fighting Drive”. Specialists have drawn a thin line to set Dogfight Trait apart from Fighting Drive. Dogfight trait is a genetic trait that describes a typical aggression towards other dogs, irrespective of breed, gender and age of the counterpart. I have seen dogs that are cool with strangers and even kids, but shows harsh aggression towards other dogs/ mongrels. The most important point of difference between the Fighting drive and Dogfight trait is that Fighting Drive mainly aims towards victory, where the looser, on showing submissive behavior, is released to escape. Dogs with the high degree of Dogfight trait aims at the victory, usually ending up with severe injury or even death in worst case. List of character traits in German Shepherd Dogs also includes Dogfight trait.

Sensory Threshold: Sensory threshold is a purely genetic trait in German Shepherd Dogs. This trait describes the level of stimulus that a given amount agitation can make the dog to respond. The dog may whine, scream or bark in response to agitation. This describes the amount of stimulus that makes the respond to agitation. Dogs with higher sensory threshold take longer time to respond to agitation; they handle such situation more intelligently. They usually have stronger character with higher feral tendency. Dogs with lower sensory threshold gets agitated easily, which in turn means they have lower Feral tendency.

Well, I have posted all the character traits in GSD in the three posts including this. The first two were respectively on Psychological + Physiological traits and psychological, but genetically based. Stay tuned… up next more interesting information about German Shepherd Dogs.

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Natural Traits in German Shepherd Dogs: Psychological traits in GSD - Physiologically Based

Psychological traits in GSD physiologically based

Hello friends... hope you have liked post psychological and genetic character traits in German shepherd Dogs. Check out the last post on NATURAL TRAITS IN GERMAN SHEPHERD DOG. As I said before, I intend to write about some other character traits in German Shepherd Dog breed that are psychological, but physiologically based. That means these traits are purely psychological. While identifying the character and personality traits in German Shepherd Dogs, you can clearly notice that these animals have high degree of self confidence, and shows typical behavior of aloofness at times, which will make a stranger think twice to make friends with them immediately. Alike some of the other dog breeds, the heavy-weight personality of German Shepherd Dogs blends well physique of the breed. Physiological traits in German Shepherd Dogs are the traits backed by the mechanical, physical, and biochemical functions in the dog.

Here are the details of the German Shepherd Dog character traits that are psychological, but physiologically based:

The character traits of any dog breed depend on many factors. German Shepherd Dogs are sometimes quite hard by nature (both mentally and physically) and pain tolerating capacity is high, while soft at some other times. Both hardness and softness in the characters are the psychological traits in GSD that are physiologically based.

Hardness: Hardness is the trait that is both psychological and physiological. It is a mental resiliency (backed the physical and biochemical soundness) to not-so-pleasant experiences. Hardness is judged by putting the dog into situations where the pain threshold can be determined. Pain threshold is the point at which the dog starts reacting to pain. The intensity at which the stimulus (physical and mental pressure and stress) starts evoking pain the threshold stimulus. To be a bit more simple, the pain threshold is the point at which the starts not to tolerate the pain any longer. Since the threshold stimulus varies from breed to breed for a given stressful situation, the pain threshold level differs too. A well bred German Shepherd Dog has comparatively high level of pain threshold than most other dog breeds. By saying this I mean to say that the capacity of tolerating pain has been genetically engineered into the breed. Hence “hardness” is not 100% psychological and physiologically trait in GSD and other dog breeds, although, as a matter fact the level of hardness also varies form dog to dog within the breed itself. GSD has higher “Hardness” trait, means they can tolerate tremendous stress with little negative attitude. That in turn means that the GSD needs to handle strongly and requires strong corrections when they are disobedient.

Now what does it mean when I say that “Hardness” in GSD is a psychological trait, being physiologically based? From physiological view point, the hardness in GSD means that the dog is strong by nerve. It relates to the thick sheathing around the nerve fibers in the body of the dog which makes its pain threshold higher than other breeds. Sometimes the hardness is so high that corrections to disobedient behaviors sometimes become quite tough for les- experienced trainers. This is why an experienced specialized dog behaviorist/ trainer will always suggest not to hit him while training. This will make the training process harder and ineffective.

Softness: Softness in the character traits in German Shepherds is just the opposite of the hardness. Wild dogs in the nature are comparatively softer than the pets. In fact the softness is a natural trait that helps the dog to save himself from natural dangers. Softness breeds a bit of fear in them which acts as the natural measure for protection themselves form real danger – as I said in my last post. Softness in German Shepherd Dogs is another psychological trait that is associated to the fear from stressful experience. Excessive softness is a behavioral fault in the GSD breed. This is because these dogs are bred to work under a wide range of stressful situations. If a German Shepherds fail to do that, it means it doesn’t satisfy the breed’s actual purpose.

You will probably like to read about BREED EVOLUTION TEST IN GERMAN SHEPHERD DOG (Schutzhund) that has been designed to separate German shepherds with correct physical and character traits from the ones that have undesirable traits.

Up next purely genetic traits in German Shepherds! Stay tuned...

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Character traits in German Shepherd Dogs - Psychological and Genetic Traits

Psychological and Genetic Traits traits in German Shepherd Dogs

Just as all breeds have their own respective characters German Shepherd Dog has its very unique character traits too. A German Shepherd lover would always describe the breed as royal, assertive, courageous, adaptable, intelligent and powerful and last but not the lest the most talked about dog breed in the world. Well, now it’s important to discus the character traits that have made German Shepherds the most popular of all dog breeds. Picking the right breed is of utmost importance for you if you are a first time owner. If you are in love with this breed, you need to know his character traits in advance so that you can handle him correctly as he grows.

Here are the details of the character traits of German Shepherd Dog breed:

Since the character traits of the dog depend of more than factors, they are grouped under heads such as Purely Psychological traits, Psychological + Genetic traits, Psychological + Physiological traits and Purely Genetic traits. This post is all about the character traits in German Shepherd Dogs that are purely Psychological and Psychological, but genetically based. My next post will talk about the Psychological + Physiological traits, followed by a post on Purely Genetic Traits in GSD.

Purely Psychological Traits in German Shepherd Dogs:

Trainability: GSD, by nature, is one of the most intelligent dog breeds that can be easily trained to work on a wide range of projects. This is a multi purpose dog breed that have been trained for war, guarding, guiding blinds, as companion dogs, working in movies, working in police and detective departments, working in drug detection departments, working as PAT (Pro Dogs Active Therapy) and shepherd dogs to herd cattle. His inquisitive to learn things helps him learn new tricks in short span of time, and this is what helps the trainers to train him easily.

Confidence: German Shepherd Dog, by nature, is highly confident. This psychological trait has been environmentally engineered into the breed. This is a by-product of the ability of the dog to bear more stress than many other dog breeds. German Shepherds have been bred to tolerate comparatively more stress than others. This means the break even level of bearing stress is higher than many other dog breeds. This makes the dog enhance his ability to struggle and win more stressful situations, which in turn makes him more confident as compared to many other dog breeds. Remember, as soon as he reaches the optimum stress point – that is the break even point he cannot accept more stress and in such situation he will normally respond back adversely due to lack of confidence like any other dog breed.

Psychological + Genetic Traits in German Shepherd Dogs:

Courage: Courage is a psychological trait that is defined as the absence of fear. German Shepherd Dogs are courageous, which means he doesn’t fear the danger. This trait can be viewed as a by-product of confidence trait. Courage this can also be viewed as one of the genetic traits, because this has been bred into the dogs by breeding out the fear, through selective breeding programs. Dogs in natural state are usually soft and not so courageous.

Fear: Fear is both psychological and genetic trait. Rather more of the Psychological trait than genetic. Many well breed German Shepherd Dogs that have been bred to discard out fear have still shown fearful behavior. Fearlessness is a natural psychological trait in German Shepherd Dog, but Fear, on the other hand also acts as the natural measure for protection form real danger. Excessive fear in German Shepherd Dogs is a serious fault. Proper socializing to sounds, strangers, and different situations is a must to nurture the dog’s natural fearless trait, although in few cases socializing doesn’t help to regain or nurture the fearless trait in German Shepherd Dogs. This happens due to incorrect breeding when fearfulness becomes a genetic trait.

Moodiness: Moodiness is also psychological trait, but also genetically inherited. Moodiness is a typical behavior, which should be viewed as the inclination or tendency for inconsistency in behavior. Moodiness leads the dog to work great one day and worst just the next day. This inconsistency does not imply that the dog is a worst working dog or suffering from under nutrition. Moodiness is just a psychological or sometimes genetic fault, which cannot be noticed until it reaches the extreme level.

Viciousness: Viciousness is again another psychological trait, but genetically based. It is an inclination to outburst with an unwarranted vicious aggression which deviates from the GSD standard as a behavioral fault. Though noticed not too often, such aggression is observed under unpredictable situations. When exhibited, such behavior may be quite detrimental to the pack members and owners.

Temperament: Temperament is a psychological trait, which can be significantly influenced by the environment, but at the same time can be observed as genetic trait too. Temperament is determined by three distinctive categories… full, moderate and poor. A GSD with full temperament will be full of zest and zeal, while moderate temperate means the dog has a moderate level of zesty attitude and a poor temperament is used to describe a sluggish dog that is lethargic.

Stay tuned for the up coming post on Psychological + Physiological Character traits in German Shepherds.

Meanwhile check out my post on basic instincts of German Shepherd Dog

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Brindle German Shepherd Dog - The Lost Pattern

The Lost Pattern in German Shepherd Dog Breed - Brindle GSD

Colors and patterns in German Shepherd Dogs have always allured the breed’s lovers. Sadly some colors and patterns are no longer existing in the German Shepherd Dog breed, as far as my knowledge goes. Blue is one of the rarest colors in the breed, while merle and brindle German Shepherd Dogs are almost out of existence. This post is about the brindle German Shepherds and is dedicated to those readers of my blog who really spare thoughts about colors and patterns in German Shepherd Dog breed. Irresponsible breeding program and negligence have thrown many patterns and colors into extinction; and brindle is just one of those extinct patterns in German Shepherd Dogs. I think it’s just because of the illogical decisions of some Kennel Clubs that many breeders and owners do not prefer keeping and breeding certain colors and patterns. I want to show my heart felt gratitude to those organizations that are working to prevent certain pigmentations and patterns from going extinct. Remember, there are NO problems related to health, genes, behavior and more specifically the working ability of the breed just because of its color. If a dog has a sound health and temperament and sound working ability, he is a good dogs, and Max Von Stephanitz – the breed founder said, “No good dog is a bad color.” So what ever color gene we have today, we need to deploy them to correct breeding program in order to prevent them from extinction like brindles and merles. These are all simply variations in color genes and do not affect the character of the dog.

Brindle German Shepherd Dogs or Brindle Black Tan had been one of the founding patterns of the breed, and we have lost it, quite unfortunately. This particular gene actually affected the tan marked ground. This, in turn, made bi-colors and black tans show marble marks or dark stripes over the tan grounds, just like the brindle boxers. Candidly speaking, I have never seen a brindle dog, but I can guess who beautiful a brindle German Shepherd Dog would look like owing to the contemporary anatomical structure! We could develop the anatomy of the breed – beyond doubt! We have developed the structural aspects such as angulations and top line, but sadly lost certain genes like Brindle. Hopefully, if the brindle pattern re-appears, today’s German Shepherd breeders and owners will embrace it with love, and with a mission to protect it from further extinction. The brindle German Shepherd Dog was last surveyed in the year 1922, and unfortunately no GSD with brindle gene has been recorded in the books of any kennel club.

Eye pigmentation has always remained un-related to that of coat. Brindle coats appeared in both dark and faded versions. Many dark brindle black tan German shepherd Dogs were in the possession of faded eye color, while some dogs that had brindle markings on faded tan grounds had rich eye pigmentation.

This picture of the brindle Alsatian dog has been taken from the book on German Shepherd Dogs, authored by Brian H. Wootton. I would earnestly request my readers to help me out by providing more information about the brindle German Shepherd Dog. Also please provide me with pictures of brindle Alsatian dog, if someone has any. I promise to give you a credit for the picture in my blog.

Thanks a bunch in advance.

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Many many thanks to Mary Mcintire from Michigan for sharing with us an excellent photo of her brindle GSD, named Rue.

Check out White German Shepherd Dogs FAQs

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German Shepherd Dog Coat Color: Dilute German Shepherd Dogs

I am really lucky to have some good dog lover pals around me. Yes, most of my peeps are dog lovers and some of them are specifically German Shepherd lovers. Rizia Robertson is one such friend of mine who seems to have given her heart to German Shepherds. During my last conversation with her, I told her I can talk about dogs for centuries without even getting tired. She said, “well you have a friend here who loves talking about dog – especially GSD”. Are you wondering why I’m talking about Rizia? Well guys, I just want to let you know that she has been the first one to inspire me to write about gene dilution in German Shepherd Dogs. My last post on Gene Dilution in German Shepherd Dogs was written being inspired by Rizia. Truth be told here… I had written the article on GSD gene dilution for blue and liver pigments some times back in 2007, but never published it until I felt the urge post it after having days of discussion with Rizia. I would like to thank her because of this. Rizia, let your love for German Shepherd Dog never stop!

This is again another piece of information about German Shepherd Dog gene dilution. Regarding German Shepherd Dog coat color the SV breed standard said, “the color of the GSD is in itself not important and has no effect on the character of the dog or on its fitness for work and should be a secondary consideration for that reason. The final color of a young dog can only be ascertained when the outer coat has developed.” It is hence, beyond all controversy, that amongst all undesirable factors in the GSD breed, the coat color is the one that should be included as the last point in the list. My personal view is that if the coat color doesn’t affect the working ability of the breed (which the breed is actually meant for), it should be excluded from the list right way so that the two mutations of black gene in the GSD: blue and liver are not considered to be faults in the show rings. GSDs have two pigment genes: melanin/ eumelanin (brown/black) and phaeomelanin (yellow/red). Melanin is normally black, which has two distinctive mutations in GSDs – blue and liver.

As per the standard the blues and the livers are genetic faults, and no reputable German Shepherd Dog breeder will breed these so-called faulty genes. The GSD breeders, who breed these genes, with both parents as carriers, end up with a shallow genetic pool. In most cases the liver and blue puppies usually come by accident. Frankly speaking, I haven’t yet come across a breeder who breeds to produce liver and blue pups deliberately. But here, again the same thing, I would like to say. If the color genes don’t affect the working ability, character and behavior of the breed, what’s harm in livers and blues? This is a very debatable question and I won’t go in for arguments and debates, nor would I like to criticize any bloodlines. I would rather say that diluted dogs may descends from high quality specimens from top bloodlines that have proved even in the Schutzhnd trial fields.


Just a gist about Blue and Liver genes in German Shepherd Dogs

Blue Gene in German Shepherd Dogs

• Double recessive color gene
• Rare color
• Dilute gene, which means it dilutes the black pigment in the dog.
• Considered a disqualifying fault by the AKC.

Liver Gene in German Shepherd Dogs

• Double recessive color gene
• Rare color
• Dilute gene that blocks the black pigment in the dog.
• Considered a disqualifying fault by the AKC
  

You can also check out:

GERMAN SHEPHERD DOG COLORS AND PATTERNS
and
GERMAN SHEPHERD DOG STANDARD

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Gene Dilution in German Shepherd Dog – Blue and Liver Dilution

Blue German Shepherd Dogs and Liver German Shepherd Dogs

The blue and liver GSDs had been the rarest genes once upon a time that have always captured breeders’ attention. Fortunately these genes are not as rare as it used to be some years back. The search volumes for the blue and liver GSDs in the Internet have been on a rising, which is gives an indication that people are looking for these genes more these days, either for puppies or to get information about the blue and liver German Shepherd Dogs. There are actually two possible dilutions for the black color in German Shepherd Dogs - “Blue Dilution” and “Liver Dilution”. Here’s just some information about these rare German Shepherd genes – the recessive blue and liver gene.

Colors of these German Shepherds are different from the regular ones that we usually see in the dog shows. They are real striking in appearance, if bred correctly. If not bred well, these dilutions usually come with blues and brown nose, while the standard requires the nose, nails, eye rims and lips to be black strictly.

Patterns of Blue Dilution in GSD

The blue gene in German Shepherd Dogs actually turns the pigmentation of both skin and coat into bluish or steel grey, which is usually very dark. The tan area, on the other level, remains almost the same tan markings as we see in regular shepherds. Sometimes the tan ground may take a faint silvery tint. In the German Shepherd Dog breed, there are great chances of the blue gene to occur in any pattern and type of coat. This finally dilutes the black pigment.



Patterns of Liver Dilution in GSD

The liver gene affects the dog’s pigmentation in almost the same way. The liver gene in German Shepherd Dogs dilutes the black pigment, thereby turning both the coat and skin into liver brown color. Like the blue genes this also dilutes the eye pigmentation by giving the eyes a wrong tint – silvery-yellowish-brown color. The liver gene can come in any pattern alike the blue one. The tan markings seem almost the same as in the regular GSD.

In either of the two dilutions the dog looses it black pigmentation, which is replaced by either blue or liver pigments. Remember the gene that gives color and the gene that gives pattern are two distinctive genes. This ensures a good chance that either dilution can come with three different patterns, viz. solid color, two-toned pattern and agouti. Both these dilutes in German Shepherd Dogs are seen with two-toned pattern and agouti, more commonly than with solid colors. Solid blue and solid liver German Shepherd Dogs are rare of the rarest genes in the world. In most cases the liver and blue German Shepherd Dogs comes with liver-brown and blue noses respectively. Both these gene dilutions in German Shepherd Dogs affect the eye pigmentation too!

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