Let's get to know each other a little bit? - Page 33

newbie here...this is a great thread.  There are lots of interesting people on this board and this thread has some inspirational stories along with some really good comedy.  Basically...life.  Anyways, I've never posted on this board, but have been reading it many times a day for the past month and have found answers to a lot of my questions about GSDs here.  So thanks.  Anyways...here goes my short autobio:

31 yo dude, married, 3 kiddos, 2 dogs.  Lived most of my life in either San Antonio or San Diego.  Speak Spanish as a 2nd language and love mexican food.  Oldest of 2 children and grew up w/ a GSD, my best friend named Lady.  She was such a wonderful dog, she would chase "dirt clods" that I would throw in the backyard and would protect me from the older neighborhood bullies.  She died in her sleep at 10 yo when I was in 1st grade.  I've never forgiven my mom for making me go to school that day.

After that I had many cats growing up and a terrier mix.  However, due to my connection with Lady, herding dogs and esp. GSDs have always had a special place in my heart.  I now have a shepherd mix from the ASPCA that I got in 2001 and finally convinced my wife to let me get a GSD 5 weeks ago.  Cassie, my mix, is 9yo and Lucy, my GSD, is 5 months old now.  She is a brillant, beutiful dog, and a great addition to my family.  Not only did I long to have another GSD, but I also wanted my children (1yo, 4yo, 10yo) to have that best friend to grow up with that I had as a child.

Lucy's mom is from German working lines, and her dad is from American show lines.  All of her ancestors were titled, except for the mom and dad.  I want to work with her and get her titled if possible, but still not sure whether show or obedience would be the way to go.  Agility and flyball look very cool as well.  I've always enjoyed watching the big dog shows and the televised agility competitions.

Anyways, after my family which includes my 2 dogs, I love watching football (esp. Texas Tech football) and playing sports such as softball and golf.  I've been playing golf since I was 10, and I'm still a single digit handicap although I don't get to play much these days.  I have a bachelor's in math and I've been a software engineer for my entire career.  My workplace is dog friendly and I take Lucy to work with me at least once a week.  Oh, and I'm a beer fan like most of you have mentioned.  As far as travels go, I've been to Sweden and Fiji.  Both rocking cool places that I highly recommend.

Well that's about it.  Nice to meet all of ya'll.

Guess I closed this thread down being so late to the party.  Oh well, talk to ya'll soon.  Laters.

Wow, it's back, lol.  Glad to see some of you new ones found it and posted about yourselves.   Thanks for posting guys.  Nice to meet you. 

Shepherd Woman LCGSD, admin of http://lcgsd.proboards98.com

Owner/handler/trainer of

Complete Chaos Von Steppenwolf

So,

A little about me, well I am 33 I live in the Piedmont Triad of North Carolina. I have worked in Aviation Security & Maintenance most my life, and for the last 2 years I work a customer service job taking incoming calls for Tech support for our products. I have had Dogs all my life. I gew up in Alaska and was heavily in to the boy scouts which introduced me to GSDs. Our troop volunteered to "Get Lost" for the local SAR units to find and so the dog that found me was a huge over 100lbs GSD. She was a tan and black and when she found me she was very happy pulled me right out of the snow as we played, and for me as a kid I thought they where the best dogs in the world.  SO after that I always bugged my mom and dad for one but  we always had lap dogs and labs on the farm.

So out on my own when I got my house I got my first GSD (http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/gsd/pedigree/336294.html) 6 years ago. I got him from Kraftwerk K9 before I knew enough about that breeder and Imported dogs and before his prices went up to $8500 per dog. You know I could be bitter about them but I learned form it. Anyway Marco has been a great addition to our family. One night about a year after we got him he alerted me to someone in our back yard, we went out there and we found a man breaking in to the tool shed. Well this guy came at me and Marco took him to the ground and defend me. We truly feel he saved my life or kept me from bolled harm.

I always wanted to do Schutzhund whit him but we had a bad experience with the local club. Turned out I was not the right kind of person to join as my old pickup truck devalued everyone else's cars in the parking lot.  Anyway  we continued his bite work training for a number of years. and now he is enjoying life just being my best friend.

I have wanted to learn as much about the breed as possible, I used to want to breed, but  seeing there are so many dogs out there that will not be Sch3 dogs and people just toss them away I think I will always try and rescue GSDs in the future or purchase a companion and give them a loving home. We are still looking for a buddy for Marco and I am sure one will come along real soon. 

 Never in my life have I had a dog who is so smart and a problem solver and such a loving companion as Marco, and the more people we meet I have found its the breed.  I can never imagine my life with out a GSD or two running around the house.

This is my Ball! and No you can not have it!

Harley,

I enjoyed seeing pictures of your dogs, they were impressive. We need more pictures of "real" GSD's on this site. I am on my 4th GSD and I tend toward "exotics" My first was given to me by a man whose family raised GSD's in Detroit. He was a motorcycle stunt rider and due to his declining health he had to give up his dog. He blessed me with Max, a huge, black and tan GSD. The owner had over a hundred calls on this animal, but after seeing my yard, talking to my wife and me, and in light of my committment to putting in a fence all around my property he decided to place Max with my wife and me. His mother also talked him into this decision after hearing my passion for this fantastic dog.

Max passed in 2002 at the age of ten. He had degenerative mylopathy. The vet specialist who tested him told me he had two months to live. I took him home and Max lived for fourteen more months. I knew this would happen because all the trainers and K-9 specialist I hired to work with Max said he was an Alpha with a captital A. About a year Max passed I purchased two long haired GSD's from a K-9 academy about 90 miles from my home. I was disenchanted up to that point because all the dog ads I researched showed low hipped, narrow bodied, narrow headed American dogs or roach backed, muddied colored European dogs. These looked like the ones that are so often pictured on the ads of this website and are often debated by their devotees on this site. They disdain my comments because I prefer King Shepherds at this point. Their opinions are myopic at best. Don't take my word, look up Linda Shaw at Shawlein.com and you'll see how the GSD is supposed to look. Believe me it bears littel resemblence to the dogs hyped up by a lot of the eliteists on this site.

Since I purchased my two long haired dogs Max has passed. And one of my long hairs, Gunner, has also passed. This left Gator, my larger GSD. In February I purchased a pick of the litter King Shepherd from the originator of the line and I am absolutely estatic. As I did with my two long hairs, I'll put him in individual, group, and advanced obedience, agility, and protection training. The academy I work with does the security for a large military base in Virginia. The training these folks do is for "real life", not competitions or ribbons. No bulky sleeves or Michelin Man suits, just real attackers with realistic aggressive behaviors toward the dogs. Even in my hobbies I tend to be iconoclastic. Just not a follower. Good luck to you and your beautiful dogs.

Wow, look what you started.....

I am 47, female and a retired Firefighter/Paramedic with a husband of 17 years who used to be a Deputy/Medic but got smart and became a Firefighter/Medic, he is now a Rescue Captain with all the cool training.

I have an 18 year old son.

I have 3 dogs: 8 year old Loki, K9 trained, 6 Year old Ronin a rescue from a less than wonderful circumstances and is undergoing Search and Rescue training, and 3 Year old Isis who had to retire from Schutzhund due to physical issues (long and heart breaking story)

I am currently finishing up my Doctoral in Psychology for specialized therapy for First Responders and NEED my dogs for sanity saving.

My babies, Loki, Ronin and Isis

Oops, forgot to add that I just got into Schutzhund 3 years ago and have been in K9 training with a wonderful trainer for 7 years.  Still learning and probably will learn something new on my deathbed....oh wait, that sounds bad....... :o)

Yah and it's greatttttt  : - )  Glad to meet you.

Not that many of you care, but we got the Top 10 Standings from the UKC website.  My Chaos is tied for #4 for the year so far : - ))))))))  Can only go UP from here!

2008 Top Ten Breed And Dog Standings
The current Top Ten Results By Breed, Organized Alphabetically
TOP TEN LIST FOR 2008
POSTED MARCH 13, 2008 FOR EVENTS THROUGH FEBRUARY 17, 2008
NEXT UPDATE: MARCH 28, 2008

German Shepherd Dogs
01. CH Midnight Trayne To Royalwood Jean Herbrandson
02. Barchos Vom Moorweg Kelly Scudder
03. CH Mystical Talyn D'argo Janet Smith
04. CH Heidi Vom Odland Judith A Malone
04. CH Golf Vom Clausberg Judith A Malone
04. CH Henry Vom Odland Judith A Malone
04. CH Complete Chaos Von Steppenwolf Anna M Hull
04. CH Ranitas-romeo Von Oppenhiem Bettina Gerber or Teri Belanger
09. CH Emma Vom Alt-ostland Judith A Malone
 

Proud Owner/Trainer/Handler of

CGC - TDI - U-Ch. Complete Chaos Von Steppenwolf

Diversifed GSD Forum - http://lcgsd.proboards98.com

since the last time I posted on this thread we adopted a Czech/DDR male who my intrepid husband bred to my showlines girl Kalie, and this was the result, we have 7 beautiful puppies, now almost 2 weeks old, eyes starting to open....& Kalie is such a good mom. I know it shouldn't have happened, but I feel so blessed, they are so sweet; I'm keeping a female,(we have 5 boys & 2 girls), and the rest will have the very best homes, and I will always be on their microchips as the person they should always come back to, my sweet little babies! jackie harris

lord, those puppies are getting BIG! i'm sure you're doing a good job with those babies and good luck to those who want to have one!! you'll be a tough sell!  sounds like all is going well.

welcome to all the others.