At Fort Huachuca AZ I had a boss who owned a huge German Shepherd named Rinty. He was a direct descendant of the original champion named Rin Tin Tin...the dog not the boss. The dog not only impressed me with his size but with his huge intellect. I had always been a fan of Shepherds but had never owned one nor had I met one that was so smart. Mac, my boss, would tell Rinty to do something and wham! it was done right now. He also kept unwanted salesmen, neighbors, or kids out of the yard.
So a year or so later, stationed in Mannheim, Germany and in a job that required me to be on the road alot...I bought a German Shepherd to protect my 19 year old wife. We found a kennel near Coleman Barracks that had a great selection of trained "Schutzhund" dogs...trained for personal protection...perfect. They were a bit pricey but the kennel man insisted they were the best in the area. He had one in particular he could let me have for considerably less than the others. He was 18 months old, a level three Schutzhund out of a great bloodline. Never been in a house...kennel dog...and very smart. I was to learn later that "very smart" was a Deutsch euphamism for a dog that was a training problem...too smart to do things right. But we settled on a very reasonable price...100DM extra for the papers...and we took possession of one very smart Schaefferhund named "Golf". I asked what "Golf" meant, thinking it must mean something in German that I didn't understand...my German was pretty fair but I couldn't imagine naming a dog "Golf" in English. In broken English the kennel man explained that "Golf" was game you play with a little white ball and...
Having been raised in the kennel, Golf had a number of "firsts" that day. He had never ridden in a car before...and threw up all over the back seat...I don't have any idea what they were feeding him...but it was nasty.
Upon entering the apartment, Golf 's first challenge was hardwood floors...they were very difficult for him to get the hang of so he stayed pretty close to the ground. Next came the mirror...a full length mirror ...Golf immediately barked a warning at the other dog in the mirror...but in the entryway his bark was magnified and came back at him much louder than it left him...he cowed in submission to the louder dog and it took us several minutes to get him any further into the apartment.
That first day was rough on Golf, but he kept his spirits up. I didn't expect a Rinty, and I really didn't expect a pet. I wanted a large dog that could keep my lady company when I was on the road and protect her in my absence. Benjamin Franklin Village in Mannheim had a rough reputation and I felt better leaving her if she wasn't alone. Little did I know that what I had gotten for that 400DM (plus 100DM for the papers) was everything I expected plus so much more...a member of the family...a fiercely loyal and ferocious protector...a clown in a dog suit...a big doof...and the best friend I ever had.
The kennel man told us that we needed to take Golf to the training "platz" and learn how to handle the dog. The Verein fur die Deutsche Schaefferhund...Club for the German Shepherd Dog...had training platzes all over and each one had a club "pro" who would teach you how to work with your dog, to learn his commands, to give him refresher training and when you were both in sync enough, you could even compete in field trials...if you want. There was a platz just over the Autobahn from the kennel. The first day I walked into the club with Golf, the club pro greeted Golf as an old friend...seems he was the trainer who trained, tested and rated Golf. They were old friends. The pro expressed relief that someone finally bought that dog...he asked how much I spent on him and pursed his lips and nodded when I told him. I was thinking that with all the challenges we'd had so far...maybe Golf was more of a white elephant than a red and black shepherd. But the trainer assured me that he was a good dog...a great dog, in fact...who was just a little too smart for his own good.
That first Saturday was spent in me learning what Golf already knew...his commands and what he would do with them. No problems...Golf was eager for me to learn everything so he could do that stuff for me. All through the session, he would be looking up at me even when he was "bei fuss" (heeling). Pro said that was the sign of a good dog...watching the master for directions...he wants to please you. Golf was a very obedient dog and knowing how to speak his language made things easier for us at home, too. He was teaching us German...we tried to teach him English.
As impressed as I was at the first session, I was completely blown away at the second session. When you come into the club house, you go out the back door into the work yard...it is full of ladders, fences, things to crawl through...things to jump over and a lot of things I had no idea what to do with. You release your dog and yell, "Raus!" Your dog dashes for the fence, turns around and lays down and watches you for the next move. He will watch even if you get involved in spirited conversation and wurst chomping and beer swilling and let hours go by. At this second session there were no less than a dozen dogs around the fence...all ignoring each other as they watched their bosses. At the kennel I had thought that Golf was a big dog but at the platz that day more than half the dogs there were bigger...some A LOT bigger. This was the Saturday out of the month that they worked on attack training. The pro told me to watch the others to get a feel for how things were done and what the dogs were trained to do. The guy in the padded suit came out and immediately every dog was super alert. A name was called, a dog broke from the fence and raced to his master's left side. "Pass Auf" (literally "pay attention") was commanded as the handler pointed to the padded suit guy. The padded suit guy walked toward them and the dog got between the boss and the padded suit by shouldering against the bosses left knee until he got the alignment he wanted...just as he passed, the padded suit guy lunged at the boss and the dog immediately attacked, without command, and grabbed the padded suit by the heavy leather arm protector and shook the crud out of him until the boss yelled, "aus"...(out) and the dog released, moved back a few feet and laid down pointed at the padded suit. If the guy in the suit moved at all, the dog would attack again with out command. I watched all afternoon as one dog after another went through all kinds of scenarios...searching and finding padded suit, chasing padded suit, and all kinds of variations. Toward the end of the session, I was invited to bring Golf into the yard and do some simple attack problems. The first was a screaming padded suit about ten yards away...waving his arms and acting intimidating. Pro had me command "Pass Auf" and point at the padded suit. Suddenly I had a different dog. Golf became so focused and intense that I felt a little chill from it. When padded man started to run towards me...Golf launched like a torpedo...low, lightning fast, fully stretched out run...ears up...not a sound. He hit the padded man's arm with such force that the man was knocked off his feet. Golf took three or four good shakes then released, dropped back...and laid down fully focused on Padded man. The man tried to get up and Golf was on him like white on rice, shook the crud out of him then released again. Pro smiled and shook his head and said, "Same old Golf...that's why you got him so cheap...he doesn't wait for the "Aus" command before he releases...and nothing I have thought of has changed that. You saw him hit...he is about 85 lbs and he hits harder than a 100 pounder...but he knows the man is not fighting so he figures the next command is "Aus" so why wait?" The pro thought that if Golf ever had to hit someone for real that he would hold on until called out...but there was no way to know that without a real world trial. Tempting as that was...
The ride home was cool. Golf finally figured we had learned enough to be his master and mistress...he was learning to walk on hardwood...he was starting to enjoy riding in a car...he still growled at the other dog in the mirror...but he was settling into the life of a house dog. He hung his head out the window, slobbered all over both of us, barked at passersby that he didn't like...and snuggled his big old head against us. We were a family.