Evening star., 1947-11-04
COMMENT ON DOGS.
fFron D. B. T., Washtnoton. J

Mrs. p. r. Of Washington in hei
discussion of breeds of dogs made
some statements with which must
take issue. I challenge any one te
name a certain bad blood line" In
German Shepherds. There has beer
and there probably will be poorly
planned breedings, the results o1
which are not desirable, but the
bad blood line" is as nonexistent
in German Shepherds as it is ir
Boxers. There are both Boxers ano
Shepherds which are not a credit tt
their breed, but in most cases the
fault lies with the care and training
Of the dogs.
Dogs are carniverous animals ano
should be fed meat regularly, and
not just table scraps. The medium
and large size dogs, Boxers, Shep.
herds, Danes, st. Bernards, ETC., re-
quire exercise and lots of it. A
Cocker Spaniel gets plenty Of exer.
else chasing around a house or small
yard, but the others mentioned need
acreage and /or long walks and runs
Denied exercise, they do become ILL.,
tempered. The renegades of any
breed should be disposed of imme-
diately, by painless death. There is
no excuse for the continued exist
ence of an untrustworthy dog OF
any breed.
In defense of the German Shep-
herd, mistakenly called "Police Dog
because the breed was used in Ger
many for work with the police ano
were given the degree Police.
Hound" to denote their highly spe-
cialized education, let 1t be said thai
this breed has been selected for USE
exclusively by both the u. 8. Army
and the Seeing Eye people at Nor.
ristown, N. j. Preference was showr
for our breed because Of theil
ability to distinguish between tn,
need for obeying the commands O.
a master not given their sensor!
gifts and the need to disobey, i
disobedience was desirable to accom-
plish a safe mission, in the case o
the Army, or to protect blind per
son. A case in point: a blind maj
leading his dog along a sidewall
insisted that the dog proceed. Th'
dog held back. Finally, the mar
forced the dog ahead and botl
walked into wet concrete. Their,
had been no barrier and of course
the blind man couldn't read tn,
signs which warned passersby. Whel
a Scouting party goes out, the me,
respect the dogs instinct for dan
ger and hold back, even though
they can see nothing ahead bu
cleared space and safety. Many ,
life was saved this way.
For a dog which can have plent.
Of space to exercise and enough o
his natural diet to eat, we recon
mend the German Shepherd whole
heartedly. They are affectionate
wonderful house dogs; cleanly II
their habits: strong to protect ant
guard (but not to be encouraged t,
fight, ever; easy to train as com
panions on street or in car; hand
some dogs of proud heritage; work
ing dogs who can herd cattle, ant
learn many other simple or compli
Gated chores. One dog of our &C
quaintance waters the cattle. H,
has trudged many a mile, carryin,
buckets of water. There is a nat
ural affinity between children ant
a good Shepherd of sound tempera
ment. Each loves the other an,
each profits immensely by the asso
citation.
As an owner of several Shepherds
and of1icer of the local Shepher,
Dog Club, shall be happy t.
answer any questions and give an.
information desired by readers o
the Clearing House. Please eal
| Union 23e2.