Last night at the walk in training class Dixie and I frequent, we working on greeting other dogs and impulse control when our trainer said "Who was here last week for big German Shepard?" Few people raised their hands. He said "OK, don't worry about this dog, I'll handle him. Everyone work on eye contact with your dog when he comes in."
So the GSD comes in; I don't see him because my back is to him as I work with Dixie. Have to say at this point, for a dog that has interest in EVERYTHING that moves, Dixie was great with me doing eye contact, only took a glance a couple times but came right back. Dixie keys off a lot on other dogs energy and that can set him off pretty quickly.
Back to the story. I haven't seen the GSD yet, but have defnitely heard him as Terrence (the trainer) works with him to get him to release some energy and get into working mode. After a couple minutes we get back to what we're doing and then I see this MASSIVE GSD. One of the biggest dogs I've ever seen, nevermind the biggest GSD I've ever seen. His back probably came up to my waist (I'm 5'8";) and was close to 130lbs. Terrence and him sat in the middle of the room just hanging out, getting used to being around other dogs and people as we worked on meeting other dogs.
The story behind this dog is that he was kept in a crate/cage for most of his life (now 5 years old) until last year when the woman who brought him adopted him. He had never really been outside or interacted with other dogs. He was pretty good with people but reactive with other dogs. He didn't pick many fights on his own. Terrence said that the GSD should have been trained for Shuntzhund or agility or something very early. He is very, very strong and very athletic. You could see how lean and muscular he was. When working with him, Terrence said it's a complete workout for him, nevermind the dog.
The whole night the GSD was very stressed, whining and panting a lot. Terrence never pushed him to do anything he didn't feel the dog was ready for.
After seeing this, it firmly cemented that, there aren't many really "bad" dogs in the world, just dogs that need some direction and outlet for their abilities. You could see that the GSD was just nervous from never being in that situation before and wasn't sure how to react/behave.
I have to say this also about our trainer Terrence. I've met a couple trainers before, but no one who seems to have this uncanny ability to read and work with dogs like he does. He's always reading and picking up on things that you or I would take a lot longer to notice. This class is great too. We work on real world things more than straight obedience. Things like walk bys, crowding, greeting, walking, insecurity when leaving, impulse control. To me, they seem like more practical things than sit, down, stay. I highly recommend if you live in the MA/NH area to look him up. This walk in clinic is Wednesdays at 6:45 at the NHSPCA.
Novel over :)