I wrote a post about the German Shepherd two years ago. I then called him a "True friend for life". And now, two years later, nothing has changed in my opinion.
WE MISSED A GERMAN SHEPHERD
After Lex's death in 2018 and Rowan's death in 2019, we both missed a German Shepherd in our pack. Because no matter how sweet Lana and Myla are. They are both different in character than Lex and Rowan were. That is not very strange, both girls are crosses of a Dutch and Malinois. Where Lana is really a Dutch Shepherd both in her appearance and in her character, Myla is really a Malinois. And both these breeds are different in character from a German Shepherd.
THE GIRLS HAVE SUCH A DIFFERENT CHARACTER
Our girls both have a spirited character, have a temper in their character that is strange to a German Shepherd. The girls can fly from 0 to 100 in a split second, and I always have to pay attention to their short temper. Over the years, Myla has had a rest that unfortunately Lana will never have. But they will never be 100% stable. That is okay, it is how they are and if you know that you can respond well to that and deal with it. Although it requires a lot of creativity from you as an owner and it can sometimes be very difficult to keep the ladies satisfied.
THE GERMAN SHEPHERDS COULD CALM DOWN OUR GIRLS
When Lex and Rowan were still living here, it was often thanks to the calming influence of these two German Shepherds that the ladies were easy to control, and that they didn't fool each other.
LEX DIED IN 2018 AND THINGS CHANGED
After Lex's death some things changed… but Rowan confidently took over Lex's duties and kept the ladies in check. This was particularly important for Lana. When Rowan got cancer and weakened, we saw Lana change a lot again.
ROWAN PASSED THE RAINBOW BRIDGE IN 2019 AND LANA CHANGED EVEN MORE
Where Lana had always accepted Rowan's authority, it had now completely disappeared. In the last few weeks of Rowan's life, Lana snarled at him as soon as he dared come a few feet away from her. She attacked him if he wanted to lie on the couch next to her and she also dealt very differently with Myla. When Myla had taken a toy and Lana thought she wanted it, she attacked Myla and took the toy away from her. Myla did not let this sit on her and several times I had to intervene hard to take the ladies apart. This situation continued after Rowan died and we noticed that Lana was in danger of losing her way. She is a dog with a long past and apparently she cannot do without the calming influence of a male. And then a male with a stable character by nature.
Our choice was made quickly… Another German Shepherd had to come!
And as you all know, that German Shepherd dog has come again.
TWO MONTHS AFTER ROWANS DEATH, SKIPPER JOINED OUR PACK.
And where a new dog must always find a place in the pack, and it certainly did not all go smoothly immediately, we can now say that it has been a VERY GOOD choice.
SKIPPER IS EVERYTHING WE HOPED HE WOULD BE.
He is calm by nature. He has a very stable character. He has a preponderance over the ladies. Although he is still young, his presence only can calm the ladies. It is enough that Skipper is in the same room to keep the ladies calmer. Their urges no longer prevail and there have been no more fights between Lana and Myla.
Lana does try to stay above Skipper by snapping at him. But Skipper handles this very well and is not tempted to argue. He does not fight back, he does not snap back, he just does his thing and doesn't let Lana tell him anything.
For us, Skipper is a very nice playful affectionate dog who really wants to be with us. Like to do things with us and as a German Shepherd should be. He is present, he is alert, not aggressive, not overly watchful, friendly to visitors when we are there.
He listens well, he learns very quickly, he trusts us and has shown several times that we can also trust him 100%.
And it's just a pleasure to have him back in the house, to be busy with him, to teach him everything and just to be together.
Even though we still miss Lex and Rowan every day of course ... I am confident that Skipper will become just as much a friend for life as the other two German Shepherds were.
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