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That thought sounds rather silly when you think about it. A tiny little dog like that having the GSD as a close relative. It sounds impossible. It sounds like something you'd hear on a late night comedy show.
Over the past few years I have joked that Dolly has the spirit of a GSD. I'm not joking about it now. The past year has provided me with some incidents that have led me to think that maybe this is possible. To understand this I'll have to give you some background.
When I was a kid I always wanted a GSD as a pet. My wish came true when my Aunt Rosina Osbourne gave my sister her GSD, a female named Duchess. Duchess did not like me at first sight, in fact she tried to attack me. Dolly hated me too. Unlike Dolly the next morning I matter of factly walked out to where Duchess was tethered. I made sure she saw the leash in my hand.
She was a city dog who had never been out in the country. I took her for a walk and in 15 minutes I became that wonderful human who introduced her to it. On that walk she decided that I was to be her new owner. She also appointed herself as my protector. I was 12 at the time and I had never met a dog as intelligent as she was. I could write a book about her. If she'd had her way she'd be at my side 24/7.
Jump to the future. A few months ago just for the heck of it my son came up behind Gretchen and put his arm around her neck. Dolly was in the bedroom. She only saw his arm. Within seconds we had an enraged Miniature Dachshund on our hands who only calmed down when she saw it was my son. She still did not like it even though she loves Rich very much.
A few days ago I was sitting in the parking lot of the new Wal-Mart in Jefferson City while my son was loading groceries in the back. A young woman walked by and one of her friends snuck up on her, grabbed her, and hugged her aggressively nearly taking her off her feet. When Dolly saw this she became enraged. She wanted to hop out of the truck and go bite the hugger. it took some doing to get her calmed down. When the scene ended the young woman who had been hugged,walked on into Wal Mart. Dolly alertly watched her the whole time until she disappeared.
A few seconds later a car comes flying up and slides to a stop. Inside is someone who looked similar to the hugger. The car took off and left quickly. This put Dolly into another barking frenzy.
Not long after that we were ready to leave. As I am pulling out of the parking space lo and behold here comes another person who looked like the hugger and she was walking directly towards the truck. Dolly's temper hit the ceiling this time. This was a time that I was glad dogs cannot talk like humans because I believe that this person was being cussed out and threatened too by Dolly. She did not calm down until we left the lot.
Did I scold Dolly?? No I did not. I saw the situation from her point of view. She believed she had seen someone being assaulted and at the very least needed to alert humans to it or best of all do something about it herself.
We don't horseplay much here at home. I don't think she knows the difference between play and aggression. All she knows is that she don't like it.
My German Shepherd Duchess was the same way. A friend of mine when I was a kid, stopped by one day on his tractor to talk. Like all young men of that era some friendly horseplay started when he puched me on the top of my arm. Duchess put him right back up on his tractor. She'd have soon figured out how to get up there herself had I not stopped her.
The only difference between Dolly and Duchess is size. I also hate to say this nut intelligence too. Duchess was highly intelligent. Dolly is smarter than Duchess was BUT not by too much.
Like Duchess Dolly knows the names of everyone in the house. Unlike Duchess she knows the names of all the cats and knows the names of some of our neighbors. Duchess too may have learned like this but it was different circumstances.
What I have pointed out in this post leads me to believe that somewhere in the history of the dachshund there has to be a bit of German Shepherd there. No one really knows for sure because when the Germans developed the Dachshund it was done by many different breeders over many,many years of time. The people who started the breed were not around to see the end result.
Any and all comments will be appreciated. If someone has proof of my theory and can give me a link to a website I'd be very happy. To be honest it still sounds a bit ludicrous that a Doxie would have GSD blood in them.
Over the past few years I have joked that Dolly has the spirit of a GSD. I'm not joking about it now. The past year has provided me with some incidents that have led me to think that maybe this is possible. To understand this I'll have to give you some background.
When I was a kid I always wanted a GSD as a pet. My wish came true when my Aunt Rosina Osbourne gave my sister her GSD, a female named Duchess. Duchess did not like me at first sight, in fact she tried to attack me. Dolly hated me too. Unlike Dolly the next morning I matter of factly walked out to where Duchess was tethered. I made sure she saw the leash in my hand.
She was a city dog who had never been out in the country. I took her for a walk and in 15 minutes I became that wonderful human who introduced her to it. On that walk she decided that I was to be her new owner. She also appointed herself as my protector. I was 12 at the time and I had never met a dog as intelligent as she was. I could write a book about her. If she'd had her way she'd be at my side 24/7.
Jump to the future. A few months ago just for the heck of it my son came up behind Gretchen and put his arm around her neck. Dolly was in the bedroom. She only saw his arm. Within seconds we had an enraged Miniature Dachshund on our hands who only calmed down when she saw it was my son. She still did not like it even though she loves Rich very much.
A few days ago I was sitting in the parking lot of the new Wal-Mart in Jefferson City while my son was loading groceries in the back. A young woman walked by and one of her friends snuck up on her, grabbed her, and hugged her aggressively nearly taking her off her feet. When Dolly saw this she became enraged. She wanted to hop out of the truck and go bite the hugger. it took some doing to get her calmed down. When the scene ended the young woman who had been hugged,walked on into Wal Mart. Dolly alertly watched her the whole time until she disappeared.
A few seconds later a car comes flying up and slides to a stop. Inside is someone who looked similar to the hugger. The car took off and left quickly. This put Dolly into another barking frenzy.
Not long after that we were ready to leave. As I am pulling out of the parking space lo and behold here comes another person who looked like the hugger and she was walking directly towards the truck. Dolly's temper hit the ceiling this time. This was a time that I was glad dogs cannot talk like humans because I believe that this person was being cussed out and threatened too by Dolly. She did not calm down until we left the lot.
Did I scold Dolly?? No I did not. I saw the situation from her point of view. She believed she had seen someone being assaulted and at the very least needed to alert humans to it or best of all do something about it herself.
We don't horseplay much here at home. I don't think she knows the difference between play and aggression. All she knows is that she don't like it.
My German Shepherd Duchess was the same way. A friend of mine when I was a kid, stopped by one day on his tractor to talk. Like all young men of that era some friendly horseplay started when he puched me on the top of my arm. Duchess put him right back up on his tractor. She'd have soon figured out how to get up there herself had I not stopped her.
The only difference between Dolly and Duchess is size. I also hate to say this nut intelligence too. Duchess was highly intelligent. Dolly is smarter than Duchess was BUT not by too much.
Like Duchess Dolly knows the names of everyone in the house. Unlike Duchess she knows the names of all the cats and knows the names of some of our neighbors. Duchess too may have learned like this but it was different circumstances.
What I have pointed out in this post leads me to believe that somewhere in the history of the dachshund there has to be a bit of German Shepherd there. No one really knows for sure because when the Germans developed the Dachshund it was done by many different breeders over many,many years of time. The people who started the breed were not around to see the end result.
Any and all comments will be appreciated. If someone has proof of my theory and can give me a link to a website I'd be very happy. To be honest it still sounds a bit ludicrous that a Doxie would have GSD blood in them.
Any dog from Germany with a basic black and tan coloring could be distantly related. That includes Rottweilers and Dobermans. They all originated as hunting and/or herding dogs.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't even BEGIN to read the number on the first word verification. Or the second.