German Shepherd

The German shepherd does nothing by halves — and loving least of all. Once it decides you're its person, it stops being a dog “on the side” and becomes a partner in every matter of the day. It goes where you go. It watches what you watch. It lies down exactly between you and the door — just like that, on duty. And it looks at you with that attentive, X-ray gaze of its, as if at any moment it were ready to drop everything and set off with you even to the end of the world — preferably this very second.

This readiness for service didn't come out of nowhere. The German shepherd was conceived at the end of the 19th century by Captain Max von Stephanitz, who set out to create the perfect working dog — clever, brave, and versatile — and from a dog named Horand began the whole breed. The rest unfolded as though the shepherd had decided to personally try out every profession in the world: it was German shepherds that became the first trained guides for the blind, they serve to this day in the police and in rescue teams, and one of them — Rin Tin Tin, a puppy rescued during the war by an American soldier — became Hollywood's greatest canine star and reportedly lost the first Oscar for Best Actor by a hair. Quite a career for a breed that has sheep-herding in its name. And yet of all these professions the shepherd invariably considers one the most important: to be yours.

This is a dog that must have an occupation, because otherwise it will find one for itself. A shepherd without a task can promote itself to head of security for the household: it carries out a document check on every pigeon on the windowsill, treats a closed door as a minor breach of procedure, and, with a serious face, supervises everything that happens in the house. It learns, meanwhile, faster than you can come up with lessons — after a week it knows new commands, after a month it can tell from your shoes whether you're leaving for work or for a walk, and it's hard to resist the impression that, if only it had thumbs, it would open the gate for you itself. That's not overzealousness — it's a need for meaning. This dog wants to be useful, wants to learn, and wants to know that its work matters. Give it that, and you get a partner few people understand until they've had one themselves.

All this magnificent machinery, however, requires conscious care — and that from the very first months of life. The shepherd grows to a considerable size, and its joints and hips are a well-known sore point of the breed. A rule applies here that sounds counterintuitive: in a puppy, less means better. Too-rapid growth and an excess of calories in youth are a straight path to joint troubles in the future. Calm, even development gives a stronger, fitter dog for long years — and with a shepherd it's always those years that matter most. The second sore point is less obvious and can be truly dangerous: the shepherd's deep chest raises the risk of gastric torsion (bloat) — a sudden condition that can threaten life. On top of that, many shepherds simply have sensitive digestion — and there's a rarer but very “shepherd-typical” trouble: EPI, or exocrine pancreatic insufficiency. As much as 70% of all diagnoses of this disease fall precisely on German shepherds. Such a dog eats normally and yet loses weight and is perpetually hungry, because without enzymes given with meals it simply cannot digest its food — fortunately, once diagnosed, EPI can be managed well.

Because the German shepherd gives you something that can't be forced or bought: full, conscious commitment. It really is on your side — on a good day and a worse one, at the door and by the couch, on duty and napping right beside you. In return it needs clear rules, an occupation for that sharp head of its, and care that protects its strong but not indestructible body.

And then you'll see that this dog doesn't so much live with you as walk through life shoulder to shoulder. And it does so with the seriousness of someone who, of all the professions in the world, has been given the most important one — you — and has no intention of letting it down.