Dixie's story

Dixie was my first introduction to the German Shepherd breed. Prior to this I had never owned a dog let alone a shepherd, it was only following an accident at work, and having to retire i found i had loads of spair time on my hands. Both my sons were grown up, and in full time education, so i decided i needed a hoby. My husband was used to dogs all his life, he used to own a whippet and race both whippets and greyhounds with his uncle before we were married, so had some insight into looking after dogs. He had always wanted a shepherd, but while we were both working, and the kids were little i always said no!

I spent some time researching the breed, and then one afternoon after alot of ringing around we found a breeder that had a 6month bitch for sale. Off we went to see her, kids aswell. We found the breeder in the yellow pages, she also owned a boarding kennel,and showed her own shepherds.

When we got there she introduced us to Dixie, she was bigger than i imagined, but we took to her straight away. She was full of energy and so friendly, licked us to death, and she loved the boys. The breeder also took us to see the rest of her dogs, the characters on all of them seemed excellent.We were unable to see either parent, as the breeder had sold her mother to another show home, and had taken three pups back out of the litter as part of the deal.........(Dixie being her pick of bitches, that didn't work out aswell as she thought she would have.)

Dixies litter sister was still there, but the breeder said Dixie had the better character for us, being our first shepherd. After about an hour and a half talking to the breeder and signing the relevant forms, we took Dixie home in the car.

She was ok in the car, but would she hell'as like come in the house, in the end my husband picked her up and carried her in.This is when my story really begins.........remember i was a novice then, and looking back now with a few more years experience realise my mistakes, but learned a hell of alot from them, and how not always to believe things at face value. Alot of people with pet shepherds will be able to relate to some of the events which i will now explain

We let Dixie explore the house, she was allowed to go anywhere she wanted,but we intended her sleeping in the kitchen,we had a bed there ready for her, and showed her this.There were toys also in her bed for her to play with. She paced about alot at first, but soon got used to the home environment.I'd bought a sack of food off the breeder,which she was reared on, and fed her at tea time, she ate it fine. I took her for a walk later that night to some fields near bye, she pulled alittle on the lead, but not too bad.

That night she was bedded down for the night,we closed the kitchen door and went to bed. She cryed alot during the night,i kept coming down and telling her to be quiet, and eventually she settled.

Next morning i came down,and to more horror she'd scratted a hole in the carpet,what could i do i couldn't tell her off,just ignored it and gave her a big fuss.The days and nights passed and the whole got bigger and bigger,she nearly burried her way through the concrete floor, the same spot all the time,was there something burried under the kitchen floor,the kitchen was an extension to the house, were the previous owners doing a Brookside...................I don't think so............Dixie was objecting to being locked in the kitchen. Right then madam we'll let you have the run of the house day and night. Tried it out, left her while i walked around the block, she was fine.... no chewing or scrating. She began to follow us up to bed on the night time,and slept by the bed,well thats ok no more destruction she was quite happy being left for a while,just used to watch out of the window,and to this day she still sleeps by our bed. Well one problem solved, but werse was yet to come.

Dixie ate her food well for two days,on the third day she wouldn't eat it. Would lift it up and put it down again the next feed time, but she wouldn't touch it. What do i do.... i'll try putting a bit of tinned meat in it.Good she ate it.......only for a day or so, then she stopped eating it again.......now what......i'll try a different tin of meat in it........well that was clever,she'd pick out the meat and leave the complete food, this is now doing my head in, days went by, weeks went by, she was getting thinner and thinner. I rang the breeder,showing my concern, she said just keep picking it up and giving her it next feed, she won't starve herself,well thats what i did.Four days went by and she hadn't eaten a thing. I was passed my self with worry, she looked so thin.

I couldn't let her go on much longer, I changed her food to Eukanuba at least if she eats a couple of ounzes its something. Would she hell. i persevered for another 2days,then gave up and bought tinned meat and biscuit, she gulped that down alright, but only lasted a couple of days, and then she went off that.I didn't no what to do next,i even used to borrow a friends dog to feed with her as she would eat with a bit of competition,it got so bad that i ended up having to hand feed her, small amounts and often, it got to the stage that i would give her anything as long as she was eating something.(who was the fool)

Dixie continued being a very picky eater until she was mated, during her pregnacy ate like a pig, complete food without anything in it,and continued to eat greedily from that day to this,but she's always had competition as i kept a male puppy out of the litter,Taz who now also lives in the house with his mum, and has always been an excellent eater................That problem solved.

After having Dixie a couple of days, and she'd settled into the home, i then decided to take her out and about,round the streets and shops near bye.She didn't like it one bit, she would back off when people came up to stroke her, and was totally unsure about everything. I took her up to the local school and sat with her just letting her watch, she was totally out of her deapth. What was happening, this was not the same pup i saw on her own terf jumping all over us as strangers to her then.

Days went bye and i continued socialising her, I realised that her character wasn't as good as i initially thought. I kept in touch with the breeder, telling her all about Dixie's problems,until one day she said fetch her back and let me see her.

I did .....I got Dixie out of the car and took her up to the front door to meet the breeder, she didn't acknowledge her at first,and wouldn't go into the house.We eventually got her in and i sat down with her.Her breeder couldn't believe it. Dixie stuck to my side like glue.Wouldn't take a biscuit off the breeder,and was a bit unsure of her.She then decided to bring her stud dog in to see what Dixie was like with him, as she used to love playing with him.

Well it was like a" jeckle and hide" situation Dixie reverted back to this excitable jumpy pup that i first met. She began playing with the male jumping up at the breeder, taking biscuits off her,even her expression changed, she looked so happy.........

After a while I took her home again, but I felt a bit sick, what had i done i'd taken an older pup away from her mates that she was happy with into an environment that she obviously had never met before, but i loved her to bits, the breeder had said that she would take her back, but i couldn't let her go.......i decided just to perciveer with her. I was advised to do some obedience training with her, to see if it would build up her confidence.

Two weeks after having Dixie see came into season,could this be a reason for her timid behavour, or was she not socialised enough,although the breeder told me she used to take her to a gsd. training club, but was this enough,i don't think so,

I booked her in with a local obedience trainer, and off we went in the car.On arriving the trainer first took me aside and explained all about the German Shepherd Dog, and his way of training,aswell as his preferred collars and leads and feeding regimes, this took about 30mins.

I then went to take Dixie out of the car. I walked up to him with her, and straight away he took her from me and began to walk away with her. Obviously panic set in abit, and she was all over the place, pulling to get back to me. "I'll have her walking to heal in five minutes he said", and with that he gave her an almighty yank on the lead, nearly lifting her off her feet. My heart sank, shurley this isn't the way to train a dog. Off down the lane we went, and sure enough she was walking to heal with him, too scared to do anything else i think. He then handed her to me to pracise, telling me where i was going wrong of course.

Next on the agender was retrieving a stick, he showed me the roaps and off we went into his field, obviously she didn't learn straight away. The trainer then went to pick the stick up from near her, and she growled and lunged at him, obviosly by now not liking the guy at all, he did no more than take a heavy check chain out of his pocket, and through it at her, hiting her on the abdomen, she let out an almighty scream (SHE WAS IN SEASON AT THE TIME)and ran straight back to me shaking. Thats the way to treat a dog when it does that he said,if you always carry a chain in your pocket,all you will have to do is rattle it when she does something wrong and say NO, she will soon learn.

I left the trainer to go back again in a weeks time, during which time i had to practice at home every day with her. The next time we went we did sit and down stays, she hated him...............do you blame her. On the third visit he said i needn't go back again,she was doing well with me and had learnt the basics.......thank god for that.................As you can imagine as a novice this gave me the total wrong impression of trainers, were they all like that,or not?

Over the years i have come to my own conclusions about obedience training and the right sort of methods to use, certainly not the methods he used.

From that day to this Dixie has never liked an older chap that wears a cap as he did, funny how dogs never forget isn't it?

Dixie's character improved greatly over the next few months the more obedient she became the more confidant she became.............i could do off leader heal work with her, she would sit and stay even if i was out of sight, she would do down stays, retrieval work, and tracking, all on a reward and praise basis, i spent hours of really enjoyable and rewarding days training her.

By the time Dixie was 2years old it was apparent that she had hormonal problems, prior to every season her character would alter and she would become very timid again. I had now really got hooked on the breed, visiting lots of shows, and became very friendly with the breeder i bought Dixie from. We decided to have a litter from her, using a male with an excellent character and of good pigment.

I had seven lovely pups,3bitches,and4dogs. The characters were outstanding lovely outgoing pups, and also improved on colour. I kept 2 out of the litter a dog and a bitch,until 5months, when the male turned out to be the better(TAZ who is still with me today now 7years old.)

After this litter Dixie was like a new dog, she would eat anything and everything thing i gave her,even would pinch off the other dogs if i let her, her hormonal problems resolved, and she became a very alert protective and confident adult.

She is still with me now 9year old,lives in the house with Taz, and absolutely loves anyother pups which have come along sinse,the problems i encountered with Dixie taught me an awful lot about the breed, and five litters down the line am still learning, but in my opinion the shepherd is the best, a most faithful and loyal companion, second to none.

There will be many of people out there that have had similar problems as i did and lots of breeders that will have comments about my adventures with dixie, I now know the downfalls that i had, and why they happened, and have come to my own conclusions, mistakes that i made then i've learnt from, and made sure that they have never happened again.

Anyone that has any comments about my story feel free to contact me, and i hope you enjoyed the reading.........