when i first left home at 19 to a shared house there were 3 dogs a lab, a rough collie and a gsd, i took them all out for walks and the gsd wouldnt leave my side he was devoted to me , a virtual stranger! i wanted one ever since and got my first dog a gsd 4 years ago(25 years later) and quickly found out that i had been lucky with that dog years ago and training and bringing one up myself was a whole new ball game, but i dont regret it a bit, he will never be as calm as that original dog,but he is still my devoted companion. 

My first dogs as a baby/young boy were springer spaniels.

Then we had a Pointer + Great Dane.

Then a Boxer, the greatest dog in the world. Had him when I was 14, we were inseperable, lost him when he was 8 to cancer.

Now have a brown Dobermann - never again!

Bull Terriers next, been looking for the last few years, attending shows etc.

My mother hated animals of all types .......dirty things according to her!  Fortunately, my father was of a different mind, but it meant that he had to (supposedly!) compromise.  So, when I was about six he brought home this pup and told my mum that it was a dachshund cross (ie SMALL) ............mmmmmmmmmmm, yes dad!  To his dying day he never changed the story, but looking back at the photos now it was either a badly bred dobie or a dobie cross! 

I then had a rescue GSD that produced four pups four weeks after taking her in.  She was followed by a gsp and then a succession of westies (again a compromise with the then husband and mother-in-law) and now I'm back to gsps!  :-)    

I loved reading about dogs as a kid and always wanted one. But I never had dogs as a kid and never really knew all that many people over my lifetime who did.  I wanted a dog as a kid but when I grew up I didn't and I though they were a social menace with dog poo all over the place. I got so sick of cleaning up after dogs on my grass verge not my kids shoes or legs... ..why should I have to do that?

In the end I though I spent so much time cleaning up dog mess I might as well have my own dog to clean up after! And show people how to care for a dog properly!   And if  they really were so hard to train and keep from mucking up our streets I would soon find that out for myself!   They are actually incredibly clean and without much training will not even mess on footpaths! I always find myself crawling under bushes to clean up!

I discovered there is absolutely no reason ever to be anti dog..,just anti people!

I remembered that I always wanted a BC as a kid and when I read up about breeds all the books said no for a first dog especially one from a working farm... but at my age I thought it was now or never so in the end I went with my heart. 

So I gained my  first dog almost 7 years ago from an add in the local newspaper.  He was a black tri BC/WSD from a cow farm. My soul mate. He was amazing, reached his gold good citz and was wating for over a year to actually take the test. At parties and shows would win the fancy dress and the  best trick and was great at obedience and fun agility. I never knew a non KC dog could be registered to compete at shows back or even at companion shows as I thought only pedigree dogs could get registered so I never competed him even though my trainer kept telling me to.   My BC could understand most of what we said I guess cos we always talked to him, and he helped my daughter with her asperger type autism.   He died suddenly 3 years ago. He raisins at Christmas and when I rang my vet they said to do nothing cos he would be fine.

He was a very special friend to many people in my community as well as to us..he had special games he would play with different people and he was so child safe and so popular with local children getting them to throw his ball. So many people cried when they heard he died . We planted a Christmas tree in his memory..the tree we had been using that last Christmas we spend with him. He was one in a million. I was very lucky to have tie with him even if it was such a short few years. Several people loved him so much they now have their own dogs.

The BC is my dream dog. But now I have Aussies because we were too devastated to get another BC and he was such hard work to train him to adulthood and  so to bring out the best in him.  I knew people who after loosing their loved companion were so upset they  switched breeds and they really got the wrong dog so I knew I should get a different breed but should  stick with the same type of collie related breeds.

The 1st thing we did after we got married, was to get a dog. I have always been dog mad, even though we never owned one at home. I have always loved GSD'S, don't know why, I was approx 7 or 8 when I fell in love with them. I even found one wandering on the way home from school. I took it home hoping to keep it, unfortunately it's owner turned up. Off we went to the RSPCA after we married, we picked out Taz, a lovely 4 year old ish GSD girl, she had been badly burned by her owners & ill treated, she was an absolute darling! She was 11 years old when we had our 1st baby & she was fantastic. When we lost her I couldn't bear to have another GSD, because she was so special, she couldn't be replaced. I turned to Manchester Terriers, then we had a miniature wire haired dacshund & then full circle back to GSD's. I am on my 3rd rescue GSD & couldn't imagine being without one. I often wonder why some people LOVE dogs & others don't. I have a sister who really does not like them at all & another who tolerates them (my twin actually), but neither of them feel like I do about dogs. just as well we aren't all the same!

when i was born my parents had a lovely little cross she was a kinda heinz 57 but looked like a little terrier, then we had our cindy the 2nd who's parents were both black labs but had a grandparent of a cocker spaniel, so there were 5 pups 3 black and 2 black and white that looked very like spaniels, we had one of the black and white girls. then we had holly who was again a little bit of this and a little of that she looked like a very small black lab, and lived till she was 18, i had left home by then and i had jasper who was a beutiful black and white springer, again he was from a black and white english mom and a brown and white welsh dad. i lost him at 15 years old bless him and now i have lillie my golden, its strange but i kinda feel that many characteristics are in her from jasper and holly and she even has 3 single black hairs in her coat!

My first dog was a Chihuahua called Benji, I was about 5 or 6 I think.  He died from Parvo when he was very young.  About 6 months later, we had another Chi called Toby who lived to a grand old age, but was a nasty little sod.  Mum and Dad got Lady as a friend for Toby, she was a Yorkie X JRT, she died 2 years ago just a few weeks short of her 20th birthday.
Grandad used to breed Border Collies, so I grew up with those too and love the breed.
I've had GSD's for the last 7 years and I couldn't be without them now.

A beautiful rescue Dobermann!