Making the Decision of a Lifetime

In this chapter

• Deciding whether you’re ready for any dog, much less a German Shepherd
• Understanding the time, energy, and money involved in dog ownership
• Looking at the pitfalls of living with a big, smart, active dog

Whoever said, “You can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your family,” obviously never picked out a dog. With a dog, you can choose both your friend and your family!

Despite this great opportunity, most people devote about as much time to choosing a new dog as they do to ordering lunch from a drive-thru window. Not surprisingly, in the United States, even more people divorce their dogs than their spouses. The problem is, unlike divorcees, spurned dogs don’t end up in singles bars — they end up in animal shelters. For most of them, it’s a one-way trip. So my first mission in this section is to talk you out of getting a dog and to try even harder to talk you out of getting a German Shepherd. If you’re still not convinced that this is the mistake of a lifetime, you just might be ready to choose the friend of a lifetime.

The first point to consider is whether you’re ready to care for any type of dog. Take this quiz to help you assess your dog-readiness:

• Can you share several hours a day with a dog?
• Can you devote at least one hour each day to exercising a dog?
• Can you devote at least 30 minutes each day to training a dog?
• Can you feed a dog on a regular schedule?
• Can you provide safe and comfortable sleeping and living accommodations for a dog?
• Can you afford the food and veterinary bills for a dog?
• Can you keep a dog for his entire life?

Obviously, you’re supposed to answer “yes” to each of these questions. If you did, great! Before heading out to get a dog, however, you need to think about the specifics of dog ownership. The following sections walk you through each major component of owning a dog in general, and a German Shepherd Dog in particular.

Sharing Your Time

Can you picture yourself in this scenario?

You’re late to work again, so you push the dog outside, hustle the kids out the door, and spend a grueling day making a buck. You come home dead tired but determined to spend quality time with your kids. The dog keeps butting in and dancing on top of the Monopoly board on the floor, so back outside he goes. A little while later, your dinner guests arrive, and the dog is sniffing them in embarrassing places — how’d he get back inside, anyway? After the guests are gone, you remember that it’s time to feed the dog (patting yourself on the back for being such a responsible dog owner). You go in the yard to fetch the dog and fall into a hole, angrily noticing that all the plants have been dug up.

Is that dog incorrigible? No, that dog is neglected. A dog is an active, intelligent animal who can’t be subjected to a life sentence in solitary confinement. Nor is he a toy that you can put away until you feel like playing with it again, or breathing furniture that’s there to provide an all-American backdrop for your family ­picture. If you plan to get a family dog, you must treat him as a member of the family.

Remember

A German Shepherd in particular is smarter than the average dog. He needs companionship and activity — even more than most other breeds do. You don’t have to quit your job to get a German Shepherd, but you do have to make time for your dog just as though he were a second job, with no time off.

For some perverse reason, dogs love to exercise. This trait is incredibly irritating to many dog owners (although a major appeal to the health-crazed minority). German Shepherds really love to exercise. They were bred to cover miles of territory every day and to keep on the move for hours. A stroll around the block is not going to cut it.

You have a few choices if you decide to bring a GSD into your family:

• You can buy 20 acres of land and fence it securely so that your Shepherd can patrol the perimeter.
• You can buy a doggy treadmill and run up your electric bill.
• You can get up off the couch and become healthy yourself. Walk, or even jog, your dog a couple of miles every day.

Tip

You can cheat by shortening the walk but adding a play session. This way, you get to stand relatively still while throwing sticks and balls that your dog can retrieve. (For more on playing and exercising with your dog, see Chapters Exercising Your Dog and Ten Fun Games You Can Play with Your Shepherd.)

If physical exertion is out of the question for you, strongly reconsider getting a German Shepherd.

Training

Most people think that they want canny canines, but very few people are prepared to deal with and nurture that intelligence. An intelligent child who is given no direction or stimulation is on the way to becoming a problem child; the same is true for an intelligent dog. If you plan to keep your dog in a cage for a good part of the day, or locked in the house alone while you work, you don’t want a dog whose mind is racing with ideas and who needs entertainment. A dog can’t read a book or watch TV when things are slow — he needs activities to do. A smart dog will look for ways to entertain himself, and he will find them.

The problem is that even the most intelligent dog is not smart enough to think of helpful things to do for entertainment. True, he may decide to redecorate your house, but chances are that ripped drapes and chewed paneling are not your thing. A bored dog will dig, bark, get into the garbage, and chew. Then what happens? His owner tries to remove all the items with which the dog could entertain himself or locks the dog in a cage or run.

A dog will always find a way to do something, even if it’s only barking or biting himself — and when he finally gets a chance to do something, he will be so crazed with relief and ecstasy that his owners may consider him uncontrollable. They conclude that this supposedly intelligent dog is actually stupid and wild and take him on a one-way trip to the dog pound.

You need to exercise your German Shepherd’s mind as well as its body. Training your dog not only tires out his little brain but, he being a German Shepherd, actually results in learning on the dog’s part! You have in your power the ability to create a being (perhaps the only one in the world) who will pay attention to what you say and even mind you.

Remember

For some breeds, training is a nice option; for German Shepherds, it is a necessity. They are too smart, too powerful, and too active to remain without a leader. If you don’t plan to lead, get out of their way, because the dogs will gladly take over. And although GSDs may be smart for dogs, they really aren’t leadership material.

Despite (or perhaps because of) their being the near equivalent of canine Einsteins, German Shepherds require you to have plenty of patience. Can you calmly say, “Now give me my wallet — oh, I see you’ve eaten a $50 bill” and then walk away without contemplating murder? Can you return to your car to find your dog’s face poking up from a sea of upholstery foam and simply get in and sit on the springs for the drive home? German Shepherds are ingenious, and like gifted children they’re prone to occasional experimentation. If you’re thinking of owning a GSD, keep this inevitability in mind.

Calculating the Cost of Loving Index

“All you add is love,” the ads claim — and a lot of work and a mound of money. Dogs are the best love money can buy, but they don’t come cheap. Besides the initial cost of a German Shepherd (which can range from $100 to $10,000), you need to feed the dog, house the dog, and fix the dog — not to mention all the fun stuff you can spend money on, such as toys, accessories, classes, and competitions, and all the not-fun stuff, such as replacing your carpets, doors, and plants.

Use the following expense calculator to estimate the cost of dog ownership.

One-Time Expenses

Dog: ________

Puppy vaccinations: ________

Fence: ________

Cage: ________

Bedding: ________

Collar and tags: ________

Leash: ______

Grooming tools: ________

First-aid kit: ________

Neuter/spay: ________

Toys: ________

Total one-time expenses: ________

Yearly Expenses

Food: ________

Checkup/vaccinations: ________

Heartworm preventive: ________

More toys: ________

Total yearly expenses: ________

When-You-Least-Expect-It Expenses

Replace carpeting: ________

Replace interior of car: ________

Emergency trip to vet to remove carpeting and auto upholstery from the dog’s stomach: ________

Total when-you-least-expect-it expenses: ________

Optional Expenses

Classes: ________

More lasses: ________

New home with a bigger yard: ________

Total optional expenses: ________

Grand Estimated Total Over the Next 12 Years: ________

Were you shocked at that 12-year total? You’re not alone. But remember that you get what you give. Owning a dog brings you many benefits, including the possibility of a longer life!

You may think that you can scrimp a little on some of these things, but you can’t scrimp on the most important things: feeding, housing, and caring for your dog.

Feeding the dog

Dogs not only like to eat, but they have to eat. German Shepherds are good-sized dogs who need to eat 3 to 6 cups of food each day. Feeding a dog does not require the combined efforts of the great chefs of Europe, but it does require consistency and an outlay of money to buy a decent-quality food. You can’t just throw your leftovers in a vat and slop the dog, or you will spend all the money you think you’re saving at the vet’s office. A typical food bill for an adult GSD is $300 to $500 per year.

Warning!

Some dog owners think that if they have to stay late at work or even spend the night away from home, the dog can just go without. This approach is not right, and it’s not healthy. Then there’s the child who promises to feed the dog but fails to keep the promise. Too often, the parents resolve to teach the child a lesson by not giving in and feeding the dog. Huh? A dog needs nourishment just like you do, and neglecting to feed him is cruel.

For information about what to feed, how much to feed, and how often to feed a German Shepherd, see Chapter Feeding Your German Shepherd.

Housing the dog

Where will your new family member live? In the basement? The garage? A pen? What a lovely welcome! You can modify these places to serve as temporary quarters, but if you want your German Shepherd to be a part of your family, you must make some compromises so that he can share your household. Some people who want their dogs to function as guard dogs reason that sleeping inside will spoil them for their duties, but you’ll find that your dog is far more likely to guard his family if he actually knows who his family is.

This doesn’t mean that you have to give your dog the run of the house and first rights to all your furniture, however. A dog needs his own place, so wherever you want your dog to sleep, make him a special spot all his own, complete with soft bedding. A cage (or “crate”) fulfills this role; I suggest that you purchase one. See Chapter Shopping for Dog Stuff for what to look for in a good cage.

If you plan for your dog to spend a good deal of his time outside, you must provide a warm shelter for winter, shade for summer, and a fence year-round. A German Shepherd’s intelligence is both his greatest asset and perhaps his greatest undoing. Owners convinced of their dog’s high IQ figure that Rin Tin Twin is too smart to need supervision and allow him to roam at will. The smartest dog is nonetheless dumb by (most) human standards, and a loose dog is likely to be a dead dog eventually.

Keep in mind too that, like all dogs, German Shepherds shed. In fact, German Shepherds shed a lot. If you can’t tolerate hair in any part of your home, a GSD is not the dog for you. Also consider that GSDs are large dogs. If you live in tight quarters, adding a dog to step over every time you cross the room may not be a good idea.

Fixing the dog and keeping him healthy

Your German Shepherd will have to go the veterinarian, and although vets may be nice folks, they don’t work for free. Your dog will need vaccinations, worming, neutering, and heartworm checks and preventives. Add a couple of visits for when your dog is puking on your couch and other assorted pleasantries, and you have a normal year’s vet expenses of about $150 to $400.

Remember

As with people, the threat of catastrophic illness looms. German Shepherds are predisposed to several serious health problems, including hip and elbow dysplasia, osteochondrosis dessicans, cauda equina, gastric torsion, and perianal fistulas, all of which can be very expensive to treat (see Chapter Dealing with GSD Hereditary Health Problems for details). Cancer, trauma, and all sorts of weird ailments can cost thousands of dollars to treat as well. Chances are they won’t happen, and you can’t be expected to spend your children’s college fund on your dog, but be aware of the possibility of such a problem. Veterinary bills are usually highest in the first and last years of a dog’s life.

Having a Friend of a Lifetime for a Lifetime

How does a dog fit into your long-term plans? Do you know where you’ll be living a year from now? Can you say with assurance that you’ll live somewhere that allows you to have a dog and that you will not allow your circumstances to change to the point where you can no longer keep a dog? If you add a baby to the household, does the dog go?

Plan on having your Shepherd for the next 12 years or so and on caring for him every single day of those 12 years. Shepherds make great dogs in part because of their loyalty to their families. Don’t get a Shepherd on a trial-run basis. They are sentient beings who do not understand why they have been banished to the back-yard or abandoned to a dog shelter. After you use up your dog’s irresistibly cute puppy months, few people will line up to offer him a new home. If the old standby line “We found him a home in the country” were true, country roads would be impassable with the millions of these former city-slicker dogs. That home in the country was most likely the city pound, and most dogs don’t leave there alive.

The number-one pet problem is lack of responsibility and commitment. The human half is always the unfaithful one — your dog will remain loyal to you no matter how big a jerk you are. Can you be as responsible as your dog? Before you get a dog, can you vow to care for him “in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, ’til death do us part?”

Now’s the time to sit down for a serious reality check with your entire family. If your reality check bounces, fish make great pets!

by D. Caroline Coile, PhD