Doug Goodman

I responded to an ad in the Houston Chronicle for German Shepherd puppies. I received the below email in return. This sure sounds like a variation on the Spanish Prisoner/Nigerian Fraud.  

"Thanks for the email and the interest you have for the german shepherd puppies.   Please there is only one puppy left, It is a Male. He is called jack, he will make a good pet and companion. He is presently available for adoption. He is 11 weeks and 4 days old.The puppy is current on all shots and worming's and examined by my vet. He is AKC registered. Attached are the pictures of jack for you to view in this email.  

The puppy comes with a puppy pack with food, coupons, toys, and a snugly blanket from home with the scent of their litter mates and mom and a scrapbook of their first weeks of life!   This guy is raised around kids, other dogs, and in our home he is well socialized. Jack do well with other pets, whether they are canine or feline. I have seen this here in our home. (It is a known fact that if you keep a dog away from a cat until the dog is fullgrown, he will dislike cats as soon as he meets them.  But, if puppies are introduced to cats at a young age and live with them, they find cats to be very "normal" and do not have the same feelings about cats as those that have not been around cats until fullgrown or nearly so.)  In fact,the puppy care much about companionship and do best with a "friend".  For this reason, many have chosen to get two puppies at once so that while the family is gone to work and school, the puppies will have company. He love to be cuddled and loved on. So for someone that has time to sit and love on a pet, this is perfect for both parties.

Though German Shepherd Dogs can be trained in hunting, and because of this they tend to be thought of as a barking breed,I have not found that this is true of this breed in general.  Sure, when my dog is outdoors and he see or smell a rabbit, deer or another dog that has gone through our yard, he get excited and will bark.  But I would say that as a general rule, he only bark a couple of times a day, and that only lasts for a very few minutes, sometimes much less.  We've found that all I have to do is say, "no!  Don't bark!" and look at him seriously, and he'll hang his head and stop immediately.  But then I've also trained him when I tell him "Bark!" he know to bark and he get his tasty little treat.  He love this command because of what he is going to get, and I love interacting with him in this way.  

I am in need of a home for the puppy where he can be  treated with lots of love,care and attention.I need a Christian and responsible family.  I am presently located in Douala, Cameroon. I am from Houston, Tx working here as a teacher working with the Voluntary Service Overseas Program in Cameroon. I teach students who are deaf or hard of hearing. Some of my students use sign language; some use lipreading and their hearing aids or cochlear implants.Some go into a regular classroom with an interpreter.They are all cool kids. I love teaching them.  

I brought the puppy here by Air Transport, i will use same means to send the puppy to you.The shipping is completely safe for your new baby.

There are certain temperature requirements that do need to be met so we do our best to get your new friend to you.However his safety is my first concern. You will need to pick him up from the closest international airport. You can send your full names,address and the name of the closest international airport for the flight reservation.The flight information stating exact departure and arrival time and flight number will be sent to you when the flight reservation is made.  As for the finance,you will be required to pay an adoption fee which will cover the flight and adoption cost.I will like to know the closest international airport so that i will find out from the airlines how much it will cost for the puppy to be flown there.   

I will like to know how many persons live with you at home and are there any pets or kids in your home.I will also like to know if you have any experience dealing with a German Shepherd Dog before? How do you plan to take care of the puppy and what do you to earn a living?   My term of adoption is that you will agree to take full care of the puppy when you adopt the puppy,you will take care of the puppy's up bringing,feeding,health issues,medication and other related issues as concerns his well being.   Feel free to ask any other question, if there is anything you need to know. "

Picked up Voodoo Sunday.  Her owner said she has German bloodlines, but Voodoo looked more East Texas than anything to me.  She was very alert and inquisitive about her environment.  As to the all-black nature, so far there are no tan or red markings on the dog.  Already stories are mounting about the new pup.  For one, she apparently has a head of steel and a rubber neck.  She leaped off the couch and landed on her head, and her body flipped over on her.  After she yelped cause she couldn't right herself, Andrea swooped in and turned her over. 

Another story, she is all shepherd.  She has defended me from the evil dog in the backyard who just wants to come out of the rain.  Poor Moj.  He looked at me to say, "Oh, hell.  Another shepherd?"  He has learned that there is a huge difference between how retrievers and shepherds act.  For one, shepherds don't let him inside.  Then they do that whole "herding" thing to him, which he doesn't much like either.  So this will take a little getting used to for him.

I will post later some video of Voodoo playing.  A month or two ago I took a tennis ball and shoved it in my "dead guy" bag, where it has stayed ever since.  I brought the ball out for Voodoo to play with.  Before I could get the camera up, she came up to the ball, gave it a big whiff, then started playing with it.  Let the game begin!

I received notice on my application for a GSD today.  It was denied because I said I would put the dog outside during the day and sometimes during the night.  I am a little bummed about this because I was hoping to adopt one of their dogs, but at the same time, I thought there might be philosophical differences between the organization and I.  According to the Rescue group's letter, it implies I would be neglecting the animal.  It is too bad they feel that way.  While Mojo grew up inside an apartment and still spends most of his time indoors, I have to be honest and admit that I do put him outside, and whatever dog we get will eventually have to spend some time outdoors.  Of course, doing what I want to do with the dog, it will have to be able to spend time outdoors eventually. 

I understand the Rescue group's points.  Many of these dogs have heartworm, so being outside is not a good idea.  To be honest, though, I was striking any dog with heartworm off my search list.  Then there is the issue of neglect.  I would counter that a dog kept in a cage inside and away from the family would be just as neglected.  Whether it was inside or outside the house would not make a difference in that regard.  Again, though, they need a measuring stick, and I can't begrudge them that.

Like I said, it's too bad.  I have spent most of my life around shepherds, and I think I would have given the adopted dog a lifestyle that it would have really liked.  Oh, well.  I guess it's back to the drawing board...

Back in July I attended the Reliant World Series of Dog Shows, and none of the shepherds I saw there caught my eye.  I was looking for a build suitable for working long hours in the heat and humidity of Houston, not a runway model.  So for my next step, I did the thing that any digital child of the 21st century would do, I searched the Internet.

It is amazing how many breeders you find on the Internet.  Googling "German Sheherd Houston Tx" gives you 131,000 hits.  That's a lot of GSDs!  But this picks up everything from the breeder to the backyard breeder to search engines for pets.  Narrowing these sites to "working dogs" got me down to about 60%, but that's still lots of breeders to search for.  I guess more breeder than I expected consider their pups working dogs.  Stil, the dogs I found really wasn't giving me the dog I was after.  If I did find one, let's face it, I can't afford a dog that is worth several thousand dollars.  That's a whole other tax bracket.  Even if I could afford the GSD, would I want to take the dog to a hurricane-ravaged area and risk injuring the animal after I had sunk all that money into it?  A breeder was feeling less and less the way to go.

Frustrated, I gave up searching.  It was the end of the fiscal year and I had (for the first time in my life) budget meetings to deal with.  They are nasty, and they go on forever, and a lot of budget revision is done between meetings.  Still, there is a bit of an adrenaline rush getting the budget you asked for, and especially when so many jobs are on the wire and people are getting laid off at NASA, anything that wasn't a complete reduction in budget felt like a win.

With the budget mostly done and the construction company's house work almost finished, I got back to searching for a dog.  This time, I went straight to the Great Houston German Shepherd Rescue.  Online, I saw a few females with promise, so I applied for adoption.  This is where it gets scary.  See, you are adopting the animal, not buying it, so the Rescue group wants to make sure you will be a good and responsible dog owner.  So they want to meet the family, see the house, meet Mojo, and come to a decision of whether or not you should own one of their dogs.  I haven't gone through this amount of probing since I had to apply for a Nasa badge, and even they didn't want to talk to anyone but me.  Not that I have anything to hide.  I have a wonderful family and now a beautiful house.  I know we will make a good home for any animal, but once that is put to the test, you get nervous.  I have applied for a dog and hope to hear from the rescue group within a week or two. 

I went to the dog show hoping to find a dog, or at least, a breeder.  My search for a new human remains dog has taken me from black-mouth curs to labradors, until I settled on German Shepherds.  Some good people recommended checking out the shepherds at the dog show.  As fate would have it, the SARQuest booth was located between the Labrador Rescue Association on one side, the German Shepherd Club on the other.  Or as my daughter aptly put it, "old dog and new dog."

I was excited to see the dogs.  I had researched the breed, which is not hard to do when your parents are one-time breeders of the dog you are looking into.  They gave me many good insights, from the obvious (looking for a "roached" back, which is where the spine arches like a rainbow) to the harder to discern(looking for the angle in the dog's pasterns, which can affect a GSD's ability to walk long distances).  Overbreeding issues also came up, such as breeding the back hips so low the dog looks like a dragster.  Some of my SAR friends told me to watch the knee angles and leg bone lengths, which can look good in a show dog but will make working the dog difficult over time.

After spending hours absorbing all this info, it was time to sit down at the dog show and put it to test.  I grabbed a seat in the corner so that I could get a good look at the dog's gait.  (Some shepherds overstep the rear paw over the front paw, and others can have a "wiggly butt" as I like to call it.  No, I do not know the proper term for "wiggly butt.")  I spent the the next few hours watching so many GSDs that all my eyes saw were black and tan.  But now I can make the statement that a lot of the dogs I saw were great for the ring, but just aren't what I'm looking for.  I don't need pretty; I need functional.  I spoke to one breeder who asked me what kind of shepherd I was searching for.  I wanted to tell her I was after a good-tempered dog with lots of drive and a love for the smell of dead things, but I knew the answer would be "Great.  But what do you want to SEE?"  So I explained that I am looking for a close-coated short female.  Color is not an issue only an issue if the dog is all-black.  It is too hot in Houston for an all-black dog, IMO.  She thought her dogs would be too large for me, but told me to give her a look anyways. 

The dog show was not a failure.  Sometimes to find what you want, you have to define what you do not want.  I do not want torpedo-headed dragsters.

The Next Dog

Even before Princess died, I talked about "my next dog."   I have eventually settled on German Shepherd, but for a while I was looking into some lesser known working dogs.  Since Princess died from bloat, I was looking at lesser-known dogs because my theory was that with less breeding, there was less risk of genetic problems, which are often found in overbred (popular) dogs.

Black-Mouthed Curr

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Black-Mouths are used to tree raccons and hunt pigs. 

What I liked:  These dogs were bred to track down animals, so the prey drive is strong. 

What I disliked:  Baying dogs.  Think Copper from "The Fox and The Hound."  I didn't know if my neighbors would appreciate the sonorous sounds of my BMC.

Something wicked cool:  This is the dog from Old Yeller. 

Australian Blue Heeler

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My brother owned a Blue Heeler, and it was a great and loyal dog.  Mojo is half Blue Heeler.

What I liked:  These cattle dogs are the only other dog besides Border Collie that I have seen consistenly excel at sheepherding trials (when I have been to one or seen one on television).  They are smart and curious dogs.

What I disliked:  Blue Heelers have a limit to what they can do and when they will do it.  They take an owner who can keep them interested in the game.  Mojo has this personality quirk.  I'm sure it doesn't affect all blue heelers, but I have seen it enough to think they are for a more advanced owner.

Something wicked cool:  Ancestry from Australia.

I just recently found this one:

Lundehund

Lundehunds are Norwegian working dogs bred to hunt puffins (not to be confused with puffer fish).

Puffin:

Puffer Fish:

Puffin-Hunting Lundehund:

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What I liked:  Lundehunds hunt along rocks and craggy shores, which to me makes them ideal for looking for dead bodies in say...a disaster zone area.

What I disliked:  Hair.  It's not horrible, but due to the heat and climate of Houston, I don't know how well the dog would do if tasked to search for bodies in August for hours on end. 

Something wicked cool:  There are sooo many.  Six-toed dog (for handling rocks and puffins).  They are freaks of flexibility, too, which would be great for parties...

There is an irony in my decision to bypass these rarer (at least in America) dog breeds and go with a German Shepherd.  WIth the German Shepherd, there will be the risk of hip displasia.  But to me the most important factor in this decision was to find a proven working dog, and while all these breeds make great working dogs, I grew up around German Shepherds and know a lot about how to train them (from my parents).  In getting a new cadaver dog, I wanted an animal that would take to training quickly and efficiently.  I have already spent 3 years training dogs for cadaver work only to be back at square one.  Hopefully a German Shepherd will be in my future, but first we have to finish house repairs.