Proud Mummy

I am so proud of my dogs today. Especially Barak. We came back up through the valley when I saw the most aggressive dog in the neighbourhood - unleashed. The owner is an old Russian man, who smokes three packs of cigarettes every day. The dog is a huge mongrel bitch and normally the old man walks with her on a very short leash, fighting to hold her back, while she is barking and charging at everything and everyone. They live on the top floor in a house on the other side of the street and the dog stands barking in the window constantly, while the stupid owner tries to calm her down by petting her.

Anyway, the bitch was running around unleashed and Goshen approached her (something she would never do if the dog was leashed), while Barak stayed put with me. The bitch immediately attacked Goshen, upon which I no longer could convince Barak to stay out of it. He charged to defend Goshen and chased the frantic bitch up the slope to our house, up on the front side, with the rest of us chasing after them. When I came up on the front side, Barak came back home the same second, although this is exactly where he always took the chance to take off and chase cats for a while before coming back. I put Goshen and Barak back in the house and went out to the old guy who was whistling after his dog. I told him with my bumpy Hebrew that this dog of his is very aggressive, which he completely denied. I finished off by firmly explaining to him that his dog was the cause of the whole ordeal and that he maybe should keep her restrained from now on.

My dogs never start a fight for no reason, but they neither take shit if they are provoked or attacked. I am truly amazed over Barak's mental strength. Under his previous owner he was once attacked by this guys older dog, while Barak was tied to a wall and the other dog was unleashed! The other dog completely ate Barak's face, who later had to have some serious sutures to patch everything up again. In spite of experiences like these he is not aggressive, neither against males nor females. He always greets new dogs with a friendly attitude and an open mind. But, if someone threatens the ones he loves, he does not hesitate to take action. Barak has excellent blood-lines and he has a diploma from a dog show that qualifies him for breeding. Although he comes from the show-line of German Shepherds, he does not have their typical extreme roach-back or abnormally angled hind legs, but he is instead a very well-proportioned dog. In addition to that, I seriously consider putting him through a mental test, to evaluate his working-ability. Not only is he a very dominant and confident dog, he also has a strong prey drive, does good bite-work and shows a high protection instinct, no doubt. So, maybe he can have a future as a stud dog after all.

A picture taken of Barak when he got his diploma