The Amazing Thought Process of The German Shepherd’s Mind
When our beautiful 100lb German shepherd Maya was just six weeks old, we were allowed by the breeder to take her home to begin the bonding process. The breeder, a personal friend of ours, knew that we are dog people and felt that this would be acceptable even though he normally would not release a puppy before it was eight weeks old. And bond we did! Maya was as close to us as a child would have been. Our two grown sons would visit often and we would laughingly refer to them as her brothers. When Maya was 2 years old, our first grandson, Christopher was born. We already had an 11 yr old grand daughter, Jamie, and her younger sister Ciara. Maya was very loving to both girls, always greeting them with kisses and a wagging tail. However, when Christopher was six weeks old, his mom went back to work. He would arrive at our house every morning at 7A.M. and being just an infant would sleep for most of the morning. Since I had not cared for an infant in too many years to tell, I usually sat right next to him on the couch, fearful that he might fall off. Maya was VERY interested in this tiny new addition to the household. She was constantly poking at him with her nose and trying to kiss him. I repeatedly told her NO!!! On the third day, Christopher was once again lying next to me on the couch. Maya kept vigil by coming over every few minutes to check on him. At one point she brought one of her large, and heavy, bones and tried to drop it next to the baby. I immediately spoke sharply and said No Maya, he’s just a little baby, you’ll hurt him with that!. I thought I had hurt her feelings as she left the room. After about 20 minutes I walked across the room to the changing table to retrieve the necessary items for a diaper change. I turned around to see Maya had re entered the room and was right next to Christopher. I could see she had something in her mouth and with my heart in my throat I raced to the couch, imagining the worst scenario of my new grandson with blood on his head from a dropped bone, only to find that she was very gently placing a tiny mylar bone that she had when she was a puppy next to him. I can’t even imagine where she found that little bone! I had no idea that it was anywhere in our huge 14 room house. I was astounded that she must have spent the last 20 minutes looking for a bone that she knew was light enough to bring to the baby! Needless to say Christopher and Maya have become best buddies and now that he is three yrs old, and she is five, he gives her commands, which she obeys, and they play endlessly together. I have never feared for Christopher’s safety again and I still marvel at how intelligent that act was even though she has proved her cleverness many times. We recently added another Shepherd to our home. His name is Ringo and we are hoping he will prove to be as loving, obedient and intelligent as Maya.
