“
When a shepherd goes to kill a wolf, and takes his dog to see the sport, he should take care to avoid mistakes. The dog has certain relationships to the wolf the shepherd may have forgotten.
”
”
Robert M. Pirsig (Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values (Phaedrus, #1))
“
She felt like she was missing something–as if there was more to the Shepherd than met the eye—but the harder she had tried to figure out what it was, the less she was able to come up with an answer. There was something about the dog that was vaguely familiar.
”
”
Hope Worthington (Shifting Moon: Shifting Moon Saga, Book 1)
“
She opened her curtains, and looked out towards the bit of road that lay in view, with fields beyond outside the entrance-gates. On the road there was a man with a bundle on his back and a woman carrying her baby; in the field she could see figures moving - perhaps the shepherd with his dog. Far off in the bending sky was the pearly light; and she felt the largeness of the world and the manifold wakings of men to labor and endurance. She was a part of that involuntary, palpitating life, and could neither look out on it from her luxurious shelter as a mere spectator, nor hide her eyes in selfish complaining.
”
”
George Eliot (Middlemarch)
“
It is a fool of a shepherd who culls his dogs.
”
”
Jefferson Smith (Strange Places (Finding Tayna, #1))
“
The dog, who had sounded so ferocious in the winter distances, was a female German Shepherd. She was shivering. Her tail was between her legs. She had been borrowed that morning from a farmer. She had never been to war before. She had no idea what game was being played. Her name was Princess.
”
”
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (Slaughterhouse-Five)
“
Thus the headstrong German Shepherd dog, Fritz, and Moritz, the Barbaryy ape, innocently and gallantly defending his mate, plunge Greece into a political void.
”
”
Louis de Bernières (Birds Without Wings (Vintage International))
“
Replace ropes with bullets. Hound dogs with German shepherds. A gray uniform with a bulletproof vest. Nothing is new.
”
”
Jesmyn Ward (The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race)
“
To his complete astonishment, he later found himself offering up a stumbling prayer that the dog would be protected. It was a moment in which he felt a desperate need to believe in a God that shepherded his own creations. But, even praying, he felt a twinge of self-reproach, and knew he might start mocking his own prayer at any second.
Somehow, though, he managed to ignore his iconoclastic self and went on praying anyway. Because he wanted the dog, because he needed the dog.
”
”
Richard Matheson (I Am Legend)
“
There are rumors of rats down here as big as German shepherds, the people not the dogs.
”
”
Charlie Kaufman (Antkind)
“
YEA, THEY ARE GREEDY DOGS, WHICH CAN NEVER HAVE ENOUGH, AND THEY ARE SHEPHERDS THAT CANNOT UNDERSTAND; THEY ALL LOOK TO THEIR OWN WAY, EVERY ONE FOR HIS GAIN, FROM HIS QUARTER.
”
”
Eugene V. Debs (Works of Eugene Victor Debs)
“
Rudy is a mutt; my father says he’s a cross between a chihuahua and a German shepherd, which must’ve been some wild dog sex.
”
”
Ned Vizzini (It's Kind of a Funny Story)
“
Where I come from, Annagramma, they have the Sheepdog Trials. Shepherds travel there from all over to show off their dogs. And there're silver crooks and belts with silver buckles and prizes of all kinds, Annagramma, but do you know what the big prize is? No, you wouldn't. Oh, there are judges, but they don't count, not for the big prize. There is - there was a little old lady who was always at the front of the crowd, leaning on the hurdles with her pipe in her mouth with the two finest sheepdogs ever pupped sitting at her feet. Their names were Thunder and Lightning, and they moved so fast, they set the air on fire and their coats outshone the sun, but she never, ever put them in the Trials. She knew more about sheep than even sheep know. And what every young shepherd wanted, really wanted, wasn't some silly cup or belt but to see her take pipe out of her mouth as he left the arena and quietly say 'That'll do,' because that meant he was a real shepherd and all the other shepherds knew it, too. And if you'd told him he had to challenge her, he'd cuss at you and stamp his foot and tell you he'd sooner spit the sun dark. How could he ever win? She was shepherding. It was the whole of her life. What you took away from her you'd take away from yourself. You don't understand that, do you? But it's the heart and the soul and center of it! The soul... and... center!
”
”
Terry Pratchett (A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32; Tiffany Aching, #2))
“
If anyone attempted to rule the world by the gospel and to abolish all temporal law and sword on the plea that all are baptized and Christian, and that, according to the gospel, there shall be among them no law or sword - or need for either - pray tell me, friend, what would he be doing? He would be loosing the ropes and chains of the savage wild beasts and letting them bite and mangle everyone, meanwhile insisting that they were harmless, tame, and gentle creatures; but I would have the proof in my wounds. Just so would the wicked under the name of Christian abuse evangelical freedom, carry on their rascality, and insist that they were Christians subject neither to law nor sword, as some are already raving and ranting.
To such a one we must say: Certainly it is true that Christians, so far as they themselves are concerned, are subject neither to law nor sword, and have need of neither. But take heed and first fill the world with real Christians before you attempt to rule it in a Christian and evangelical manner. This you will never accomplish; for the world and the masses are and always will be unchristian, even if they are all baptized and Christian in name. Christians are few and far between (as the saying is). Therefore, it is out of the question that there should be a common Christian government over the whole world, or indeed over a single country or any considerable body of people, for the wicked always outnumber the good. Hence, a man who would venture to govern an entire country or the world with the gospel would be like a shepherd who should put together in one fold wolves, lions, eagles, and sheep, and let them mingle freely with one another, saying, “Help yourselves, and be good and peaceful toward one another. The fold is open, there is plenty of food. You need have no fear of dogs and clubs.” The sheep would doubtless keep the peace and allow themselves to be fed and governed peacefully, but they would not live long, nor would one beast survive another.
For this reason one must carefully distinguish between these two governments. Both must be permitted to remain; the one to produce righteousness, the other to bring about external peace and prevent evil deeds. Neither one is sufficient in the world without the other. No one can become righteous in the sight of God by means of the temporal government, without Christ's spiritual government. Christ's government does not extend over all men; rather, Christians are always a minority in the midst of non-Christians. Now where temporal government or law alone prevails, there sheer hypocrisy is inevitable, even though the commandments be God's very own. For without the Holy Spirit in the heart no one becomes truly righteous, no matter how fine the works he does. On the other hand, where the spiritual government alone prevails over land and people, there wickedness is given free rein and the door is open for all manner of rascality, for the world as a whole cannot receive or comprehend it.
”
”
Martin Luther (Luther and Calvin on Secular Authority (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought))
“
A strong man next to you in bed is a comfort, but real security is a German Shepherd bitch on guard at the door.
”
”
Susan Conant (A New Leash on Death (A Dog Lover's Mystery, #1))
“
Oh, you poor, dear, old boy…come here for a pat on the head.” We encountered a very ancient-appearing, dejected Australian Shepherd mix of a dog whose eyes squinted tightly as he faced into the frigid gusts and who shyly skittered the opposite direction as we approached him.
”
”
Susie Duncan Sexton (Secrets of an Old Typewriter: Stories from a Smart and Sassy Small Town Girl)
“
Adolf introduces Fascism to Germany, spreads war throughout Europe, murders millions in concentration camps—but he's a strict vegetarian and loves his dog. Tossing in a touching scene with his German shepherd Blondie and a dish of lentils won't make Hitler's character 'balanced.' Hitler's character isn't balanced.
”
”
Howard Mittelmark (How Not to Write a Novel: 200 Classic Mistakes and How to Avoid Them—A Misstep-by-Misstep Guide)
“
Orafoura was yelling at his dog (not a German shepherd) in German, and I thought, “I didn’t realize dogs can speak German.
”
”
Jarod Kintz (This Book is Not for Sale)
“
Shall we go to Bethlehem, men? Or shall we DANCE
”
”
Dave Barry (The Shepherd, the Angel, and Walter the Christmas Miracle Dog)
“
It was a moment in which he felt a desperate need to believe in a God that shepherded his own creations. But, even praying, he felt a twinge of self-reproach, and knew he might start mocking his own prayer at any second. Somehow, though, he managed to ignore his iconoclastic self and went on praying anyway. Because he wanted the dog, because he needed the dog.
”
”
Richard Matheson (I Am Legend)
“
Yet complicated people were getting wet - not only the shepherds. For instance, the piano-tuner was sopping. So was the vicar's wife. So were the lieutenant and the peevish damsels in his Battlesden car. Gallantry, charity, and art pursued their various missions, perspiring and muddy, while out on the slopes beyond them stood the eternal man and the eternal dog, guarding eternal sheep until the world is vegetarian.
”
”
E.M. Forster (The Longest Journey)
“
Wherever the family was, these two dogs, both six-year-old shepherd mixes, took up their posts at the central coming-and-going point. Gil called them concierge dogs. And it's true, they were inquisitive and accommodating. But they were not fawning or overly playful. They were watchful and thoughtful. Irene thought they had gravitas. Weighty demeanors. She thought of them as diplomats. She had noticed that when Gil was about to lose his temper one of the dogs always appeared and did something to divert his attention. Sometimes they acted like fools, but it was brilliant acting. Once, when he was furious about a bill for the late fees for a lost video, one of the dogs had walked right up to Gil and lifted his leg over his shoe. Gil was shouting at Florian when the piss splattered down, and she'd felt a sudden jolt of pride in the dog.
”
”
Louise Erdrich (Shadow Tag)
“
A Lion had a Fox to attend on him, and whenever they went hunting the Fox found the prey and the Lion fell upon it and killed it, and then they divided it between them in certain proportions. But the Lion always got a very large share, and the Fox a very small one, which didn’t please the latter at all; so he determined to set up on his own account. He began by trying to steal a lamb from a flock of sheep: but the shepherd saw him and set his dogs on him. The hunter was now the hunted, and was very soon caught and dispatched by the dogs. Better servitude with safety than freedom with danger.
”
”
Aesop (Aesop's Fables)
“
Every morning he went for a walk with his wife, Reine-Marie, and their German shepherd Henri. Tossing the tennis ball ahead of them, they ended up chasing it down themselves when Henri became distracted by a fluttering leaf, or a black fly, or the voices in his head. The dog would race after the ball, then stop and stare into thin air, moving his gigantic satellite ears this way and that. Honing in on some message. Not tense, but quizzical. It was, Gamache recognized, the way most people listened when they heard on the wind the wisps of a particularly beloved piece of music. Or a familiar voice from far away.
”
”
Louise Penny (The Long Way Home (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #10))
“
The pageant of the river bank had marched steadily along, unfolding itself in scene-pictures that succeeded itself in stately procession.
Purple loosestrife arrived early, shaking luxuriant locks along the edge of the mirror whence its own face laughed back at it. Willow-herb, tender and wistful, like a pink sunset-cloud was not slow to follow. Comfrey, the purple hand-in-hand with the white, crept forth to take its place in the line; and at last one morning the diffident and delaying dog-rose stepped delicately on the stage, and one knew, as if string music has announced it in stately chords that strayed into a gavotte, that June at last was here.
One member of the company was still awaited; the shepherd-boy for the nymphs to woo, the knight for whom the ladies waited at the window, the prince that was to kiss the sleeping summer back to life and love. But when meadow-sweet, debonair and odorous in amber jerkin, moved graciously to his place in the group, then the play was ready to begin.
”
”
Kenneth Grahame (The Wind in the Willows)
“
Let us be neither dogs that do not bark nor silent onlookers nor paid servants who run away before the wolf. Instead let us be careful shepherds watching over Christ’s flock.
”
”
Boniface
“
The sheep think the shepherd is sacred ...And the dog is protecting them from the wolves.actually, shepherds and dogs eat more sheep ... not wolves.
”
”
Mursel Murselzade
“
Then she looked into the shepherd’s eyes and saw what is to be seen in every dog’s eyes if it has not been broken by a cruel master: trust, strength without arrogance, a desire to give and receive affection—and an honesty so pure that deception, if contemplated, cannot be perpetrated.
”
”
Dean Koontz (The Taking)
“
The dehydrator blows warm air on your food for hours, sometimes days. It reminds me of the temperature and intensity of dog's breath. So imagine a German shepherd exhaling on your fruit for a weekend.
”
”
A.J. Jacobs (Drop Dead Healthy: One Man's Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection)
“
I’ve grown more comfortable working with the dead. With parts of them, really. A few teeth, a vertebra, a piece of carpet that lay underneath a body for awhile. One of my German shepherd’s standard training materials is dirt harvested from sites where decomposing bodies rested. Crack open a Mason jar filled with that dirt, and all I smell is North Carolina woods—musky darkness with a hint of mildewed alder leaves. Solo smells the departed.
”
”
Cat Warren (What the Dog Knows: The Science and Wonder of Working Dogs)
“
Only yesterday an express train tore up a whole flock of sheep not far from here, over forty dead animals, flung through the air like cotton-wool balls, the good shepherd fallen asleep drunk somewhere, the dog in the field alone, not a hope. Now the shepherd has to bear joint responsibility for the whole loss, or don't you think he bears a responsibility, dear television audience, write and let us know what you think, it's your views that count.
”
”
Elfriede Jelinek (Greed)
“
I've never seen a German shepherd that liked spinach before.'
'She doesn't know she's a dog.'
'What does she think she is?'
'Well, she seems to think she's a special being that transcends classification.'
'Superdog?'
'Maybe so.
”
”
Haruki Murakami (1Q84 (1Q84, #1-3))
“
David turned on the TV and sat on the couch. He could grade the Calc I homework but that always depressed him. It would almost put him in mourning, sitting Shiva, but it had to be done.
He would get up early in the morning and do it. He chuckled.
The TV had a stupid dog commercial. Cocker Spaniel mix. Same kind of mutt Miriam brought into their marriage. She was a dog person. Named it Lucky.
Lucky died of poisoning while David was at home one afternoon. Somehow the dog had gotten into Clorox. Not so lucky.
That had been their only fight. David did not want to get another dog. Claimed it would remind him of Lucky.
When David was little, about eight or nine years old, he had learned Clorox would kill a dog. Their neighbor had a German shepherd. Sol would throw rocks at it when they walked to school.
One day the dog got out and bit Sol, and if the neighbors had not stopped it, the dog may have mauled Sol to death. The dog’s name was Roxx, short for Roxanne. It was found dead a couple of days later. Poisoned.
David was not a dog person.
”
”
Michael Grigsby (Segment of One)
“
Thierry, you must learn not only when to lift a burden, but when to set it down.” He patted Shaw’s lax face with his paw. “Otherwise, your back will break under the strain, and everyone who depends on you will be left as sheep without their shepherd. Do you understand?
”
”
Hailey Edwards (Lie Down with Dogs (Black Dog, #2))
“
He jerked his head around to look at the dog and it was halfway down the pathway, just behind the lions now, its mouth wide and yawning. Before, it had only been a hedge clipped in the general shape of a dog, something that lost all definition when you got up close to it. But now Jack could see that it had been clipped to look like a German shepherd, and shepherds could be mean. You could train shepherds to kill.
”
”
Stephen King (The Shining (The Shining #1))
“
It became his habit to creep out of bed even before his mother was awake, to slip into his clothes and to go quietly down to the barn to see Gabilan. In the grey quiet mornings when the land and the brush and the houses and the trees were silver-grey and black like a photograph negative, he stole toward the barn, past the sleeping stones and the sleeping cypress tree. The turkeys, roosting in the tree out of coyotes' reach, clicked drowsily. The fields glowed with a grey frost-like light and in the dew the tracks of rabbits and of field mice stood out sharply. The good dogs came stiffly out of their little houses, hackles up and deep growls in their throats. Then they caught Jody's scent, and their stiff tails rose up and waved a greeting Doubletree Mutt with the big thick tail, and Smasher, the incipient shepherd-then went lazily back to their warm beds. It was a strange time and a mysterious journey, to Jody -an extension of a dream. When he first had the pony he liked to torture himself during the trip by thinking Gabilan would not be in his stall, and worse, would never have been there. And he had other delicious little self-induced pains.
”
”
John Steinbeck (The Red Pony)
“
The sheepdog trial is a contest of farm and ranch dogs doing the same work they do every day at home. It's a simple test: dog runs out, gathers sheep, and fetches them to his shepherd. Dog drives the sheep through obstacles. Then dog and man sort the sheep and pen them. Any halfway decent sheepdog can do it but some are better than others
”
”
Donald McCaig (Mr. and Mrs. Dog: Our Travels, Trials, Adventures, and Epiphanies)
“
The Quack Toad 84 The Fox Without a Tail 85 The Mischievous Dog 86 The Rose and the Butterfly 86 The Cat and the Fox 88 The Boy and the Nettles 88 The Old Lion 89 The Fox and the Pheasants 89 Two Travelers and a Bear 90 The Porcupine and the Snakes 91 The Fox and the Monkey 91 The Mother and the Wolf 92 The Flies and the Honey 92 The Eagle and the Kite 93 The Stag, the Sheep, and the Wolf 93 The Animals and the Plague 94 The Shepherd and the Lion 95 The Dog and His Reflection 96 The Hare and the Tortoise 96 The Bees and Wasps, and the Hornet 98 The Lark and Her Young Ones 99 The Cat and the Old Rat 100 The Fox and the Crow 101 The Ass and His Shadow 102 The Miller, His Son, and the Ass 102 The
”
”
Milo Winter (The Aesop for Children)
“
If a dog manages and directs a thousand sheep, it is not because of the genius of the dog, but because of the sheep's folly!
”
”
Mehmet Murat ildan
“
He currently calls himself Ben Shepherd. A magazine left on the bus by a previous passenger featured an article about a police dog
”
”
Dean Koontz (In the Heart of the Fire (Nameless: Season One, #1))
“
Me and Cassie are glad you showed,” Deacon Gates said to him.
“You put a pink bow on your dog,” Nick replied.
“I didn’t,” Deacon returned.
“Your woman put a pink bow on your dog,” Nick said then turned to look at the man at his side. “And that dog is a German shepherd. It’s a wonder every shepherd breeder in North America isn’t rushin’ this location to put a gun to your head to demand payback for that dog’s dignity.
”
”
Kristen Ashley (Sebring (Unfinished Hero, #5))
“
The Drunken Gnat
You are the soul of the soul,
a door that opens into existence.
When separation makes us angry,
you strike with a sword.
When union becomes vague,
you feed it with a vast nothing.
Old civilizations start to flourish again.
The March sun warms the world with singing.
Tambourine and harp, branches covered with buds.
Is anyone sober enough to speak with the king?
No one. All right. Remember how a gnat
once got drunk and walked into the ear
of a terrible tyrant, then from there
into his brain and killed him?
Grape-wine can do that to a gnat.
What will the wine of infinity do for us?
A cave dog watched over the sleepers.
If a dog can be a shepherd,
what could the spirit-lion of a human being become?
Sparks from a fire lift in the sky
and turn to stars.
Shams is now a depth of truth
that rises every morning in the east.
”
”
Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi (The Essential Rumi)
“
Somewhere the help don’t quit as soon as the boss walks out the door. I’m gonna need a dozen clean pens.”
The lambing barn had four rows of pens against the long walls and back-to-back in the middle. At any one time the pens could hold eighty ewes and their lambs. When things went well, a ewe came into the barn on Monday and left on Thursday, and after her apartment was renovated the shepherd could install a newcomer. When a ewe had trouble – mastitis, milk fever, pneumonia, blue bag – the pens filled with sick sheep and the sheep housing stock shrank. Penny spent a couple hours examining the ewes in the barn, medicating those that needed it, turning others with their lambs out into the sunshine. She slipped bands on lambs’ tails, checked new mothers for milk supply, milked out ewes for their colostrum, ear notched bad mothers so they could be culled.
”
”
Donald McCaig (Nop's Hope)
“
THERE ARE AS MANY stories as there are jokes about consultants. One of my favourites is about a shepherd who encounters one while grazing his flock in the countryside. A man appears from nowhere, screeches to a halt, steps out of a fancy automobile and offers to tell the shepherd the exact number of animals he has in his flock if the latter agrees to give him a sheep. The shepherd says, ‘All right.’ The man takes out his smartphone, jabs at a couple of keys, downloads a few industry reports, activates an applet, and within a few minutes tells the shepherd he has 1,628 grazing animals. The shepherd is dumbfounded. The man then points to the animals and asks, ‘Now can I pick up one of the sheep?’ The shepherd nods. The man picks out an animal, puts it in the car and is ready to zoom off when the shepherd says, ‘Hey, wait a minute. If I tell you your profession, will you give my animal back?’ ‘Okay,’ says the man with a smirk. ‘You are a consultant,’ the shepherd announces. This time, it is the consultant’s jaw that drops. ‘How on earth could you tell?’ he asks in complete astonishment. The shepherd says, ‘Well, first you stopped by without an invitation. Second, you know nothing about the subject on which you offered expert advice. And third, the animal in your car isn’t a sheep. It’s my dog.
”
”
Subroto Bagchi (The Elephant Catchers: Key Lessons for Breakthrough Growth)
“
THE MEETING"
"Scant rain had fallen and the summer sun
Had scorched with waves of heat the ripening corn,
That August nightfall, as I crossed the down
Work-weary, half in dream. Beside a fence
Skirting a penning’s edge, an old man waited
Motionless in the mist, with downcast head
And clothing weather-worn. I asked his name
And why he lingered at so lonely a place.
“I was a shepherd here. Two hundred seasons
I roamed these windswept downlands with my flock.
No fences barred our progress and we’d travel
Wherever the bite grew deep. In summer drought
I’d climb from flower-banked combe to barrow’d hill-top
To find a missing straggler or set snares
By wood or turmon-patch. In gales of March
I’d crouch nightlong tending my suckling lambs.
“I was a ploughman, too. Year upon year
I trudged half-doubled, hands clenched to my shafts,
Guiding my turning furrow. Overhead,
Cloud-patterns built and faded, many a song
Of lark and pewit melodied my toil.
I durst not pause to heed them, rising at dawn
To groom and dress my team: by daylight’s end
My boots hung heavy, clodded with chalk and flint.
“And then I was a carter. With my skill
I built the reeded dew-pond, sliced out hay
From the dense-matted rick. At harvest time,
My wain piled high with sheaves, I urged the horses
Back to the master’s barn with shouts and curses
Before the scurrying storm. Through sunlit days
On this same slope where you now stand, my friend,
I stood till dusk scything the poppied fields.
“My cob-built home has crumbled. Hereabouts
Few folk remember me: and though you stare
Till time’s conclusion you’ll not glimpse me striding
The broad, bare down with flock or toiling team.
Yet in this landscape still my spirit lingers:
Down the long bottom where the tractors rumble,
On the steep hanging where wild grasses murmur,
In the sparse covert where the dog-fox patters.”
My comrade turned aside. From the damp sward
Drifted a scent of melilot and thyme;
From far across the down a barn owl shouted,
Circling the silence of that summer evening:
But in an instant, as I stepped towards him
Striving to view his face, his contour altered.
Before me, in the vaporous gloaming, stood
Nothing of flesh, only a post of wood.
”
”
John Rawson (From The English Countryside: Tales Of Tragedy: Narrated In Dramatic Traditional Verse)
“
Nelson is glad to see a handler and her dog coming towards him. The recognises the woman as Jan Adams, famous in Norfolk for having won several medals for bravery. Her dog, a beautiful long-haired German Shepherd is a bit of a celebrity too. What was his name again?
"Barney" says Jan in answer to his question. "What's going on?"
Nelson explains about the attack. Barney looks at him, head on one side, as if her too might be about to ask a question.
”
”
Elly Griffiths (The Woman in Blue (Ruth Galloway, #8))
“
we import K9s from Europe, typically German shepherds and Belgian Malinois dog breeds with working pedigrees. After a year of training as a patrol dog, they’re usually cross-trained in a specialty such as narcotics or explosives.
”
”
James Patterson (Walk the Blue Line: Real Cops, True Stories (Heroes Among Us Book 3))
“
Is she still eating her spinach?” Aomame asked. “As much as ever. And with the price of spinach as high as it’s been, that’s no small expense!” “I’ve never seen a German shepherd that liked spinach before.” “She doesn’t know she’s a dog.” “What does she think she is?” “Well, she seems to think she’s a special being that transcends classification.” “Superdog?” “Maybe so.” “Which is why she likes spinach?” “No, that’s another matter. She just likes spinach. Has since she was a pup.
”
”
Haruki Murakami (1Q84 (1Q84, #1-3))
“
I had a nightmare about the Averys’ sweet-tempered German shepherd, Ina. In the dream, as I was sitting on the floor in the Averys’ living room, the dog walked up to me and began to insult me. She said I was a frivolous, cynical, attention-seeking “fag” whose entire life had been phony. I answered her frivolously and cynically and chucked her under the chin. She grinned at me with malice, as if to make clear that she understood me to the core. Then she sank her teeth into my arm. As I fell over backward, she went for my throat.
”
”
Jonathan Franzen (The Discomfort Zone: A Personal History)
“
Allow me to introduce my shepherd,” The Under-King said from the mist ahead, standing beside a ten-foot-tall black dog. Each of its fangs were as long as one of her fingers. All hooked—like a shark’s. Designed to latch into flesh and hold tight while it ripped and shredded. Its eyes were milky white—sightless. Identical to the Under-King’s.
Her light would have no effect on something that was already blind.
The dog’s fur—sleek and iridescent enough that it almost resembled scales—flowed over bulky, bunched muscles. Claws like razor blades sliced into the dry ground.
Hunt’s lightning crackled, skittering at Bryce’s feet. “That’s a demon,” he ground out. He’d fought enough of them to know.
“An experiment of the Prince of the Ravine’s, from the First Wars,” the Under-King rasped. “Forgotten and abandoned here in Midgard during the aftermath. Now my faithful companion and helper. You’d be surprised how many souls do not wish to make their final offering to the Gate. The Shepherd…Well, it herds them for me. As it shall herd you.”
“Fry this fucker,” Bryce muttered to Hunt as the dog snarled.
“I’m assessing.”
“Assess faster. Roast it like a—”
“Do not make a joke about—”
“Hot dog.”
Bryce had no sooner finished saying the words than the hound lunged. Hunt struck, swift and sure, a lightning bolt spearing toward its neck.
”
”
Sarah J. Maas (House of Sky and Breath (Crescent City, #2))
“
Such were the shepherds of Judea! In appearance, rough and savage as the gaunt dogs with them around the blaze; in fact, simple-minded, tender-hearted; effects in due, in part, to the primitive life they led, but chiefly to their constant care of things lovable and helpless.
”
”
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
“
But everyone likes dogs," Cassandra protested.
"I don't dislike dogs. I just don't want one in my house."
"Our house." She braced her elbows on the table and massaged her temples. "I've always had dogs. Pandora and I couldn't have survived our childhood without Napoleon and Josephine. If cleanliness is what worries you, I'll make certain the dog is bathed often, and accidents will be disposed of right away."
That drew a grimace from him. "I don't want there to be accidents in the first place. Besides, you'll have more than enough to keep you busy- you won't have time for a pet."
"I need a dog."
Tom held the propelling pencil between his first and second fingers, and flipped it back and forth to make the ends tap on the table. "Let's look at this logically- you don't really need a dog. You're not a shepherd or a rat catcher. Household dogs serve no useful purpose."
"They fetch things," Cassandra pointed out.
"You'll have an entire staff of servants to fetch anything you want."
"I want a companion who'll go on walks with me, and sit on my lap while I pet him."
"You'll have me for that."
Cassandra pointed to the contract. "Dog," she insisted. "I'm afraid it's nonnegotiable.
”
”
Lisa Kleypas (Chasing Cassandra (The Ravenels, #6))
“
Although pets were forbidden in the rental agreement, he had turned a blind eye to this Chihuahua that barked like a German shepherd and terrified the mailman and neighbors. He knew nothing about dogs but could see that Marcelo was very odd, with bulging toad’s eyes that seemed not to fit in their sockets and a tongue that lolled out because of all the missing teeth. The tartan wool cape the dog wore did nothing to improve his appearance. According to Lucia, Marcelo had turned up on her doorstep one night, close to death and without an identity collar. “Who could possibly be so cruel as to throw him out?
”
”
Isabel Allende (In the Midst of Winter)
“
By nature a philosopher is not in genius and disposition half so different from a street porter, as a mastiff is from a grey-hound, or a grey-hound from a spaniel, or this last from a shepherd's dog. Those different tribes of animals, however, though all of the same species are of scarce any use to one another. The strength of the mastiff is not in the least supported either by the swiftness of the greyhound, or by the sagacity of the spaniel, or by the docility of the shepherd's dog. The effects of those different geniuses and talents, for want of the power or disposition to barter and exchange, cannot be brought into a common stock, and do not in the least contribute to the better accommodation and conveniency of the species. Each animal is still obliged to support and defend itself, separately and independently, and derives no sort of advantage from that variety of talents with which nature has distinguished its fellows. Among men, on the contrary, the most dissimilar geniuses are of use to one another; the different produces of their respective talents, by the general disposition to truck, barter, and exchange, being brought, as it were, into a common stock, where every man may purchase whatever part of the produce of other men's talents he has occasion for.
”
”
Adam Smith (An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations)
“
Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter. 12. Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.
”
”
Anonymous (Authorized King James Version Holy Bible)
“
Their dog, the dog that no one wanted, the pit bull that a ‘no kill’ shelter had wanted to kill, had outrun, out-jumped, out-hustled, and out-hearted all the herding dogs and retrievers and shepherds. In not just one event, but in a grueling series of games and contests that tested every aspect of a dog’s abilities. Wallace was a world champion.
”
”
Jim Gorant (Wallace: The Underdog Who Conquered a Sport, Saved a Marriage, and Championed Pit Bulls-- One Flying Disc at a Time)
“
Understanding dog-psychology is simple and there are only a few essential (yet very simple) things that you need to understand – but you need to understand them well! The photojournal format makes it conducive to offer helpful tactics, techniques, tips, and tricks that can be accompanied by illustrative photos (when necessary) that are spread throughout the book.
”
”
Yohai Reuben (Sadie the German Shepherd Dog Puppy: How to House-Train your GSD without a Crate (Sadie the GSD))
“
So many people never seemed to think about the consequences of their everyday actions. And then a witch on her broom would have to set out from her bed in the rain in the dead of night because of "I only" and its little friends "I didn't know" and "It's not my fault."
"I only wanted to see if the copper was hot . . . "
"I didn't know a boiling pot was dangerous . . . "
"It's not my fault--no one told me dogs that bark might also bite."
And her favorite, "I didn't know it would go off bang"--when it said "goes bang" on the box it came in. That had been when little Ted Cooper had put an explosive banger (another tiny clue) into the carcass of a chicken after his mum's birthday party and nearly killed everybody around the table.
”
”
Terry Pratchett (The Shepherd's Crown (Discworld, #41; Tiffany Aching, #5))
“
She lived upstairs in the farmhouse; guests and visitors occupied the B&B rooms downstairs. She kept crates tucked all over the house, in which herding dogs-border collies and shepherds-slept while waiting to work, exercise, or play.
These working dogs, I'd come to learn, led lives very different from my dogs'. Carolyn let them out several times a day to exercise and eliminate, but generally, they were out of crates only to train or herd sheep. While they were out, Carolyn tossed a cup of kibble into their crates for them to eat when they returned. I asked her once if she left the lights on for the dogs when she went out, and she looked at me curiously. "Why? They don't read...
Still, they were everywhere. If you bumped into a sofa it might growl or thump. Some of her crew were puppies; some were strange rescue dogs.
”
”
Jon Katz (A Good Dog: The Story of Orson, Who Changed My Life)
“
For a long time, the German shepherd was the standard bearer for work in law enforcement and the military, but for many reasons, including practicality, the breed has been surpassed by the Malinois. Among the factors in favor of the Malinois are size and resiliency. While the Malinois has nothing on the German shepherd when it comes to brainpower or strength, it does have the advantage of being a smaller and more agile breed. the Belgian Malinois is built for military work, and especially for the sort of job commonly undertaken in Special Operations. While either breed can reliably detect the presence of explosives or a human target in hiding, the Malinois is quicker and stabler, simply by virtue of it's smaller and more compact musculature. It is better suited to traversing uneven terrain, and, when necessary, more easily transported.
”
”
Will Chesney (No Ordinary Dog: My Partner from the SEAL Teams to the Bin Laden Raid)
“
Why, all our art treasures of to-day are only the dug-up commonplaces of three or four hundred years ago. I wonder if there is real intrinsic beauty in the old soup-plates, beer-mugs, and candle-snuffers that we prize so now, or if it is only the halo of age glowing around them that gives them their charms in our eyes. The “old blue” that we hang about our walls as ornaments were the common every-day household utensils of a few centuries ago; and the pink shepherds and the yellow shepherdesses that we hand round now for all our friends to gush over, and pretend they understand, were the unvalued mantel-ornaments that the mother of the eighteenth century would have given the baby to suck when he cried. Will it be the same in the future? Will the prized treasures of to-day always be the cheap trifles of the day before? Will rows of our willow-pattern dinner-plates be ranged above the chimneypieces of the great in the years 2000 and odd? Will the white cups with the gold rim and the beautiful gold flower inside (species unknown), that our Sarah Janes now break in sheer light-heartedness of spirit, be carefully mended, and stood upon a bracket, and dusted only by the lady of the house? That china dog that ornaments the bedroom of my furnished lodgings. It is a white dog. Its eyes blue. Its nose is a delicate red, with spots. Its head is painfully erect, its expression is amiability carried to verge of imbecility. I do not admire it myself. Considered as a work of art, I may say it irritates me. Thoughtless friends jeer at it, and even my landlady herself has no admiration for it, and excuses its presence by the circumstance that her aunt gave it to her. But in 200 years’ time it is more than probable that that dog will be dug up from somewhere or other, minus its legs, and with its tail broken, and will be sold for old china, and put in a glass cabinet. And people will pass it round, and admire it. They will be struck by the wonderful depth of the colour on the nose, and speculate as to how beautiful the bit of the tail that is lost no doubt was. We, in this age, do not see the beauty of that dog. We are too familiar with it. It is like the sunset and the stars: we are not awed by their loveliness because they are common to our eyes. So it is with that china dog. In 2288 people will gush over it. The making of such dogs will have become a lost art. Our descendants will wonder how we did it, and say how clever we were. We shall be referred to lovingly as “those grand old artists that flourished in the nineteenth century, and produced those china dogs.” The “sampler” that the eldest daughter did at school will be spoken of as “tapestry of the Victorian era,” and be almost priceless. The blue-and-white mugs of the present-day roadside inn will be hunted up, all cracked and chipped, and sold for their weight in gold, and rich people will use them for claret cups; and travellers from Japan will buy up all the “Presents from Ramsgate,” and “Souvenirs of Margate,” that may have escaped destruction, and take them back to Jedo as ancient English curios.
”
”
Jerome K. Jerome (Complete Works of Jerome K. Jerome)
“
That way, when the wolf came, I’d stand a better chance of catching him. Week in and week out they’d raised the alarm, and one sable-black night I lay in ambush for those wolves against whom I’d failed to protect the flock. While the other dogs tore out ahead of me, I lay doggo behind a bush and watched two shepherds mark out one of the best lambs in the fold and kill it—and in such a way that in the morning, everyone would think the wolf had done it.
”
”
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (The Dialogue of the Dogs (The Art of the Novella))
“
Miriam will never know what kind of dog attacked her, will imagine a Doberman or a German shepherd with snarling, angry teeth despite the fact she bears neither bite marks nor broken skin. It will never cross her mind that the dog was a beagle and that she was knocked over from a surprise more than force. The children of the house she fled will use the incident to convince their parents to keep the dog, which had been on the verge of being given away for its propensity to shit at the slightest hint of thunder it having been sequestered in the garage that night because of a stormy forecast. The family will never know what manner of burglar their fog deflected, will imagine a scruffy, heavy-set man with scars and a limp groping the family jewelery. It will never cross their minds that their intruder was am upper middle-class wife and mother of two who would have had eyes only for their Chinese teakettle.
”
”
Myla Goldberg (Bee Season)
“
And so I learned by observation, interaction, and experience - as well as active study and research - growing up and throughout my life how to understand dog-psychology, how to behave around dogs, and how to physically handle them (without fear or worry of being bitten) if/when necessary. I've had both good and bad experiences with countless dogs thus yielding many lessons learned as well as useful insights which will be shared with you throughout the course of this book.
”
”
Yohai Reuben (Sadie the German Shepherd Dog Puppy: How to House-Train your GSD without a Crate (Sadie the GSD))
“
What kind of dog do you want?” Peter asks her.
“Don’t get her hopes up,” I tell him, but he waves me off.
Immediately Kitty says, “An Akita. Red fur with a cinnamon-bun tail. Or a German shepherd I can train to be a seeing-eye dog.”
“But you’re not blind,” Peter says.
“But I could be one day.”
Grinning, Peter shakes his head. He nudges me again and in an admiring voice he says, “Can’t argue with the kid."
“It’s pretty much futile,” I agree. I hold up a magazine to show Kitty. “What do you think? Creamsicle cookies?” Kitty writes them down as a maybe.
“Hey, what about these?” Peter pushes a cookbook in my lap. It’s opened up to a fruitcake cookie recipe.
I gag. “Are you kidding? You’re kidding, right? Fruitcake cookies? That’s disgusting.”
“When done right, fruitcake can be really good,” Peter defends. “My great-aunt Trish used to make fruitcake, and she’d put ice cream on top and it was awesome.”
“If you put ice cream on anything, it’s good,” Kitty says.
“Can’t argue with the kid,” I say, and Peter and I exchange smiles over Kitty’s head.
”
”
Jenny Han (To All the Boys I've Loved Before (To All the Boys I've Loved Before, #1))
“
The excluded when on living on the fringe, like lepers, of whom true leper are only the illustration ordained by god to make us understand this wondrous parable, so that in saying “lepers” we would understand “outcast, poor, simple, excluded, uprooted from the countryside, humiliated in the cities” but we did not understand; the mystery of leprosy has continued to haunt us because we have not recognized the nature of the sign. Excluded as they were from the flock, all of them were ready to hear, or to produce, every sermon that, harking back to the words of Christ, would condemn the behaviour of the dogs and shepherds and would promise their punishment one day. The powerful have always realised this. The recovery of the outcasts demanded a reduction of the privileges of the powerful, so the excluded who became aware of their exclusion had to be branded as heretics, whatever their doctrine. This is the illusion of heresy. Everyone is heretical, everyone is orthodox. The faith a movement proclaims doesn’t count: what counts is the hope it offers.
”
”
Umberto Eco
“
There also wasn't one single bit of grass or dirt outside the airport. Even the median strip was a concrete sidewalk. Where did Atlanta's pet travelers pee? Maybe city dogs just learned to use the sidewalk. We kept walking. It looked like if we crossed the road that all the cars used to get onto the highway, we might come to a planted-up area, but we also might get killed.
Finally, I just lifted Cannoli up and plopped her down on a great big ashtray built into the top of the trash barrel. "Good thing you're not a German shepherd," I said.
”
”
Claire Cook (Summer Blowout)
“
We were working on the idea about dogs’ Internet searches, and first we debated whether the sketch should feature real dogs or Henrietta and Viv in dog costumes (because cast members were always, unfailingly, trying to get more air time, we quickly went with the latter). Then we discussed where it should take place (the computer cluster in a public library, but, even though all this mattered for was the establishing shot, we got stalled on whether that library should be New York’s famous Main Branch building on Fifth Avenue, with the lion statues in front, a generic suburban library in Kansas City, or a generic suburban library in Jacksonville, Florida, which was where Viv was from). Then we really got stalled on the breeds of dogs. Out of loyalty to my stepfather and Sugar, I wanted at least one to be a beagle. Viv said that it would work best if one was really big and one was really little, and Henrietta said she was fine with any big dog except a German Shepherd because she’d been bitten by her neighbor’s German Shepherd in third grade. After forty minutes we’d decided on a St. Bernard and a Chihuahua—I eventually conceded that Chihuahuas were funnier than beagles. We decided to go with the Florida location for the establishing shot because the lions in front of the New York Main Branch could preempt or diminish the appearance of the St. Bernard. Then we’d arrived at the fun part, which was the search terms. With her mouth full of beef kebab, Viv said, “Am I adopted?” With my mouth full of spanakopita, I said, “Am I a good girl?” With her mouth full of falafel, Henrietta said, “Am I five or thirty-five?” “Why is thunder scary?” I said. “Discreet crotch-sniffing techniques,” Henrietta said. “Cheap mani-pedis in my area,” Viv said. “Oh, and cheapest self-driving car.” “Best hamburgers near me,” I said. “What is halitosis,” Henrietta said. “Halitosis what to do,” I said. “Where do humans pee,” Viv said. “Taco Bell Chihuahua male or female,” I said. “Target bull terrier married,” Viv said. “Lassie plastic surgery,” Henrietta said. “Funny cat videos,” I said. “Corgis embarrassing themselves YouTube,” Viv said. “YouTube little dog scares away big dog,” I said. “Doghub two poodles and one corgi,” Henrietta said. “Waxing my tail,” I said. “Is my tail a normal size,” Viv said.
”
”
Curtis Sittenfeld (Romantic Comedy)
“
That something I cannot yet define completely but the feeling comes when you write well and truly of something and know impersonally you have written in that way and those who are paid to read it and report on it do not like the subject so they say it is all a fake, yet you know its value absolutely; or when you do something which people do not consider a serious occupation and yet you know, truly, that it is as important and has always been as important as all th things that are in fashion, and when, on the sea, you are alone with it and know that this Gulf Stream you are living with, knowing, learning about, and loving, has moved, as it moves, since before man and that it has gone by the shoreline of that long, beautiful, unhappy island since before Columbus sighted it and that the things you find out about it, and those that have always lived in it are permanent and of value because that stream will flow, as it has flowed, after the Indians, after the Spaniards, after the British, after the Americans and after all the Cubans and all the systems of governments, the richness, the poverty, the martyrdom, the sacrifice and the venality and the cruelty are all gone as the high-piled scow of garbage, bright-colored, white-flecked, ill-smelling, now tilted on its side, spills off its load into the blue water, turning it a pale green to a depth of four or five fathoms as the load spreads across the surface, the sinkable part going down and the flotsam of palm fronds, corks, bottles, and used electric light globes, seasoned with an occasional condom or a deep floating corset, the torn leaves of a student's exercise book, a well-inflated dog, the occasional rat, the no-longer-distinguished cat; well shepherded by the boats of the garbage pickers who pluck their prizes with long poles, as interested, as intelligent, and as accurate as historians; they have the viewpoint; the stream, with no visible flow, takes five loads of this a day when things are going well in La Habana and in ten miles along the coast it is as clear and blue and unimpressed as it was ever before the tug hauled out the scow; and the palm fronds of our victories, the worn light bulbs of our discoveries and the empty condoms of our great loves float with no significance against one single, lasting thing - the stream.
”
”
Ernest Hemingway
“
Verse 71. To feed Jacob his people. (This is a curious specimen of medieval spiritualising, and is here inserted as such. It is amusing to note that a Tractarian expositor quotes the passage with evidently intense admiration. C. H. S.) Observe, a good shepherd must be humble and faithful, he ought to have bread in a wallet, a dog by a string, a staff with a rod, and a tuneful horn. The bread is the word of God, the wallet is the memory of the word; the dog is zeal, wherewith the shepherd glows for the house of God, casts out the wolves with pious barking, following preaching and unwearied prayer: the string by which the dog is held is the moderation of zeal, and discretion, whereby the zeal of the shepherd is tempered by the spirit of piety and knowledge. The staff is the consolation of pious exhortation by which the too timid are sustained and refreshed, lest they fail in the time of tribulation; but the rod is the authority and power by which the turbulent are restrained. The tuneful horn, which sounds so sweetly, signifies the sweetness of eternal blessedness, which the faithful shepherd gently and often instils into the ears of his flock. Johannes Paulus Palanterius. 1600.
”
”
Charles Haddon Spurgeon (The Treasury of David, Complete)
“
Simon & Schuster for thirty years, and Jonathan Karp, the publisher, both were extraordinarily diligent and attentive in shepherding this book, as was Amanda Urban, my agent. Crary Pullen was dogged in tracking down photos, and my assistant, Pat Zindulka, calmly facilitated things. I also want to thank my father, Irwin, and my daughter, Betsy, for reading the book and offering advice. When the original version of this book came out, it caused some wounded feelings, which was probably inevitable given what a complicated and extraordinary man Jobs was. For that I am sorry. It was not my intention.
”
”
Walter Isaacson (Steve Jobs)
“
As a child I had grown up around individual dogs that belonged to various members of an extended family and friends, as well as around packs of dogs on family's and neighbors' ranches. Growing up in the United States, I had countless encounters with both familiar dogs and strange dogs. Through the many encounters and interactions with many dogs over the course of a lifetime of now 5+ decades, I have learned to read the behavior of dogs quite well, and eventually have come to understand much about dog-psychology, how to behave around them, how to handle them, and how to train them to acceptably behave – all in the most instinctive and natural way possible.
”
”
Yohai Reuben (Sadie the German Shepherd Dog Puppy: How to House-Train your GSD without a Crate (Sadie the GSD))
“
Our voices sounded small in the noisy darkness. We called her name again and again. We waved our flashlights in hope that she’d see their bobbing light. We were hoarse from calling. And desperate when she didn’t answer. The faint trail gave out, and we began circling back to the house without realizing it until we saw the lights in the windows. “We need to call the police,” Dad said. “We don’t know the land the way they do. We’ll get lost ourselves if we keep going.” Wordlessly, we made our way home. Mom was on the front porch, shivering in her warmest down coat. “You didn’t find her?” “No.” Dad stopped to hug her. Mom clung to him. They stood there whispering to each other, as if they’d forgotten about me. I waited, shifting my weight from one frozen foot to the other, afraid Bloody Bones might be watching us from the trees. Not that I believed he actually existed, not in my world, the real world, the five-senses world. But with the wind blowing and the moon sailing in and out of clouds like a ghost racing across the sky, I could almost believe I’d crossed a border into another world, where anything could be true—even conjure women and spells and monsters. The police came sooner than we’d expected. We heard their sirens and saw their flashing lights before they’d even turned into the driveway. Four cars and an ambulance stopped at the side of the house. Doors opened, men got out. A couple of them had dogs, big German shepherds who
”
”
Mary Downing Hahn (Took: A Ghost Story)
“
THEY HAD GATHERED in Stansfield’s study. It was a quarter past ten in the evening. The director had just returned from the White House and looked tired. At Rapp’s urging, Stansfield had requested extra protection. No one in the CIA’s Office of Security had asked any questions. They didn’t even bat an eye at the request. They were used to such things. Within thirty minutes of Stansfield making the call, a mobile command post and a Chevy Suburban arrived at the director’s house. The mobile command post came with two men to monitor the CP’s communication and surveillance equipment and two more heavily armed men to provide security. The Suburban had brought two German shepherds. The dogs and their machine-gun-toting handlers now patrolled the perimeter
”
”
Vince Flynn (The Third Option (Mitch Rapp, #4))
“
I am going to share with you the very essential (yet very simple) philosophies, strategies, tactics, techniques, tips, and tricks that you need to know to successfully and quickly house-train as well as instill obedience in your GSD puppy – even if you receive your puppy earlier than the recommended 8-week earliest recommended safe age (as I did) for separation of a puppy from his/her mother and siblings. Understanding dog-psychology is simple and there are only a few essential (yet very simple) things that you need to understand – but you need to understand them well! The photojournal format makes it conducive to offer helpful tactics, techniques, tips, and tricks that can be accompanied by illustrative photos (when necessary) that are spread throughout the book.
”
”
Yohai Reuben (Sadie the German Shepherd Dog Puppy: How to House-Train your GSD without a Crate (Sadie the GSD))
“
The Seer's Map by Stewart Stafford
Howling dog, thou cursèd hound,
Plaguest thy master with baleful sound,
The cur's yelps taint the air around;
A dirge for all that hear thy wound.
The rooftop magpie foretells:
Herald of guests to visit soon,
A noisy speech announceth,
Companions of the afternoon.
Lucky horseshoe and iron key,
Bringeth good fortune to the finder,
But spilling salt provokes fate,
And draws the evil eye's reminder.
A shoe upon the table laid,
Tempts the dead to live anon,
For this ungracious gesture waketh,
Flesh and blood from skeleton.
Who crosses the path of hare or priest,
A perilous milestone on thy road,
Their very presence signifies
That gathering trouble doth forebode.
A toad on thy merry travels,
Brings sweet smiles and kindest charms,
Keep one about thy person warm,
To shelter safe from danger's harms.
Red sky at night delights the eye,
Of shepherd that beholds thy light,
Thy colour doth betoken dawn
Of weather fair and clear and bright.
Red sky at morn troubles the heart,
Of shepherd that surveys thy shade,
Thy hue doth presage day
Of stormy blast and tempest made.
December's thunder balm,
Speaks of harvest's tranquil mind,
January's thunder, fierce!
Warns of war and gales unkind.
An itchy palm hints at gold
To come into thy hand ere long,
But if thou scratch it, thou dost lose
The fair wind that blows so strong.
A Sunday Christmas forewarns:
Three signs of what the year shall hold;
A winter mild, a Lenten wind,
And summer dry, to then unfold.
Good luck charm on New Year's Day
Maketh fortune bloom all year,
But to lose it or give it away,
Thou dost invite ill-omened fear.
© Stewart Stafford, 2023. All rights reserved.
”
”
Stewart Stafford
“
He heard them laughing, the Weathermen, the Panthers, the angry ragtag army of the violent Uncorrupted who called him a criminal and hated his guts because he was one of those who own and have. The Swede finally found out! They were delirious with joy, delighted having destroyed his once-pampered daughter and ruined his privileged life, shepherding him at long last to their truth, to the truth as they knew it to be for every Vietnamese man, woman, child, and tot, for every colonized black in America, for everyone everywhere who had been fucked over by the capitalists and their insatiable greed. The something that’s demented, honky, is American history! It’s the American empire! It’s Chase Manhattan and General Motors and Standard Oil and Newark Maid Leatherware! Welcome aboard, capitalist dog! Welcome to the fucked-over-by-America human race!
”
”
Philip Roth (American Pastoral (The American Trilogy, #1))
“
There is no shortage of more stable generalizations about dangerous dogs, though. A 1991 study in Denver, for example, compared 178 dogs that had a history of biting people with a random sample of 178 dogs with no history of biting. The breeds were scattered: German shepherds, Akitas, and Chow Chows were among those most heavily represented. (There were no pit bulls among the biting dogs in the study, because Denver banned pit bulls in 1989.) But a number of other, more stable factors stand out. The biters were 6.2 times as likely to be male than female, and 2.6 times as likely to be intact than neutered. The Denver study also found that biters were 2.8 times as likely to be chained as unchained. “About twenty percent of the dogs involved in fatalities were chained at the time, and had a history of long-term chaining,” Lockwood said. “Now, are they chained because they are aggressive or aggressive because they are chained? It’s a bit of both. These are animals that have not had an opportunity to become socialized to people. They don’t necessarily even know that children are small human beings. They tend to see them as prey.” In many cases, vicious dogs are hungry or in need of medical attention. Often, the dogs had a history of aggressive incidents, and, overwhelmingly, dog-bite victims were children (particularly small boys) who were physically vulnerable to attack and may also have unwittingly done things to provoke the dog, like teasing it, or bothering it while it was eating. The strongest connection of all, though, is between the trait of dog viciousness and certain kinds of dog owners. In about a quarter of fatal dog-bite cases, the dog owners were previously involved in illegal fighting. The dogs that bite people are, in many cases, socially isolated because their owners are socially isolated, and they are vicious because they have owners who want a vicious dog. The junkyard German shepherd — which looks as if it would rip your throat out — and the German-shepherd guide dog are the same breed. But they are not the same dog, because they have owners with different intentions. “A
”
”
Malcolm Gladwell (What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures)
“
It is easy for the student to feel that with all his labour he is collecting only a few leaves, many of them now torn or decayed, from the countless foliage of the Tree of Tales, with which the Forest of Days is carpeted. It seems vain to add to the litter. Who can design a new leaf? The patterns from bud to unfolding, and the colours from spring to autumn were all discovered by men long ago. But that is not true. The seed of the tree can be replanted in almost any soil, even in one so smoke-ridden (as Lang said) as that of England. Spring is, of course, not really less beautiful because we have seen or heard of other like events: like events, never from world's beginning to world's end the same event. Each leaf, of oak and ash and thorn, is a unique embodiment of the pattern, and for some this very year may be the embodiment, the first ever seen and recognized, though oaks have put forth leaves for countless generations of men.
We do not, or need not, despair of drawing because all lines must be either curved or straight, nor of painting because there are only three 'primary' colours. We may indeed be older now, in so far as we are heirs in enjoyment or in practice of many generations of ancestors in the arts. In this inheritance of wealth there may be a danger of boredom or of anxiety to be original, and that may lead to a distaste for fine drawing, delicate pattern, and 'pretty' colours, or else to mere manipulation and over-elaboration of old material, clever and heartless. But the true road of escape from such weariness is not to be found in the willfully awkward, clumsy, or misshapen, not in making all things dark or unremittingly violent; nor in the mixing of colours on through subtlety to drabness, and the fantastical complication of shapes to the point of silliness and on towards delirium. Before we reach such states we need recovery. We should look at green again, and be startled anew (but not blinded) by blue and yellow and red. We should meet the centaur and the dragon, and then perhaps suddenly behold, like the ancient shepherds, sheep, and dogs, and horses – and wolves. This recovery fairy-stories help us to make. In that sense only a taste for them may make us, or keep us, childish.
”
”
J.R.R. Tolkien (The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays)
“
The coyote was not a coyote. Or, maybe it was a coyote. Sam still didn't know what the difference was. In any case, it was a young, not much older than a puppy. It had the shaggy look of a coyote, but the muscular build of a pit bull. Its back leg was bleeding, and Sam worried he might have grazed it with the car. The coyote/dog looked scared. "If I pick you up," Sam said gently, "will you bite me?"
The coyote/dog looked at him blankly, terrified. It was shivering. Sam took off his plaid shirt, and he scooped the little dog into his arms, and he put it into the back seat of his car. They drove to an emergency veterinary clinic.
The dog had broken its leg. She needed stitches and would have to be in a cast for a couple of weeks, but she was strong, and she would recover.
When Sam asked the vet whether the dog might be a coyote, she rolled her eyes. She was just a dog, a mutt yes, but likely some combination of German shepherd, Shiba Inu, and greyhound. You could tell by the elbows, she said. Coyote elbows were higher than dog elbows. She brought up a graphic on her computer: a coyote, next to a wolf, next to a domesticated dog. See, she said, isn't it obvious?
”
”
Gabrielle Zevin (Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow)
“
Maggie swung her head from side to side, checking the high scents first, then dipped her head to taste the smells close to the ground. The humans behind her might be able to identify five or six distinct smells if they concentrated, but Maggie’s long shepherd’s nose gave her an olfactory picture of the world no human could comprehend: She smelled the dust beneath her feet and the goats that had been herded along the road a few hours earlier and the two young male goatherds who led them. Maggie smelled the infection that one of the goats carried, and knew that two of the female goats were in heat. She smelled Pete’s fresh new sweat and the older sweat dried into his gear, his breath, the perfumed letter he kept in his trousers, and the green ball hidden beneath his flak. She smelled the CLP he used to clean his rifle, and the residual gunpowder that clung to his weapon like a fine dust of death. She smelled the small grove of palms not far from the road, and the trace scents of the wild dogs that had slept beneath the palms during the night and defecated and urinated before moving on. Maggie hated the wild dogs. She spent a moment testing the air to see if they were still in the area, decided they were gone, then ignored their scent and concentrated on searching for the scents Pete wanted her to find. Smells
”
”
Robert Crais (Suspect (Scott James & Maggie, #1))
“
If we look honestly at the way many people manage their dogs today, we are faced with a staggering reflection of irresponsibility and lack of compassion. It is difficult to refer to a dog as “man’s best friend” when more than six million unwanted adult dogs and puppies are euthanized every year. We are not speaking here of the humane killing of animals done out of a sense of responsible stewardship but of the massive human negligence that leads to euthanasia. For those who doubt the serious implications of this situation, a trip to the local animal shelter can be a real eye-opener. We recall one client who dismissed our advice about spaying her female shepherd, explaining she felt it was important for her children to have the experience of seeing puppies born. When we asked her how she intended to care for and give homes to the puppies, she responded that she really had not thought about it at all and that she would probably leave them at the local humane society when it was time for them to be weaned. We then asked her what value such an experience would have if the principal lesson her children would learn is that puppies are cute little playthings who, when sufficiently used, may then be conveniently disposed of. Fortunately, our questioning convinced her of her faulty thinking, and she left with a new respect for the implications of bringing puppies into the world.
”
”
Monks of New Skete (The Art of Raising a Puppy)
“
Yes. We were talking about those excluded from the flock of sheep. For centuries, as pope and emperor tore each other apart in their quarrels over power, the excluded went on living on the fringe, like lepers, of whom true lepers are only the illustration ordained by God to make us understand this wondrous parable, so that in saying ‘lepers’ we would understand ‘outcast, poor, simple, excluded, uprooted from the countryside, humiliated in the cities.’ But we did not understand; the mystery of leprosy has continued to haunt us because we have not recognized the nature of the sign. Excluded as they were from the flock, all of them were ready to hear every sermon that, harking back to the word of Christ, would in effect condemn the behavior of the dogs and shepherds and would promise their punishment one day. The powerful always knew this. Acknowledging the outcasts meant reducing their own privileges, so the outcasts who were acknowledged as outcasts had to be branded as heretics, whatever their doctrine. And for their part, maddened by their exclusion, they were not interested in any doctrine. This is the illusion of heresy. The faith a movement proclaims doesn’t count: what counts is the hope it offers. Scratch the heresy and you will find the leper. Every battle against heresy wants only to keep the leper as he is. As for the lepers, what can you ask of them? That they distinguish between two definitions of the Trinity or of the Eucharist? Come, Adso, these games are for us men of learning. The simple have other problems. And mind you, they solve them all in the wrong way. This is why they become heretics.
”
”
Umberto Eco (The Name of the Rose)
“
Say I decide that it would be a good thing to insert pictures here demonstrating cultural relativism, displaying an act that is commonsensical in one culture but deeply distressing in another. I know, I think, I'll get some pictures of a Southeast Asian dog meat market. Like me, most readers will likely resonate with dogs. Good plan! On to Google Images and the result is that I spend hours transfixed, unable to stop, torturing myself with picture after picture of dogs being carted off to market. Dogs being butchered, cooked and sold. Pictures of humans going about their day's work in a market indifferent to a crate stuffed to the top with suffering dogs. I imagine the fear those dogs feel. How they are hot, thirsty, in pain. I think, what if these dogs had come to trust humans? I think of their fear and confusion. I think, what if one of the dogs whom I've loved had to experience that? What if this happened to a dog my children loved? And with my heart racing, I realize that I hate these people. Hate! Every last one of them and despise their culture. And it takes a locomotive's worth of effort for me to admit that I can't justify that hatred and contempt. That mine is a mere moral intuition. That there are things that I do that would evoke the same response in some distant person whose morality and humanity are certainly no less than mine. And that but for the randomness of where I happen to have been born, I could have readily had their views instead. The thing that makes the tragedy of commonsense morality so tragic, is the intensity with which you just know that They are deeply wrong. In general, our morally tinged cultural institutions, religion, nationalism, ethnic pride, team spirit, bias us toward our best behaviors when we are single shepherds, facing a potential tragedy of the commons. They make us less selfish in Me versus Us situations, but they send us hurtling toward our worst behaviors when confronting Thems and their different moralities.
”
”
Robert M. Sapolsky (Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst)
“
Chatting to the gossip of flames
waking from the slumber of
our flesh-drunk night together—
it’s only when I step out
to pee do I notice—
how far, burgundy-dark,
the moon has risen….
On four paws the shepherd-
dogs bound, lightly
though the trees they
hardly touch on earth—
we saw it from far
sunk here
in an always-ache….
Dyeing paling twilight woods—
a pair of wasps, spiraling, writhe….
Wetted lips of hers
and mine, just-parted,
move over each other
with tongues just-coming
but refuse—
like mists of evening
they've no place to settle….
Just-here though she's singing
she’s in some song from long ago—
poised on the brink
of twilight longing
three thousand miles
rush through my heart….
Under undulating curtains—
I hover above her
the tips of me brushing
the tips of her—
breathing back and forth
a column of air
we share our breath
slowly asphyxiating….
From burning wood campfire sparks dart off
extinguishing in the wet blue dark…
how you blow your long wind
across my embers,
through my soul, she pleads me,
take away the pain—
I dip a branch in blue water
and plunge it into coals….
***
In pre-dawn dark, against
a leaping inferno of flames
black monolith of wood
in the cast iron compartment
softens, and—gradually— fractures
to cells, warping upward,
until from the top a shard splinters:
pearls of flame string a fiber
and leap in little tongues
while the log, glowing, engulfed,
is consumed by the inferno contained….
A shadow daunts me, haunts and taunts me
now reaching far, now recoiling, now growing bold….
I once sang eruptions and the wind—
then appeared you
it took my whole life
singing only the songs of you
and still I sing for you
what other refuge
can stay me from this torment?
So— my doppelganger has arrived
no one said it would happen this way
but the way his hands
fold like mine, the style
of his humor, broadness of his smile—
even the way he walks….
Licking and lapping these lashings
of grasses are in tongues at my feet
smoldering's the fury within me—
I have seen my fields of daylight warp
to noxious-air infernos
but still to the clean blue of the flame
I take rest in her breast….
His songs I mouth, and in my head
is his voice— I cannot hear my own….
in my mind I see myself— thin,
stupid— my arms too weak,
my own chest too frail— and besides
I prefer him more….
Along spiral lines, seed-heads decay— swept away
they whirl and writhe in the hot blue fire of evening….
Stuck in a mural of sticky flesh— the family…
I am locked-in-arms with brothers
and sisters, drooping at the thighs
with nieces and nephews,
grafted to parents at the scalp, and
pasted with toddlers all over…
hived, sapped, black I sit, subject
to the flavors and aromas of your abuse….
Then— be wrapped in his presence…
crescendo to his warmth
the cascade of your laughter
search in his wrinkles
for the boy inside him…
I’m just biding here, bragless,
trying to admit these
rival-streams that flow
in one latticework of blood….
Halves of flesh and bosomy hips, lips
like dark ripe fruits they're chasing—
I chased them…
full-feathered was their hair
like floss in the sunshine
fine-fingered was their style
like laces cut to curves:
and then there was you,
returning one, just there
like the midnight moon
in my sky at noontime….
”
”
Mark Kaplon
“
The rules are so different in the World Outside Synanon. The answers come in pieces, bit by bit as we explore the neighborhood around the house on Breys Avenue: bullets explode if you hit them with a hammer, there is no Santa Claus, do not cry in front of other boys, cats land on their feet no matter how close to the ground they are when you drop them, dog food tastes bad, don’t say what you’re thinking, kids can buy cigarettes from vending machines, gasoline will burn on water, candy bars can be stolen, Mom has read over a thousand books, a Labrador can beat a German shepherd in a fight, parents are supposed to protect you, bullies are mean, we’re bad at baseball, we’re good at reading, we’re latchkey kids, we’re poor, we’re special, we’re smart, we’re different, we’re alone.
”
”
Mikel Jollett (Hollywood Park)
“
A human alpha should never have to raise her voice. Dogs don’t understand that. “If you are having to raise your voice to get their attention,” she said, “a dog will not see you as the leader. You have already lost. A true alpha does not behave like that and doesn’t have to. If a so-called alpha resorts to that, they are signaling that they are not in control at all.” True alphas command authority through their calm oversight of those who depend upon them. They establish their rank early in life and communicate through ancient signals their inner strength and stewardship, asserting their power only when necessary. An alpha generally eats first, decides when and who will eat afterward, inspires trust through firm shepherding for the safety and well-being of the pack. An alpha is not necessarily the biggest or fastest but usually the innately self-assured one who can chastise a pack member with a mere look or a low voice. A true alpha wields quiet power judiciously apportioned.
”
”
Isabel Wilkerson (Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents)
“
DO NOT BE TIMID TOWARDS THE WORLD; BE BOLD. DO NOT SUBMIT TO THE WORLD; DOMINATE IT. Better a wolf than a dog. Better a shepherd than a sheep. Better Socrates dissatisfied than a pig satisfied (as J.S. Mill memorably said).
”
”
Adam Weishaupt (Wolf or Dog?)
“
Allow me to introduce my shepherd,” the Under-King said from the mist ahead, standing beside a ten-foot-tall black dog. Each of its fangs was as long as one of her fingers. All hooked—like a shark’s. Designed to latch into flesh and hold tight while it ripped and shredded. Its eyes were milky white—sightless. Identical to the Under-King’s. Her light would have no effect on something that was already blind. The dog’s fur—sleek and iridescent enough that it almost resembled scales—flowed over bulky, bunched muscle. Claws like razor blades sliced into the dry ground. Hunt’s lightning crackled, skittering at Bryce’s feet. “That’s a demon,” he ground out. He’d fought enough of them to know. “An experiment of the Prince of the Ravine’s, from the First Wars,” the Under-King rasped. “Forgotten and abandoned here in Midgard during the aftermath. Now my faithful companion and helper. You’d be surprised how many souls do not wish to make their final offering to the Gate. The Shepherd … Well, it herds them for me. As it shall herd you.
”
”
Sarah J. Maas (House of Sky and Breath (Crescent City, #2))
“
Thanks, Dokken. We couldn’t have gotten him in there without you. I think he has more respect for you than for us.” That’s not it, the German Shepherd replied. I’ve worked harder at training him. It takes consistency, along with appropriate rewards for behaviors you want more of and punishment for those things he needs to stop doing. That’s all. “Just like training a dog, then?” Not at all. Dogs are smarter than humans. If we had thumbs, we’d get our own damn treats, but we can’t because of lids. The inequity is profound.
”
”
Craig Martelle (The Bad Company Complete Series Omnibus: Books 1 - 7)
“
We walk across the bridge and Indigo explains that collies are Sugar Dogs, dachshunds, terriers and other dogs bred to catch rats are Rogers, while German shepherds were designated Ables, although Indigo didn’t know why.
”
”
Ben Aaronovitch (What Abigail Did That Summer (Rivers of London, #5.3))
“
What else do I see? Packs of dogs, heads hovering low, roam the periphery of things. The long-standing human-canine alliance has been irretrievably severed, I’m sincerely sorry to report—the gnawed bones and matted chunks of hair scattered along the shores of Lost Lagoon testify to this. It’s sad, but then again those plump collies and German shepherds don’t seem too weighed down by nostalgia for bone-shaped vegan treats and belly rubs from the opposably-thumbed as they wander about, licking their chops. Anyway, it’s not their fault. We’re the ones who broke the deal.
”
”
Adrian Barnes (Nod)
“
We already train shepherds to be sentries, scouts, messengers, and ambulance dogs,” he said. “I see no reason why we cannot train dogs in great numbers to guide blinded veterans.
”
”
Alan Hlad (A Light Beyond the Trenches)
“
Our best messenger dog was Missy, a white German Shepherd that came to us in the original shipment of dogs we got from the Army.
”
”
William W. Putney (Always Faithful: A Memoir of the Marine Dogs of WWII)
“
The question about the toughest, smartest, most lethal dogs had always been a matter of heated debate when Raven was in the Marines. Some people preferred German Shepherds, while others were partial to Rottweilers, Dobermans, or the Belgian Malinois. But for Raven’s money, there was nothing more fearsome than a pissed off fully grown Akita.
”
”
Nicholas Sansbury Smith (The Trackers Series (Trackers #1-4))
“
Bhalu looked like an unkempt, wild version of the most majestic dog I had ever laid eyes on – her name was Grace.
My Grace. A German shepherd, a monster puppy who grew up to be a lady. Forever remembered fondly (by me) for taking regular puppy-sized dumps in Neha’s slippers and shoes, for being the reason Neha and I would have to figure innovative ways to save ourselves and run for cover if she were in the
vicinity, for chewing up our toes like her life depended on it, for shredding curtains, socks, shoes and anything she could get a hold of with rare delight, for a bark so fierce yet feminine that people feared pressing the bell at our gates.
”
”
Nidhie Sharma (INVICTUS)
“
When I first started looking at fatal dog attacks, they largely involved dogs like German shepherds and shepherd mixes
”
”
Malcolm Gladwell (What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures)
“
human-aggressive breed like German shepherds
”
”
Malcolm Gladwell (What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures)
“
German shepherds usually attempt to restrain those they perceive to be threats by biting and holding,
”
”
Malcolm Gladwell (What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures)
“
like German shepherd dogs, startle to novel and surprising objects at five or six weeks—as the V litter and Maize’s pups did. The spaniels’ breeding actually slows their rate of development generally. This time of hypersensitivity
”
”
Alexandra Horowitz (The Year of the Puppy: How Dogs Become Themselves)
“
an Australian shepherd that should, ideally, have mismatched eyes and hence is proving impossible to find, about which Alix is secretly relieved. She hasn’t got space in her head right now for a puppy, as much as she misses having a dog in the house.
”
”
Lisa Jewell (None of This Is True)
“
When she was six months old, Mädchen was hit by a car and killed. Her food was still in the bowl when our father brought home an identical German shepherd, which the same Cindy thoughtfully christened Mädchen II. This tag-team progression was disconcerting, especially to the new dog, which was expected to possess both the knowledge and the personality of her predecessor. “Mädchen One would never have wet the floor like that,” my father would scold, and the dog would sigh, knowing she was the canine equivalent of a rebound.
”
”
David Sedaris (Me Talk Pretty One Day)
“
Their eyes met, bleary and wild. Ione seemed to understand. “Tear it off,” she said. “Now.” Elm brought her bottom lip into his mouth. Pressed it with the tips of his teeth. “Beg me to.” She inhaled, to kiss or curse him— A noise in the room pulled Ione’s focus, her eyes darting to the cellar door. Which was now open. Filick Willow, with his hounds and books, stood, wide-eyed, arrested at the threshold. Elm dragged his hands off Ione and shot the Physician a murderous glare. “Are we no longer knocking, Filick?” “I—I did knock.” Filick’s gaze flew to Ione. “Apologies, Miss Hawthorn, I’ll just—” He hurried out of the room, leaving his dogs behind.
”
”
Rachel Gillig (Two Twisted Crowns (The Shepherd King, #2))
“
I wrapped the duvet underneath me to form a nice little cocoon, and managed to sleep for perhaps another hour or so, during which time I had a very peculiar dream about a hooded man who chased me around Shepherd’s Bush with a sword made out of breakfast. And then my dog was barking.
”
”
Tom Moran (Dinosaurs and Prime Numbers (Walton Cumberfield, #1))
“
…as instinctive a reaction as revenge soiling may be for certain “temperamental” breeds of dog (I think we all know who I’m talking about), it is unacceptable behavior in a German Shepherd Dog.
”
”
Gwynneth Mary Lovas (How To Be A Good German Shepherd Dog: "Self-Help For The Confused")
“
Turn two dogs who want to find each other loose on the same continent, and they will find each other. Take their mobile phones away, and two humans can’t even find each other in the same Walmart store.
”
”
Gwynneth Mary Lovas (How To Be A Good German Shepherd Dog: "Self-Help For The Confused")
“
Slobbering, drooling, playing with, spraying or in any way creating a scene with your food is unacceptable. Your dining area should never appear to beg the question, “Who flung dung?
”
”
Gwynneth Mary Lovas (How To Be A Good German Shepherd Dog: "Self-Help For The Confused")
“
There are no circumstances in which you are permitted to use the Jedi Mind Trick on your Master.
”
”
Gwynneth Mary Lovas (How To Be A Good German Shepherd Dog: "Self-Help For The Confused")
“
Note: German Shepherd Dogs are fearless. Remember this when Mommy brings out the nail clippers. Squealing, crying and running away are all frowned upon.
”
”
Gwynneth Mary Lovas (How To Be A Good German Shepherd Dog: "Self-Help For The Confused")
“
Never mind what “all the other dogs are wearing”. You are a German Shepherd Dog, and owe it to yourself and to your breed to maintain a semblance of dignity that will go straight out the window the first time you even “wonder” how you’d look in a pair of black patent rain boots.
”
”
Gwynneth Mary Lovas (How To Be A Good German Shepherd Dog: "Self-Help For The Confused")
“
German Shepherds are working dogs. In fact, if you don’t give us a job, we are likely to make up our own (and quite possibly assume some of your duties. “Is that the teenager acting up again, Mom? Don’t worry – I got this!”)
”
”
Gwynneth Mary Lovas (How To Be A Good German Shepherd Dog: "Self-Help For The Confused")
“
Once we'd balled up our burrito wrappers and tossed them into the trash, Jake and I walked several blocks from El Farolito to the home of Gus, a rescued shepherd mix that I walked a few afternoons each week. Jake sat on the stoop while I ran upstairs. As usual, Gus was waiting for me at the door of his apartment,; I could hear his tail pounding the floor as I turned the key in the lock. Once I got inside, he hopped around me, nipping delicately at my fingers, nails clackety-clacking at the floor, his tail an ecstatic black blur. I knelt down in front of him, pressed his floppy, expressive ears flat back against his head, and planted a kiss on the side of his long, black schnoz. He whined happily, his whole body shimmying. Gus was one of those dogs who had an entirely different personality at home, where his sense of security gave him the confidence to be joyous and goofy. Out on the street, the shelter pup in him came out and he turned skittish and sorrowful, his tan quotation mark eyebrows pressing together to turn his forehead into a series of of anxious wrinkles. Needless to say, I was gaga for Gus and his layered personality.
Downstairs, I could see right away that Jake loved dogs as much as I did. I had to warn him not to try too hard with Gus; too much attention from a stranger would only make Gus more nervous out there in the big loud world. Jake managed to restrain himself for half a block, but soon was cooing down to Gus, running his hand down the length of his silky black-and-tan coat, and passing him a little piece of chorizo from a napkin that he'd somehow slipped into his pocket at El Farolito without me noticing. Gus pressed himself against Jack's leg and looked adoringly up at him as he gobbled the meat, his tail for a moment wagging as freely as it did at home.
”
”
Meg Donohue (How to Eat a Cupcake)
“
I took a walk from Friedrichstrasse Station. That appears to be the train station from which I left in 1983 and in 1988. Then, it was a threatening place, with policemen carrying machine guns and parading around with dogs. Today I walked out to a commercial paradise of stores and of—policemen with machine guns and German shepherds. In fact, there were more police now than then.
”
”
Josip Novakovich (Shopping for a Better Country)
“
Facebook could have a video of you fornicating wildly with a frisky German shepherd, with your Social Security number and bank details written in lipstick on the dog’s back, while some deep voice in the background read out your deepest, darkest secrets from childhood and adolescence, and you know what? No advertiser would give a shit.
”
”
Antonio García Martínez (Chaos Monkeys: Inside the Silicon Valley Money Machine)
“
His German Shepherd dog, Scully, sat beside him. She’d been subdued all day, presumably picking up on his mood. He glanced to his right. The vineyard sloped down toward Blue Penguin Bay—a small crescent of golden sand inaccessible by land, and visited only by the occasional boat and the birds that gave the bay its name. The Pacific Ocean beyond sparkled in the afternoon
”
”
Serenity Woods (As Deep as the Ocean (Blue Penguin Bay, #1))
“
This is my version. It's from the Psalm of David. The lord is my shepherd. He doesn't mean a dog. He makes me lie down in green pastures. No cow patties, please. Thy rod and thy staff comfort me. Not if they're used to give a little kid a spanking. Thou preparest a table before me...hotdogs with ketchup, that's what I like best. .. And the part about the presence of my enemies - that takes care of Lindsey. Now the end. And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. ..Breastless!
”
”
Jackie Weger (No Perfect Fate (Almost Perfect, #1))
“
Whether or not you are looking to house-train your German Shepherd Dog (GSD) or any other type of dog, this book will teach you the essentials of house-training your new puppy (or adult) dog without the need for "Crate Training" in a very easy and fun to read format. This book also serves as a photo-journal (with high-quality (HQ) high-definition (HD) picture on every page) documenting week by week the first few months of life of Sadie the German Shepherd Dog (GSD) Puppy (together with her dog friend Bad News Billy) that is suitable for children, and makes a very nice children's story-picture book for fans of German Shepherd Dogs (GSDs) of all ages.
By reading this book you will learn:
1.) How to house-train your dog without "Crate Training".
2.) How to know when to take your dog out to urinate/defecate.
3.) The four most important concepts for your dog to learn first before anything else.
4.) The three ways to get your dog to do as you say.
5.) The four reasons why your dog will not bite you.
6.) The two ways to control your dog's "Danger Area".
7.) The two ways to teach your dog new behaviors.
8.) Positive Reinforcement vs. Correction of Negative Behaviors.
9.) Which foods are safe and unsafe for your dog to eat.
10.) How to teach your dog hand-signals as silent commands.
11.) How to teach your dog to urinate/defecate upon command.
...and much more!
”
”
Yohai Reuben (Sadie the German Shepherd Dog Puppy: How to House-Train your GSD without a Crate)
“
This book is divided into chapters, though not in the traditional chapter division of subject matters. This is because this book also serves as a photojournal of moments from Sadie's first few months of life documented here in dated photos. Thus subsequent chapters after the first are divided into chapters by the date of the photos taken - mostly weekly every seven days on the weekly anniversary (Tuesday) of her birth. Another reason that I have done this is because training a GSD puppy from the age of 4 weeks 5 days entirely on my own has been a “sink or swim” type of learning experience for me, and I would like you to experience with me the raising of Sadie (and the learning/realization of things as I learned/realized them) here in this photojournal if at all possible.
”
”
Yohai Reuben (Sadie the German Shepherd Dog Puppy: How to House-Train your GSD without a Crate (Sadie the GSD))
“
German Shepherds are working dogs. In fact, if you don’t give them a job, they will make up their own (and quite possibly assume some of your duties. “Is that the teenager acting up again, Mom? Don’t worry – I got this!”)
”
”
Gwynneth Mary Lovas (The Retirement Diaries)
“
I heard of Bobby first early in the winter, from a Bible-reader at the Medical Mission in the Cowgate, who saw the little dog’s master buried. He sees many strange, sad things in his work, but nothing ever shocked him so as the lonely death of that pious old shepherd in such a picturesque den of vice and misery.” “Ay,
”
”
Eleanor Atkinson (Greyfriars Bobby)
“
12What is considered aggressive is culturally and generationally relative. German shepherds were on the top of the list after World War II; in the 1990s Rottweilers and Dobermans were scorned; the American Staffordshire terrier (also known as the pit bull) is the current bête noire. Their classification has more to do with recent events and public perception than with their intrinsic nature. Recent research found that of all breeds, dachshunds were the most aggressive to both their own owners and to strangers. Perhaps this is underreported because a snarling dachshund can be picked up and stashed away in a tote bag. 13
”
”
Alexandra Horowitz (Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know)
“
One of the leaders of the great Pannonian revolt against Augustus complained that ‘You Romans are to blame for this; for you send as guardians to your flocks, not dogs or shepherds, but wolves.
”
”
Adrian Goldsworthy (Pax Romana: War, Peace and Conquest in the Roman World)
“
In the past, when dogs’ functions were mostly rural, it was accepted that they were intrinsically messy and needed to be managed on their own terms. Today, by contrast, many pet dogs live in circumscribed, urban environments and are expected to be simultaneously better behaved than the average human child and as self-reliant as adults. As if these new obligations were not enough, many dogs still manifest the adaptations that suited them for their original functions—traits that we now demand they cast away as if they had never existed. The collie who herds sheep is the shepherd’s best friend; the pet collie who tries to herd children and chases bicycles is an owner’s nightmare. The new, unrealistic standards to which many humans hold their dogs have arisen from one of several fundamental misconceptions about what dogs are and what they have been designed to do.
”
”
John Bradshaw (Dog Sense: How the New Science of Dog Behavior Can Make You a Better Friend to Your Pet)
“
To a space alien or a German Shepherd dog, the two humans would be indistinguishable, just as attractive and unattractive space aliens and German Shepherd dogs are difficult for you to tell apart.
”
”
David Eagleman (Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain)
“
Sometimes I think I look like a sheep between wolves so I answer where is shepherded? Sometimes I think I am the wolf so I answer where are the sheep-dogs?
”
”
Ali Rezavand Zayeri
“
Goliath could not tell for sure until the lad had reached to within fifty or so feet of him. He was puny. And he wore no armor. He was clad as a shepherd without his cloak. He had a shepherd’s staff and sling in his hand. He looked like a teenager. In fact, he was quite handsome and Goliath thought it would be a pleasure to sexually violate this stripling. But he was insulted by the challenge. He boiled with rage. He screamed out to his enemies on the hillside, “AM I A DOG THAT YOU COME TO ME WITH STICKS? I CURSE YOU BY DAGON, BA’ALZEBUL, MOLECH AND ASHERAH! YOU FILTHY HEBREW COWARDS!” Goliath turned to David and said, “Come to me, boy. I will give your flesh to the vultures and jackals. After I have my way with you!” David shouted to him, “You come with scimitar and javelin, but I come in the name of Yahweh of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have blasphemed! This day Yahweh will deliver you into my hand and I will smite you and cut off your head!” Goliath laughed with incredulity. And it is a puny pontificating pipsqueak no less. I wonder if the little rat is going to keep on talking. He did. “I will give your body to the vultures and jackals, and all the earth will know that there is a god in Israel whose name is Yahweh Elohim! And this assembly will know that Yahweh saves not with sword or spear! For the battle is Yahweh’s and he will give you into our hands!” Goliath muttered, “Sanctimonious little twat.
”
”
Brian Godawa (David Ascendant (Chronicles of the Nephilim, #7))
“
A German shepherd is a lot of dog, but people only see how cute the puppies are and assume it’s going to be easy.
”
”
Anonymous
“
This beautiful, slender German Shepherd with erect ears and a cold glare stood at attention, awaiting the order. I watched the canine's handler. The man's lips moved ever-so-slightly, and the dog was off. EMS was going wild. They'd apparently never seen the K9 unit in action, either. I glanced over to the waiting room, and I swear, every last person stood with their noses pressed against the windows. When I looked back outside, the police dog was dangling from the woman's forearm. Even then, she continued to move around and yell. She refused to drop her handbag and swatted at the dog's head. I'm pretty sure we were all rooting for the dog. The
”
”
Kerry Hamm (But I Came by Ambulance!: Real Stories from a Small-Town ER)
“
Yeah, I had a dog growing up, too. Big dog—Spike, no kidding. He was almost a perfect animal. But he let my sisters dress him up. That used to make me sick, I’m telling you. The way he let himself be humiliated like that.” Ian shot him a look and a big grin. He was picturing a German shepherd in a tutu and a disgruntled teenage boy. A laugh shot out of him. “It wasn’t funny,” Jack said. “I bet it was,” Ian said.
”
”
Robyn Carr (A Virgin River Christmas (Virgin River #4))
“
On the steps leading to a door
was a scrub brush that was blue.
I snatched it quick and ran for home
because it was just the thing to chew.
”
”
Melinda K. Trotter (Buster the Treasure Hunter Dog)
“
Grandpa, please,” I’d say. “I have to study.” “What you have to do is acquire a taste.” He’d leave me to read but then would barge into my room a minute later with some weak excuse. Had I called him? Did I need help with a difficult passage? “Grandpa, these are children’s books.” “First children’s books, then Lenin’s.” He’d sit at the foot of my bed, and motion me to keep on reading. If I came home from school frightened because a stray dog had chased me down the street, Grandpa would only sigh. Could I imagine Kalitko the shepherd scared of a little dog? If I complained of bullies Grandpa would shake his head. “Imagine Mitko Palauzov whining.” “Mitko Palauzov was killed in a dugout.” “A brave and daring boy indeed,” Grandpa would say, and pinch his nose to stop the inevitable tears. And
”
”
Miroslav Penkov (East of the West)
“
More of a QUESTION: When I was in high school in the 1980's I read a book but cannot remember the name. It had a spooky green cover with a german shepherd like dog on it and I seem to remember it being about ghosts or something in the English countryside -although it could have been Irish or Wales or Scottish. Does anyone else remember this book and can you tell me the name? I would love to reread it since it set me on my path to my LOVE if reading.
”
”
M.D. Robinson
“
The dachshund, so strongly associated with Germany, became a ‘liberty pup’ during the First World War, and after it the increasingly popular German Shepherds were renamed Alsatians in light of persisting anti-German feeling. During the same period frankfurters and sauerkraut were relabelled as ‘hot dogs’ and ‘liberty cabbage’.
”
”
Henry Hitchings (The Secret Life of Words: How English Became English)
“
Alec scoffed. “An overweight German Shepherd shouldn't be able to sneak anywhere. I'm serious about setting up cameras to see how he's so stealthy when he's creeping around.”
Joy filled me as Alec's antics pushed away the worry and nagging fear leftover from my nightmare.
I grinned. “He is a ninja dog.”
My new codename for Storm grated on Alec's nerves.
“Ninja dog, please. More like suspicious dog. I swear he was a human in his past life.
”
”
L.A. Casey
“
Jenna Zulauf loves spending her free time both indoors working out and outdoors experiencing all that Colorado has to offer. Her favorite past time is hiking with her 3 German Shepherds. Jenna Zulauf has summited 14ers with her dogs right beside her, exploring nature's peace, calm and serenity in the beautiful Rocky Mountains.
”
”
Jenna Zulauf
“
into creating an environment where we were always well fed and entertained, likely with the hope we’d never want to move away from it. He even got me a dog, an affable, cinnamon-colored shepherd mutt we called Rex. Per my mother’s orders, Rex wasn’t allowed to live at our house, but I’d visit him all the time at Southside’s, lying on the floor with my face buried in his soft fur, listening to his tail thwap appreciatively anytime Southside walked past. Southside spoiled the dog the same way he spoiled me, with food and love and tolerance, all of it a silent, earnest plea never to leave him. My father’s family, meanwhile, sprawled across
”
”
Michelle Obama (Becoming)
“
Qwilleran said, “If I had a dog, it would be a German shepherd.
”
”
Lilian Jackson Braun (The Cat Who Saw Stars (Cat Who..., #21))
“
Computer vision (CV) is the subbranch of AI that focuses on the problem of teaching computers to see. The word “see” here does not mean just the act of acquiring a video or image, but also making sense of what a computer sees. Computer vision includes the following capabilities in increasing complexity: Image capturing and processing—use cameras and other sensors to capture real-world 3D scenes in a video. Each video is composed of a sequence of images, and each image is a two-dimensional array of numbers representing the color, where each number is a “pixel.” Object detection and image segmentation—divide the image into prominent regions and find where the objects are. Object recognition—recognizes the object (for example, a dog), and also understands the details (German Shepherd, dark brown, and so on). Object tracking—follows moving objects in consecutive images or video. Gesture and movement recognition—recognize movements, like a dance move in an Xbox game. Scene understanding—understands a full scene, including subtle relationships, like a hungry dog looking at a bone.
”
”
Kai-Fu Lee (AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future)
“
He waved at a red pickup—one that looked old in a ready-for-the-junkyard way, rather than in a classic-car-show way—parked behind Jules’s SUV. A shepherd-type dog sat in the passenger seat, watching them with huge, pricked ears. “Why?”
“No reason.” A rustling sound made her jerk her head around, but it was only the wind making leaves dance across the road.
“Uh-huh,” Hugh said, not sounding as if he believed her. “Was someone bothering you in there?”
“She wasn’t sure how to answer that. Although she would’ve sworn she heard someone outside her dressing room, she was starting to think that she was imagining things. After all, the past several days would’ve messed with almost anyone’s sanity. Since she didn’t want to consider that she couldn’t trust her own senses, she changed the subject. “What are you doing out here?”
“Just…more errands.” For the first time since she’d met him, Hugh didn’t answer with his usual cocky confidence. Instead, his gaze darted to the side as he slid his hands in his pockets, looking like a strangely appealing combination of naughty boy and confident man. He snuck a glance at her, and she raised an eyebrow, making him huff and swing a hand toward the pickup. “My truck’s right there. I had to walk by here to get to it.”
“Uh-huh.” She echoed his skeptical sound from earlier. “Do we need to have the stalking-is-bad talk again?”
“I’m a cop, not a stalker,” he said with exaggerated patience. “I arrest stalkers.”
“Might want to check out your house.”
“What?”
She smirked. “It’s looking a little see-through and glassy to me.”
“What?” “Glass house? Throwing stones?”
Lips pursed, he eyed her for several seconds. “You’re not very good at telling jokes.”
“I’m an excellent joke teller!” Grace huffed.
“Uh-huh.
”
”
Katie Ruggle (On the Chase (Rocky Mountain K9 Unit, #2))
“
It’s difficult to nail down the dangers of specific breeds. News reports often, and without sufficient evidence, blame the breeds considered dangerous at the time. Today, for example, pit bull terriers and rottweilers take the blame for attacks from all sorts of dogs. In the past, Doberman pinschers and German shepherds were similarly blamed.
”
”
Gordon Grice (The Book of Deadly Animals)
“
How would he manage if he became blind?
At least if he was blind he could get a guide dog - there was an upside to everything, a silver lining of helpful Labs and noble German Shepherds eager to be his eyes.
What if he became deaf?
They had dogs for the deaf, too, but Martin wasn´t sure what they did.
Tugged at your sleeve a lot probably while looking meaningfully at things.
”
”
Kate Atkinson (One Good Turn (Jackson Brodie, #2))
“
Upon arriving we went straight into the school. Shepherd boys would come here twice a week, have a hot meal, go to a class. We sat in semi-darkness, beside a paraffin lamp, watching a lesson, and then we sat on the ground with a dozen boys, some as young as eight. We listened to them describe their daily trek to our school. It defied belief: after twelve hours of tending their cattle and sheep, they’d walk for two hours through mountain passes just to learn maths, reading, writing. Such was their hunger to learn. They braved sore feet, bitter cold – and far worse. They were so vulnerable on the road, so exposed to the elements, several had died from lightning strikes. Many had been attacked by stray dogs. They dropped their voices and told us that many had also been sexually abused by wanderers, rustlers, nomads and other boys. I felt ashamed to think of all my bitching about school. About anything.
”
”
Prince Harry (Spare)
“
I'm sweating, but sweat doesn't stay on my skin - the air licks it away fast. Stray dogs wander the street. I get closer to Patricia; I don't want them to be the German shepherds from the desert. The orange dirt, the dust kicked up. We're back in México, where we were yesterday.
”
”
Javier Zamora (Solito)
“
They could not see the little dog, but they knew he was there. They knew now that he would still be there when they could see him no more- his body a part of the soil, his memory a part of all that was held dear and imperishable in that old garden of souls. They could go up to the lodge and look at his famous collar, and they would have his image in bronze on the fountain. And sometime, when the mysterious door opened for them, they might see Bobby again, a sonsie doggie running on the green pastures and beside the still waters, at the heels of his shepherd master, for: If there is not more love in this world than there is room for in God's heaven, Bobby would have just 'gaen awa' hame'.
”
”
Eleanor Atkinson (Greyfriars Bobby)
“
Adam was like a German Shepherd that had traded in dog fighting for duckie pajamas and flower crowns.
”
”
Onley James (Maniac (Necessary Evils, #7))
“
feeling that something wasn't right. A second later, he knew what had woken him. He felt Missy's wet nose on his cheek as she poked him with her muzzle, then ran to the door hectically. Jeff sighed. "Is it that urgent, old girl?" The big, shaggy shepherd dog usually slept through the night, but Jeff understood that she needed to go outside. Missy now whimpered and started scratching at the rusty door of his hut. The old bed creaked when Jeff got up, his neck hurt badly, as it did every morning. The scar, where the augmentation implants had been removed, would never really heal, and he knew that. They had fucked it up during the removing procedure. But he would still rather endure the pain for the rest of his life than have that thing remaining inside him.
”
”
Anna Mocikat (Behind Blue Eyes (Behind Blue Eyes, #1))
“
Fine,” Castor sighed. With his chin still resting on his paws, he mumbled, “I’m ‘Castor German Shepherd, Descendent of the Mexican Wolf and Third Dog of the Trash Mountain Pack on the Southside of Lion’s Head.
”
”
Devon Hughes (Unnaturals: The Battle Begins: An Epic Sci-Fi Adventure About a Mutt's Fight for Survival and Freedom for Kids (Ages 8-12))
“
The manager gave him a copy of the contract. From a carbon he read aloud, “’In addition said player will be permitted to convey his German shepherd dog on all road trips in his own conveyance.’” He laughed, “A clause to make baseball history. When do we see this famous dog?”
“You’ll meet him tonight. He’ll be on the field.
”
”
David Malcolmson (London: The Dog Who Made the Team)
“
Like a shepherd and sheep, its principle is simple, redirection towards the obligatory path, and speaking of Ozcan, he is the most proficient in this game. Watch the professionals do it in the reorientation of functional organizations.
There is no need to recruit them all, it is enough for them to do what a shepherd does with a flock of sheep; blocking the roads in front of them, putting a dog in one place, standing and waving his stick in another place, to force them to take the path he wants, towards the barn.
And if you spoke to one of them, it would swear to you that it is going the way it wants, which it chose with its full will, or chosen for them by their leader at the forefront of the herd, who knows the secrets of the ways, believing that they go the way they want.
He decided that he should play the game according to its laws since they are sheep, so do not try to address them or convince them, but rather direct them to where you want. He did not know anything about deterministic algorithms at the time, his decision was based on his innate, something inside him. He succeeded, however, by making a butterfly flutter, far away. Some straying out of the Shepherd’s path, then another artificial flutter associated with the first to accelerate the process, and then a third, and a fourth, then the chaos ensued, and the hurricanes blew up all the inevitable of Alpha Headquarters.
A butterfly fluttered where no one was watching, he studied and planned it carefully.
Words by a revolutionary Palestinian poet, Mahmoud Darwish, summarized the whole story…
Throw a stone into the stagnant water, rivers will break out
Ring your bells in the kingdom of silence and sing your anthem
And let the wall of fear break into dust like pottery
”
”
Ahmad I. AlKhalel (Zero Moment: Do not be afraid, this is only a passing novel and will end (Son of Chaos Book 1))
“
like I just insulted his very expensive Gucci boots or ran over his grandmother’s dog.
”
”
Ashley Shepherd (Faking Under the Mistletoe)
“
Proper socialization is not meeting new dogs or people. It is learning to ignore new dogs and people when in public, and focusing attention on their handler.
”
”
Linda Whitwam (The German Shepherd Handbook: The Essential Guide For New & Prospective German Shepherd Owners (Canine Handbooks))
“
A bad dog is not born it’s made - you will get out what you put in. And they are so worth it!
”
”
Linda Whitwam (The German Shepherd Handbook: The Essential Guide For New & Prospective German Shepherd Owners (Canine Handbooks))
“
Rescue dogs are trained to perform such responses on command, often in repulsive situations, such as fires, that they would normally avoid unless the entrapped individuals are familiar. Training is accomplished with the usual carrot-and stick method. One might think, therefore, that the dogs perform like Skinnerian rats, doing what has been reinforced in the past, partly out of instinct, partly out of a desire for tidbits. If they save human lives, one could argue, they do so for purely selfish reasons.
The image of the rescue dog as a well-behaved robot is hard to maintain, however, in the face of their attitude under trying circumstances with few survivors, such as in the aftermath of the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. When rescue dogs encounter too many dead people, they lose interest in their job regardless of how much praise and goodies they get.
This was discovered by Caroline Hebard, the U.S. pioneer of canine search and rescue, during the Mexico City earthquake of 1985. Hebard recounts how her German shepherd, Aly, reacted to finding corpse after corpse and few survivors. Aly would be all excited and joyful if he detected human life in the rubble, but became depressed by all the death. In Hebard's words, Aly regarded humans as his friends, and he could not stand to be surrounded by so many dead friends: "Aly fervently wanted his stick reward, and equally wanted to please Caroline, but as long as he was uncertain about whether he had found someone alive, he would not even reward himself. Here in this gray area, rules of logic no longer applied."
The logic referred to is that a reward is just a reward: there is no reason for a trained dog to care about the victim's condition. Yet, all dogs on the team became depressed. They required longer and longer resting periods, and their eagerness for the job dropped off dramatically. After a couple of days, Aly clearly had had enough. His big brown eyes were mournful, and he hid behind the bed when Hehard wanted to take him out again. He also refused to eat. All other dogs on the team had lost their appetites as well.
The solution to this motivational problem says a lot about what the dogs wanted. A Mexican veterinarian was invited to act as stand-in survivor. The rescuers hid the volunteer somewhere in a wreckage and let the dogs find him. One after another the dogs were sent in, picked up the man's scent, and happily alerted, thus "saving" his life. Refreshed by this exercise, the dogs were ready to work again.
What this means is that trained dogs rescue people only partly for approval and food rewards. Instead of performing a cheap circus trick, they are emotionally invested. They relish the opportunity to find and save a live person. Doing so also constitutes some sort of reward, but one more in line with what Adam Smith, the Scottish philosopher and father of economics, thought to underlie human sympathy: all that we derive from sympathy, he said, is the pleasure of seeing someone else's fortune. Perhaps this doesn't seem like much, but it means a lot to many people, and apparently also to some bighearted canines.
”
”
Frans de Waal (The Ape and the Sushi Master: Reflections of a Primatologist)
“
I tend to blend into the background. That's partly because anyone can get lost behind a seventy-five-pound Shepherd, but mostly it's the magic of dogs. They render all else invisible, even dreary hospitals, schools, or pain. A dog brightens any setting. - Katie Avagliano in the story Unemployed
”
”
Amy Newmark (Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Magic of Dogs)
“
A dog doesn’t have hooves and eat grass like the sheep. A dog has fangs and claws and eats meat … like the wolves, not the sheep. A dog is a close relative of the wolf. That’s why the shepherd chooses a dog to guard the flock, because it takes a hunter to understand and fight a predator.
”
”
Isabella Maldonado (Phoenix Burning (Veranda Cruz #2))
“
And now, in conclusion, may we be permitted to point out the excuse for this book? It is not the story of Rin-Tin-Tin, for, after all, the real story of Rin-Tin-Tin can only be written when he, like all his forbears, goes to the happy hunting grounds. History cannot be written of those who live, only of those who have departed, for then only do we have the true perspective.
No, the reason for the book, is the pictures therein, beautiful reproductions of the life of this dog, colored to add to their values. Lovers of Rin-Tin-Tin will love these pictures; lovers of all dogs will appreciate these wonderful reproductions of man's noblest friend.
This, then, is the story of Rin-Tin-Tin, merely an outline, a sketch, for the real story is yet to come.
”
”
Warner Bros. Productions. (The Story of Rin-Tin-Tin. The Marvelous & Amazing Dog of the Movies.)
“
Crate training is a must for any dog and will help with housetraining. I crate train all of my dogs. Crate training teaches your dog patience, and it becomes their den and safe space. It reduces stress, and keeps your dog out of trouble when you cannot supervise them. Crating a dog prevents and relieves Separation Anxiety issues, as they learn to relax when being alone.
”
”
Linda Whitwam (The German Shepherd Handbook: The Essential Guide For New & Prospective German Shepherd Owners (Canine Handbooks))
“
The main difficulty which besets Plato is that guardians and auxiliaries must be endowed with a character that is fierce and gentle at the same time. It is clear that they must be bred to be fierce, since they must ‘meet any danger in a fearless and unconquerable spirit’. Yet ‘if their nature is to be like that, how are they to be kept from being violent against one another, or against the rest of the citizens?’ Indeed, it would be ‘simply monstrous if the shepherds should keep dogs … who would worry the sheep, behaving like wolves rather than dogs’.
”
”
Karl Popper (The Open Society and Its Enemies - Volume One: The Spell of Plato)
“
Trying to sell the idea of a new pup to the children, on the other hand, was about as difficult as trying to convince them to eat chocolate.
”
”
David Kennard (The Dogs of Windcutter Down: One Shepherd's Struggle for Survival)
“
Growing up on a far, the children had learned the realities of life and death. The old adage, “Where there’s livestock, there dead stock’ is not a flippant comment from a dispassionate farmer, but a countryman’s acceptance of the way things are, and always will be.
”
”
David Kennard (The Dogs of Windcutter Down: One Shepherd's Struggle for Survival)
“
Bes’ dog you’ll ever see,’ he repeated without a hint of embarrassment. ‘Won’t work for me, mind, only for the bloke what trained ‘im.
”
”
David Kennard (The Dogs of Windcutter Down: One Shepherd's Struggle for Survival)
“
I’ve never been entirely sure what it is that makes trialing so strangely compulsive. Partly it’s an enjoyment of the company of my fellow sheepdog enthusiasts, many of whom are shepherds and share a unique understanding of the curious life we lead: partly too it’s a love of the sheepdog and it’s working relationship with man – but, to me at least, it’s also a sport rather than a hobby, and for that reason brings all the satisfaction, and frustration, that winning, losing and sometimes just competing brings with them.
”
”
David Kennard (The Dogs of Windcutter Down: One Shepherd's Struggle for Survival)
“
But what've we got instead? Idiot collies, neurotic shepherds, murderous Rottweilers, deaf Dalmatians, and Labs so calm you could shoot a gun at them and they wouldn't suspect danger.
”
”
Sigrid Nunez (For Rouenna)
“
Will we have pets?” I bite back the question regarding kids. While this might be a fun fantasy, imagining being responsible for something like that is terrifying.
“Sure.” Noah stays near the fire on one bent knee and occasionally pokes it to keep the dwindling flames alive. “I had a dog once.”
“What type?”
“A mix of some sort. Part Lab, part something smaller than Lab. Its paws were too big for its body, so it skidded across the kitchen floor.”
“Is that what you want?”
“If we’re going to live alone on a mountain, we need a guard dog. A German shepherd. Something like that.”
“Guard dog?” Not what I had in mind for the fantasy. “We need something cute and cuddly.” I squish my fingers in the air as if I have the little puff ball in my hands. “It can sleep in our bed.”
“No fucking way, Echo. I’m not sharing my bed with a dog.
”
”
Katie McGarry (Breaking the Rules (Pushing the Limits, #1.5))
“
That German shepherd will be a good guard dog and now they can show the neighbourhood that they are respectable people.
”
”
Monique Gold (King Tommy and the God of beginning)
“
One reason Bonhoeffer wished to spend a year as a pastor in Barcelona was that he believed communicating what he knew theologically—whether to indifferent businessmen, teenagers, or younger children—was as important as the theology itself. His success in children’s ministry shows this, and this letter to his future brother-in-law Walter Dress gives us a glimpse into this aspect of his year in Barcelona: 86 Today I encountered a completely unique case in my pastoral counseling, which I’d like to recount to you briefly and which despite its simplicity really made me think. At 11:00 a.m. there was a knock at my door and a ten-year-old boy came into my room with something I had requested from his parents. I noticed that something was amiss with the boy, who is usually cheerfulness personified. And soon it came out: he broke down in tears, completely beside himself, and I could hear only the words: “Herr Wolf ist tot” [Mr. Wolf is dead.], and then he cried and cried. “But who is Herr Wolf?” As it turns out, it is a young German shepherd dog that was sick for eight days and had just died a half-hour ago. So the boy, inconsolable, sat down on my knee and could hardly regain his composure; he told me how the dog died and how everything is lost now. He played only with the dog, each morning the dog came to the boy’s bed and awakened him—and now the dog was dead. What could I say? So he talked to me about it for quite a while. Then suddenly his wrenching crying became very quiet and he said: “But I know he’s not dead at all.” “What do you mean?” “His spirit is now in heaven, where it is happy. Once in class a boy asked the religion teacher what heaven was like, and she said she had not been there yet; but tell me now, will I see Herr Wolf again? He’s certainly in heaven.” So there I stood and was supposed to answer him yes or no. If I said “no, we don’t know” that would have meant “no.” . . . So I quickly made up my mind and said to him: “Look, God created human beings and also animals, and I’m sure he also loves animals. And I believe that with God it is such that all who loved each other on earth—genuinely loved each other—will remain together with God, for to love is part of God. Just how that happens, though, we admittedly don’t know.” You should have seen the happy face on this boy; he had completely stopped crying. “So then I’ll see Herr Wolf again when I am dead; then we can play together again”—in a word, he was ecstatic. I repeated to him a couple of times that we don’t really know how this happens. He, however, knew, and knew it quite definitely in thought. After a few minutes, he said: “Today I really scolded Adam and Eve; if they had not eaten the apple, Herr Wolf would not have died.” This whole affair was as important to the young boy as things are for one of us when something really bad happens. But I am almost surprised—moved, by the naïveté of the piety that awakens at such a moment in an otherwise completely wild young boy who is thinking of nothing. And there I stood—I who was supposed to “know the answer”—feeling quite small next to him; and I cannot forget the confident expression he had on his face when he left.
”
”
Eric Metaxas (Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy)
“
On All Dogs Go to Heaven:
Lastly, the heaven illustrated in the movie didn't seam much like the one being advertised during Big Church services. I mean, three was a whippet dog playing the role of Saint Peter, which is super dubious because I think if dogs uniformly had to elect a particular breed as the representative sample of goodness greeting them as the shuffled off their mortal coils (leashes?) and entered into eternity, it would probably go:
1) Golden Retriever: Might be more angelic than Saint Peter IMO
2) Labrador Retriever: The All-American, apple pie-sniffing dog next door.
3) Siberian Huskies: Those eyes tho.
4) Beagle: Scrappy, overachieving everydogs
5) German Shepherd: Would be higher but lost a ton of points thanks the unfortunate connection to the Big Bads of WW2.
6) Whippets: They look like they are either embarking upon or just recovering from an intense drug habit.
LAST PLACE: CORGIS: These dogs are probably the gatekeepers to hell*. White cute, this dog is more useless than a urinal cake-flavored Popsicle. My parents have had two of these dogs and all they were good at was being emotional terrorists. Zero starts, would not recommend.
*I know Greek myth says it's Cerberus, a giant, three-headed dog, and it makes no mention of dog breed, but I can guarantee you that Cerberus must have had three large and stupid Corgi heads.
”
”
Knox McCoy (The Wondering Years: How Pop Culture Helped Me Answer Life’s Biggest Questions)
“
On All Dogs Go to Heaven:
Lastly, the heaven illustrated in the movie didn't seam much like the one being advertised during Big Church services. I mean, three was a whippet dog playing the role of Saint Peter, which is super dubious because I think if dogs uniformly had to elect a particular breed as the representative sample of goodness greeting them as the shuffled off their mortal coils (leashes?) and entered into eternity, it would probably go:
1) Golden Retriever: Might be more angelic than Saint Peter IMO
2) Labrador Retriever: The All-American, apple pie-sniffing dog next door.
3) Siberian Huskies: Those eyes tho.
4) Beagle: Scrappy, overachieving everydogs
5) German Shepherd: Would be higher but lost a ton of points thanks the unfortunate connection to the Big Bads of WW2.
6) Whippets: They look like they are either embarking upon or just recovering from an intense drug habit.
LAST PLACE: CORGIS: These dogs are probably the gatekeepers to hell*. While cute, this dog is more useless than a urinal cake-flavored Popsicle. My parents have had two of these dogs and all they were good at was being emotional terrorists. Zero starts, would not recommend.
*I know Greek myth says it's Cerberus, a giant, three-headed dog, and it makes no mention of dog breed, but I can guarantee you that Cerberus must have had three large and stupid Corgi heads.
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Knox McCoy (The Wondering Years: How Pop Culture Helped Me Answer Life’s Biggest Questions)
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On All Dogs Go to Heaven:
Lastly, the heaven illustrated in the movie didn't seam much like the one being advertised during Big Church services. I mean, three was a whippet dog playing the role of Saint Peter, which is super dubious because I think if dogs uniformly had to elect a particular breed as the representative sample of goodness greeting them as the shuffled off their mortal coils (leashes?) and entered into eternity, it would probably go:
1) Golden Retriever: Might be more angelic than Saint Peter IMO
2) Labrador Retriever: The All-American, apple pie-sniffing dog next door.
3) Siberian Huskies: Those eyes tho.
4) Beagle: Scrappy, overachieving everydogs
5) German Shepherd: Would be higher but lost a ton of points thanks the unfortunate connection to the Big Bads of WW2.
6) Whippets: They look like they are either embarking upon or just recovering from an intense drug habit.
LAST PLACE: CORGIS: These dogs are probably the gatekeepers to hell*.
While cute, this dog is more useless than a urinal cake-flavored Popsicle. My parents have had two of these dogs and all they were good at was being emotional terrorists. Zero stars, would not recommend.
*I know Greek myth says it's Cerberus, a giant, three-headed dog, and it makes no mention of dog breed, but I can guarantee you that Cerberus must have had three large and stupid Corgi heads.
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Knox McCoy (The Wondering Years: How Pop Culture Helped Me Answer Life’s Biggest Questions)
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A small brownish-gray terrier had been sitting on the brick, but he hopped to his feet as soon as he saw Bridget and gave one sharp emphatic bark.
"Now hush," she said to him- not that he seemed to care. She set the tin plate down and uncovered it, revealing the scraps that Mrs. Bram had saved for her.
The terrier immediately began gobbling the food as if he was starving which, sadly, he might be.
"You'll choke," Bridget said sternly. The terrier didn't listen. He never did, no matter how businesslike she made her voice. Grown men- footmen- might jump to obey her, but this scrawny waif defied her.
Bridget bit her lip. If she was forced to leave Hermes House, who would feed the terrier? Mrs. Bram might- if she remembered to do so- but the cook was a busy woman with other matters on her mind.
The dog finished his meal and licked the plate so enthusiastically that he overturned it with a clatter.
Bridget tutted and bent to pick it up.
The dog thrust his short snout under her hand as she did so and she found herself stroking his head. His fur was wiry rather than silky, almost greasy, but the dog had liquid brown eyes and seemed to smile as his mouth hung open, tongue lolling out. He was very, very sweet. She'd never been allowed a pet dog as a child. Her foster father was a shepherd and had considered dogs farm animals. A pet dog wasn't even to be thought of, especially for her, the cuckoo.
Housekeepers, and indeed servants of any kind, weren't allowed pets. Sometimes a cat might be kept to catch mice in the kitchens, but it was a working animal. Dogs were dirty things and required food and space that, technically, she didn't own.
Bridget stood and frowned down at the dog. "Shoo now."
The dog sat and slowly wagged his tail, sweeping the bricks. One of his triangular ears stood up while the other lay down.
”
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Elizabeth Hoyt (Duke of Sin (Maiden Lane, #10))
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I could see the flashing lights of a police car, some type of van, and about a half dozen “Bobbies” all running around like the Keystone Cops. One of the “Bobbies” was dressed in a large padded suit, the type used to train attack dogs. It wasn’t until I actually got to the square that I realized that the “Keystone Bobbies” were chasing MY DOG!!! He was doing a great job of eluding them all, and according to one of the onlookers, had been doing so for quite a while. The British are great dog lovers but a German shepherd for some reason places great fear in their hearts, probably a holdover from the war. I’d seldom seen that breed of dog here and had never seen one on the loose. According to the bystander this one had been loose for some time and had been generally panicking people all around the square. I broke into a run and crossed the street into the square itself and started screaming “LICKY, LICKY, HERE BOY!!!” Licky was on the far side of the square with the “Bobbie” wearing the padded outfit in hot pursuit. At the sound of my voice he made an instant turn and on the dead run came straight at me. He skidded to a halt in front of me, obviously terrified and really glad to see me. I gave him the hand signal and at the same time shouted “Sit,” and he did.
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W.R. Spicer (Sea Stories of a U.S. Marine Book 3 ON HER MAJESTY'S SERVICE)
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That is why I have to-day adopted the view that a dog working in transport service is preferable to the lazy kennel dog, because the latter degenerates, while the former makes himself useful and does not lose his soul.
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V. Stephanitz (The German Shepherd Dog in Word and Picture)
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Only when walking with her person did she attack other dogs. More than likely, these attacks occurred because the white Shepherd felt compelled to protect Ms. W. This need was probably fostered by Ms. W. herself as she transmitted her own fears to her dog.
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Ted Kerasote (Merle's Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog)
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He tired to reconstruct in his imagination the annihilated splendor of the banana company town, whose dry swimming pool was filled to the brim with rotting men's and woman's shoes, and in the houses of which, destroyed by rye grass, he found the skeleton of a German shepherd dog still tied to a ring by a steel chain and a telephone that was ringing, ringing, ringing until he picked it up and an anguished and distant woman spoke in English, and he said yes, that the strike was over, that three thousand dead people had been thrown into the sea, that the banana company had left, and that Macondo finally had peace after many years.
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Gabriel García Márquez (One Hundred Years of Solitude)
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He learns a bit more slowly than a shepherd dog, but what he learns he knows forever. The Rottweiler is a very fine character dog, but not everybody is suitable for this type of dog.
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Resi Gerritsen
“
Of course Mary Jane and Sam were there with Nugget, Cha Cha's golden retriever mix we rescued from a disgusting pen at a house out in Pasadena. Eileen and Harry Silvers came with their poodle, Zizi, and Venus with her Yorkshire, Macho. Lester and his wife, Bambi, brought Grindel, a beagle mix they adopted from the shelter. And with one of Rosemary's friend's corgi, and a shepherd mix, and a spaniel, plus Sugar and Spice, we had nine dogs in all. What we didn't have were any children since I'd made it clear to everyone that things would probably be hectic enough without a bunch of screaming kids fooling with the dogs and demanding attention.
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James Villas (Hungry for Happiness)
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I’ve tested half of them. And of the number I’ve tested I have disqualified one pit bull because of aggressive tendencies. They have done extremely well. They have a good temperament. They are very good with children.” It can even be argued that the same traits that make the pit bull so aggressive toward other dogs are what make it so nice to humans. “There are a lot of pit bulls these days who are licensed therapy dogs,” the writer Vicki Hearne points out. “Their stability and resoluteness make them excellent for work with people who might not like a more bouncy, flibbertigibbet sort of dog. When pit bulls set out to provide comfort, they are as resolute as they are when they fight, but what they are resolute about is being gentle. And, because they are fearless, they can be gentle with anybody.” Then which are the pit bulls that get into trouble? “The ones that the legislation is geared toward have aggressive tendencies that are either bred in by the breeder, trained in by the trainer, or reinforced in by the owner,” Herkstroeter says. A mean pit bull is a dog that has been turned mean, by selective breeding, by being cross-bred with a bigger, human-aggressive breed like German shepherds or Rottweilers, or by being conditioned in such a way that it begins to express hostility to human beings. A pit bull is dangerous to people, then, not to the extent that it expresses its essential pit bull-ness but to the extent that it deviates from it. A pit-bull ban is a generalization about a generalization about a trait that is not, in fact, general. That’s a category problem. 4.
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Malcolm Gladwell (What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures)
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German shepherds want to please their handlers.
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Alan Russell (Lost Dog (Gideon and Sirius #3))
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She also wondered why she wasn’t able to care more about the important things happening in the world. There was the Vietnam War. She knew boys who had died, and there was always Dr. King, cold in the ground. Even though Willie Mae hadn’t been bitten by a dog, she had been in Birmingham when the German shepherds were let loose. And where had Mother been when all of this was going on? She was busy learning to be a wife.
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Tayari Jones (Silver Sparrow)
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If we were going with Dakota’s dog analogies to describe the men, Maddox was the German shepherd to Goose’s golden retriever.
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Siena Trap (Frozen Heart Face-Off (Indy Speed Hockey, #2))
“
Another ghost lingers in the mountain near Lake Pilatus. He gives shepherds no end of trouble and bothers the animals, especially in areas where people live dissolute lives with no fear of God. This is the infernal or diabolical huntsman [der höllische oder Tüfflische Jeger], who is called Türst. At the fall of night, he goes out with his pack of hounds and descends on poor livestock, which then scatter and stop giving milk. He blows his hunting horn, and the poor beasts are compelled to come to him. Then there are his diabolical dogs, who run on three paws, barking with a hollow and unnatural sound as if it were muffled. When they hear them, the animals scatter. . .
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Claude Lecouteux (Phantom Armies of the Night: The Wild Hunt and the Ghostly Processions of the Undead)
“
It's better to think of some behaviours as genetic gifts rather than ‘behavioural issues'. A Labrador who runs around with random things in his mouth, a Jack Russell who loves to chase small animals, a German Shepherd who guards your property with great vigilance - these are all things informed by genetics.
Instead of trying to suppress a dog's natural desires and instincts or passing them off as problematic, we need to consider embracing these genetic traits and harnessing them into positive outlets - which is why it's important for owners to choose the right breed for themselves and their lifestyle from the outset.
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Ryan Tate (How to Train Your Dog: The complete guide to raising a confident and happy dog, from puppy to adult)
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Should they send their dogs after me in an attempt to subdue me, may they find me in the presence of a pack of wolves, equally set to task. So tend to your flock, you shepherds and dogs, but proceed with caution if you wish to cage the wolf. I have not lost my instincts. I have not forgotten who I am. My liberty will die with you and I.
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Tanner Cook (Liberty and the Will to Power: A Manifesto for the Amoral Libertarian)
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she touched David’s shoulder as she walked past him out of the room. “You okay, Dad?” That was what you got when you were the only man in the house: his wife and daughters sniffed out potential weaknesses with acute drug-dog noses, suspicious, nurturing German shepherds who could spot his oncoming head colds or emotional fragility in a way that seemed almost superhuman. Or perhaps this was what happened when you became an adult orphan: the slippage started, the shift where your children began to parent you.
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Claire Lombardo (The Most Fun We Ever Had)
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The visceral response when I see him is slightly embarrassing, and don’t get me started on the aftermath left in my panties. But who can blame me? The man is one of those guys they made in stone back in Greece to depict the Gods, while also having the personality of your favorite German Shepherd. I know, comparing him to both a God and a dog, but it fits. The guy is loyal, kind, smart, strong, protective, and sexy as hell, while also slightly terrifying.
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Lee Jacquot (The Four Leaf)
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Without moving he gave a short whistle. The dog lying so quiet beside him was away like smoke, almost too fast for Macdonald's unaccustomed eyes to follow it. Keeping perfectly still, whistling different notes and occasionally calling words which were unintelligible to Macdonald, Tegg's old eyes followed the dog's progress up the fell as it ran in a wide circle. From nowhere the sheep appeared, bleating and lamenting: at first scattered, running here and there, backward and forward, but gradually being driven into a compact flock as the indefatigable dog ran round them in decreasing circles. Then, after a longer whistle, the dog brought them down to within a few yards of the shepherd and Tegg changed his note again and raised his arms. Slowly, with uncanny skill, the dog edged the bunch forward, allowing none to break away, and drove them in at the shippon door until the small building was packed tight with the ewes and lambs, and the dog sat down panting, on guard beside the door, and Macdonald could have sworn there was a smirk of pride and pleasure on the collie's face.
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Lorac. E C R.
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Just then, we heard a yelp and then a roar of barking and snarling and snapping. Startled, I looked around to see that Britty had launched herself at Fender. Imani moved quickly. She caught Britty’s leash and pulled her back in midspring. Fender’s owner already had a tight grip on Fender and was keeping him away. As if she had eyes in the back of her head, Imani spun around and stepped in front of Shug, who was dragging her owner at top speed toward the brouhaha, determined to join in. “Oh, no, you don’t,” she said to Shug, giving the leash a quick snap and bringing Shug to a halt. Shug immediately sat down and looked up at Imani innocently. “Look,” said Karen. “Fender is afraid of Britty!” It was true. The big shepherd puppy was pressed against his owner’s shins, his tail tucked between his legs, while Britty, now several yards away, continued to growl softly.
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Ann M. Martin (Kristy Thomas, Dog Trainer (The Baby-Sitters Club, #118))
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An experiment of the Prince of the Ravine’s, from the First Wars,” the Under-King rasped. “Forgotten and abandoned here in Midgard during the aftermath. Now my faithful companion and helper. You’d be surprised how many souls do not wish to make their final offering to the Gate. The Shepherd … Well, it herds them for me. As it shall herd you.” “Fry this fucker,” Bryce muttered to Hunt as the dog snarled. “I’m assessing.” “Assess faster. Roast it like a—” “Do not make a joke about—” “Hot dog.
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Sarah J. Maas (House of Sky and Breath (Crescent City, #2))
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The selection of the dog was not so simple, for the doctor owned many; but after much deliberation he chose a collie, called Flame from his yellow coat. True, it was a trifle old, and stiff in the joints, and even beginning to grow deaf, but, on the other hand, it was a very particular friend of Smoke’s, and had fathered it from kittenhood upwards so that a subtle understanding existed between them. It was this that turned the balance in its favour, this and its courage. Moreover, though good-tempered, it was a terrible fighter, and its anger when provoked by a righteous cause was a fury of fire, and irresistible. It had come to him quite young, straight from the shepherd, with the air of the hills yet in its nostrils, and was then little more than skin and bones and teeth. For a collie it was sturdily built, its nose blunter than most, its yellow hair stiff rather than silky, and it had full eyes, unlike the slit eyes of its breed. Only its master could touch it, for it ignored strangers, and despised their pattings—when any dared to pat it. There was something patriarchal about the old beast. He was in earnest, and went through life with tremendous energy and big things in view, as though he had the reputation of his whole race to uphold. And to watch him fighting against odds was to understand why he was terrible. In his relations with Smoke he was always absurdly gentle; also he was fatherly; and at the same time betrayed a certain diffidence or shyness. He recognised that Smoke called for strong yet respectful management. The cat’s circuitous methods puzzled him, and his elaborate pretences perhaps shocked the dog’s liking for direct, undisguised action. Yet, while he failed to comprehend these tortuous feline mysteries, he was never contemptuous or condescending; and he presided over the safety of his furry black friend somewhat as a father, loving but intuitive, might superintend the vagaries of a wayward and talented child. And, in return, Smoke rewarded him with exhibitions of fascinating and audacious mischief.
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Algernon Blackwood (John Silence, Physician Extraordinary by Algernon Blackwood)
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The day came for Mary to go. There was a bustle of departure. 'Next year,' they all shouted. The dogs jumped and barked. Jenny ran to the end of the departure platform and waved and waved as the train drew out. 'Next year,' she cried. Then life went on. The dark came sooner. The first elm leaf grew yellow. The barley was brown.
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Nan Shepherd (The Grampian Quartet: The Quarry Wood: The Weatherhouse: A Pass in the Grampians: The Living Mountain)
“
Zarling believes something similar happens with the German Shepherds she rehabilitates. Pups who are abused or neglected often fail to become confident adult dogs, and without good dog behavior modeled for them early on by other dogs or their human companions they're much more difficult to work with and can be more aggressive, and thus are more likely to end up at shelters. After these dogs are adopted, they're returned when their difficult behaviors surface. Elise Christensen calls these canines recycled dogs and says that trying to understand why they behave the way they do feels like watching a dog chase his own tail. Are they problem dogs because they're products of the shelter system, having been adopted only to be returned for their difficult behaviors, often more than once? she said. Or are they in the shelter system because they were born difficult dogs?
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Laurel Braitman (Animal Madness: How Anxious Dogs, Compulsive Parrots, and Elephants in Recovery Help Us Understand Ourselves)
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Life recommenced. Dogs barked, cocks crew, smoke rose, men shouted, women clattered their milk pails. Soon figures moved upon the empty fields. Somewhere a plough was creaking. Garry turned turned his head towards the noise and searched the brown earth until he saw the team. Seagulls were crying after it, settling in the black furrow, rising again to wheel around the horses. As he watched, the sun reached the field. The wet new-turned furrow was touched to light as though a line of fire had run along it. The flanks of the horses gleamed. They tossed their manes, lifting their arched necks and bowing again to the pull: brown farm horses, white nosed, white-footed, stalwart and unhurrying as the earth they trampled or the man who held the share.
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Nan Shepherd (The Weatherhouse)
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We never shot a coyote. Instead, we adapted, and things improved. We stopped burying sheep on the farm. We installed a dog-proof fence around the lambing paddock. We got another guard llama, Habibi—a magnificent, nervous animal with huge eyes and long ears who has the instinct to herd the sheep to the highest point in every pasture at dusk—and an English shepherd pup, Rue. Now Rue is a year old and sees herself as ruler of our hillside. The coyotes seem to respect that it is her territory now. She patrols a circle around the fields each dusk and dawn, her nose to the ground on the traces of nocturnal footprints, hackles raised. If she hears coyotes in the distance she sits down, throws her head back, and raises her voice with them—long, low, moaning howls and high yips, her wild relatives’ voices infinitely more complex and layered than hers but in total kinship. It is the wild and domestic sharing a song, and it is a beautiful sound.
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Helen Whybrow (The Salt Stones: Seasons of a Shepherd's Life)
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As I cut up a wormy apple, I’m aware of how my hands ache, and a bone-deep bruise made by a horn on the back of my thigh throbs against the chair. I’m aware of my own fear of getting hurt, and most of all of getting old. I’m afraid I’ll be that old woman with moth-eaten clothes and a dog leash for a belt, eating moldy bread and forgetting my daughter’s phone number, losing my shoes. I’m aware, too, of how happy it makes me to be in the company of these dear people, sharing this work as we have
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Helen Whybrow (The Salt Stones: Seasons of a Shepherd's Life)
“
Our house was outside the city, off one of the blacktop roads. We had us a big dog that my daddy would keep on a chain in the front yard. A big part German shepherd. I hated that chain but we didn’t have a fence, we were right off the road there. That dog hated that chain. But he had dignity. What he’d do, he’d never go out to the length of that chain. He’d never even go out to where that chain got tight. Even if a mailman pulled up, or a salesman. Out of dignity, this dog pretended like he chose this one area to stay in that just happened to be inside the length of the chain. He just up and made it not relevant. Maybe he wasn’t pretending—maybe he really up and chose that little circle for his own world. He had a power to him. All his life on that chain. I loved that damned dog.
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David Foster Wallace (The Pale King)
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Are we no longer knocking, Filick?” “I—I did knock.” Filick’s gaze flew to Ione. “Apologies, Miss Hawthorn, I’ll just—” He hurried out of the room, leaving his dogs behind.
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Rachel Gillig (Two Twisted Crowns (The Shepherd King, #2))