Wessex Area German Shepherd Dog Club

Trace and Ali

Alistair Brown (Ali)

My first real experience with the German Shepherd Dog came when I was a soldier with the British Army. In 1976, I had been posted to Germany and like all other soldiers had been required to do a four-month tour of Northern Ireland (NI).

When we did a patrol there was always at least one dog-handler with us and the dog used was almost always a German Shepherd Dog. I found myself becoming more and more interested in the breed and in becoming a dog-handler myself.

Of course, dog-handlers train for many different tasks including searching for explosives or weapons etc, but out of the many tasks taken on by dog-handlers, I found myself especially interested in ‘manwork’ – essentially that’s where the dog is used to help apprehend someone. It was interesting work and I found out as much as I could about it.

However, I had to continue serving in Germany for the time being and it wasn’t until a second tour of NI some three years later that I again experienced close contact with dog-handling and realised that it was something I really wanted to pursue when the opportunity arose.

On my return to England from Germany in 1983, I finally got the opportunity to follow up on my interest in dog-handling and applied to become a dog-handler with the British Army.

While I was stationed at the School of Infantry in Warminster, Wiltshire, I did a security Dog-Handler Course at Melton Mowbray.

Ali (second from left) and Jason GSD (left)

The course is crammed into a two-week period and it involves a steep learning curve. The dog assigned to me during training was a German Shepherd Dog called ‘Blighty’ – he’d evidently been in the wars himself as he had no fur on one side of his belly.

The first week of the course is spent developing a relationship with the dog. The initial contact is very important – it can make or break the relationship with the dog.

Our first task is perhaps the most daunting - to confidently approach the dog’s enclosure, open the gate and get hold of its collar and then attach it to a hitching post. Bear in mind that we’re not talking about your average family pet dog here -these are serious working dogs! Of course, despite the fact you’re scared, you mustn’t allow the dog to know this!

Anyway, after that initial encounter, the first week is then spent examining and then grooming the dog – we learn to check the animal over for cuts or sores before grooming as you wouldn’t want to hurt the dog by scraping a wound with the brush, for example. This close contact quickly establishes a level of trust between the dog and its handler.

Once that bond is established, the handlers go on to learn about ‘manwork’ – such as chasing and apprehending an intruder. We also undergo agility training which involves the dog going over jumps and through tyres and tunnels etc. Indeed, there was one specific event during agility training that always brings a smile to my face. ‘Blighty’ wasn’t too keen on water and one of our tasks was to pass through a tunnel half-filled with the stuff. The idea is that the dog makes his way through the tunnel closely followed by the handler. ‘Blighty’ entered the tunnel quite confidently and made it halfway through before deciding that he didn’t want to go any farther – and to my horror he doubled-back and tried to push past me instead! Of course, the tunnel isn’t wide enough to do that and so chaos ensued for what was probably just seconds but what seemed like a lifetime. I dread to think of the sounds coming out of both ends of that tunnel!

 

The last four days includes training on the medical care of the dog and on the last two days the course reaches its conclusion with a test on what we’ve learnt.

After successfully passing the course, I was posted to a unit and got a new dog. He was a German Shepherd Dog called ‘Bluey’.

Ali and Bluey

Much of the work involved general security work – a two-hour night-time patrol which included walking the perimeter fence and checking on the security of buildings etc. Between our patrols we sometimes had the chance to get some sleep back at the guardroom.

I had a sleeping-bag back at the 'Dog-Section' and I was soon to learn that I had to protect my sleeping-bag from Bluey! It had been a cold night on patrol and during my break I had seized the opportunity to get into my sleeping bag to get warm and to catch up on some sleep.

However, about halfway through my break I found myself awake and having to leave my then cosy, warm, sleeping-bag in order to answer the call of nature.

When I eagerly returned to my sleeping bag looking forward to getting back into its warm interior and hoping to get back to sleep, I found that Bluey had decided to enter my sleeping bag head-first. I ordered the dog out of the bag but he was having none of it and so I decided to try and lift the closed end of the bag in order to shake Bluey out. Bluey had other ideas, of course, and he promptly grabbed the lining of the bag with his teeth and held on for all he was worth.

Needless to say, trying to shake a 45+ kilo dog out of a sleeping-bag is no easy task and some considerable time passed before I managed to finally remove Bluey from the bag. I hastily got back in before he could try that one again! Bluey had to be content with snuggling up with me on the outside of the bag.

Through the day we would continue with training including manwork, agility, and obedience.

Amongst other things, the ‘manwork’ side of the training involves sending the dog to apprehend a colleague who wears a protective suit whilst playing the part of an intruder. This is known as baiting. I actually experienced life on both sides of the suit and, believe me, it’s quite an experience being chased down by a GSD!

All in all, I was an Army Dog–Handler for two and a half years before I left. As for Bluey, I was pleased to hear later that he went on to win Army Dog Trials for two years running.

Brandon and Ali

Tracy Brown (Trace)

For me, my first experience of the breed had come when I was an Army Cadet. I was a keen Army Cadet from 13 to 18 years of age before joining the Territorial Army (TA) and I had frequently come across GSDs being used as security dogs.

When Ali and I got together, we decided to get a dog. I had only ever liked the larger breeds of dog and, of the many large breeds of dog out there, I liked the Husky and the German Shepherd Dog most of all. I knew from my research into the breeds that the Husky is a pack animal and that to be kind to the dog you would need to own at least two of them, but this just wasn’t practical for me at the time. I was, of course, also ever-so-slightly influenced by Ali and his experience with German Shepherd Dogs!

So, due in no small part to our high regard for the German Shepherd Dogs that we had encountered through previous years, we reached a decision – we would get our own German Shepherd Dog, and so began a concerted effort to find a suitable dog.

We soon got news of a breeder having had a recent litter. As I recall, we first saw the litter at an age of 4 weeks and initially two puppies caught our attention. I had taken a liking to a long-haired pup but Ali had been ‘chosen’ by another pup which had immediately grabbed hold of his hand and seemed determined to not let go! Ali recognized this show of determination and insisted that we should go with this bold young pup. Ultimately, I respected Ali’s experience with the breed and so we agreed to settle for a lively male puppy which we named Brandon.

Brandon, 8 weeks

We took him home at an age of 8 weeks and haven’t looked back since. He’s a magnificent dog.

Trace and Brandon

Kay’s lovely dog Molly is from that same litter. We’re both very lucky!

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