Pumpkin « Hodge Podge Kennel

German Shepherds are Heroes

There’s a great story in today’s Anchorage Daily News. A fire occurred at a homeowner’s shed in Caswell Lakes (near Talkeetna). The man himself briefly caught on fire, and he told Buddy his German Shepherd to go get help. And Buddy did.
A neighbor had spotted the fire and telephoned for help. A state trooper responded but couldn’t find the house (it was dark, his GPS was not functioning, all the roads are dirt and unlit, plus they are twisting and heavily wooded). The trooper spotted Buddy, and on a hunch, followed him. Buddy led him straight to the fire, and the trooper was able to verbally describe the route to firefighters. The shed was lost, but the house was saved. Even better, there is video footage of Buddy courtesy of the dashboard cam:
http://community.adn.com/adn/node/151322
Buddy is receiving a medal tomorrow from the state troopers for being a hero dog.
German Shepherds are hard-wired for this sort of thing. They don’t just want a job to do, they want a mission. They thrive on action and think on their feet. They will patrol the yard looking for trouble, watch everyone and everything, and check out any sound.
Our GSD Pumpkin is cut from the same cloth. We’ve gone out on numerous walks in the woods, and, unfortunately, I’ve managed to get lost a few times. Twice in fact. Fortunately, Pumpkin saved the day each time.
Once we were walking along the old Haines Pipeline; we diverged off the main trail onto a feeder that looped around and around into dozens of trails. Getting tired and frustrated, I told Pumpkin to “Go Home”. And he dragged me by the leash. Somehow he made a beeline back to where we had started, and it only took him a few minutes. Relieved, I said “OK, we can slow down now”. But Pumpkin had been given a mission, and he was not done yet. He dragged me another 2 miles, through familiar streets and our subdivision, and did not stop dragging me until we got through our front door. Mission complete.

On another occasion, we took the car to a trail head and then proceeded on foot. We lost the trail and wandered into an area with towering trees, and I could not see any of the familiar hillsides to orient our direction. We even walked near a snare trap, so I was concerned that we were not in a good place. I told Pumpkin “Go to the car”, and he dragged me over rough ground and into a dry creek bed. He continued, staying in the creek bed. I stopped him, told him this can’t be right. But Pumpkin whirled and jumped and pulled me along, so I didn’t have much choice. Within 10 minutes, (and going through a lot of brush) the creek bed intersected the road where my car was parked. In fact, it was about 30 feet from the car. I had been on this road many times, but never noticed the dry creek bed. What an amazing dog! German Shepherds are heroes.