Our family also had a GSD, lovingly named Devil. He was nominally the ‘family’ pet but there was no question that there was one person who came first and foremost for Devil: my mother-in-law. Everyone else came later even though he was affectionate to all, including our baby son. If his main person happened to be sleeping, no one was allowed to come anywhere near her. Poignantly, Devil passed away a few days after her, both due to cancer, 31 years ago.
Memories of Devil came flooding back while reading about the travails of Commander and his predecessor Major, both GSDs who have been sent away from the White House after repeated incidents of biting (or, as some have called it, “attacking”) Secret Service agents posted there to protect US President Joe Biden and his wife Jill, and other staff too. Both dogs probably regarded those ‘outsiders’ as suspicious who got far too close to their “Protectees”.
In a strange but utterly understandable way, the GSDs and those close protection agents were treading on each other’s turf as both regarded themselves as the primary security guardians of the US First Couple. In fact, those GSDs probably consider all White House staff as potential threats as dogs have an astonishingly good radar to suss out the difference between staff and family. And only family is given some leeway not staff, in the canine scheme of things.
Of course, exceptions prove the rule. There are GSDs who are goofy and very family-orientated and would not dream of “attacking” others. But, by and large, GSDs have a strict hierarchy in their minds; which is probably also why they fare so well in the military in certain operations. The Belgian Malinois which even looks like a GSD, has a similar world view and is thus also not the best choice for a place run by unknown people on shifts, like the White House.
It is not enough to want to have pet dogs; one must understand them. It is important to know the distinctive characteristics of different breeds before taking them into the family, especially if they are rescue dogs or even ‘streeties’. Some fit in naturally, like Golden Retrievers, Labradors and even those mild-mannered street dogs. But some breeds are naturally nervous, neurotic, snappy or even aggressive without intentionally wanting to harm their humans.Recently, a friend who has a Rhodesian Ridgeback showed me a scar on his right hand where he had been bitten a month ago. He had been away for a long while and his dog seemed nervous upon his return. “I should have realised he was hesitating and given him time to come to me; instead I pulled him close to hug him and this happened,” he recounted ruefully. He understood his pet’s thought process; others may have given him away for being “dangerous”.The recent phenomenon of people owning extremely aggressive XL American Bully dogs boggles the mind. Why should dogs meant to be pets be bred and trained to be so vicious that they can kill people? Why should anyone want to own a dog like that? This breed has been banned by many countries already but there are many places where such laws are either not there or never implemented, and India surely has one of the most lax protocols in this regard.
If people understood dogs better, so many of them would not be turfed out or left in dog shelters. Dogs have a 30,000 year relationship with humans and try their best to understand us; the least we can do is return the favour. Commander has been sent away, as was Major earlier, hopefully to someone from the wider clan. That perhaps means the Bidens have finally understood the psychology of their GSDs: like Devil, they are devoted only to them, not everyone.
