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Originally Posted by atravis
These were WAR dog, turned movie stars, turned legends to the American people and to the WORLD. The GSDs of today could only hope to be as truly great as those dogs were. How many K9s do you know that could take down baddies on the street one day, then act on a set with hundreds of strange people banging and clanging and flashing lights in their face on another, THEN do meet-n-greets with the school kids on yet another?
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No, they were not. Strongheart was trained as a police dog, then purchased as a young adult by a couple of Americans and brought to the US and turned into a movie star. The original Rin Tin Tin was found as a pup towards the end of the war by an American serviceman, Lee Duncan, and brought to the US while still a pup, taught a variety of tricks by Duncan which then caught the eye of film producers looking for the next Strongheart, and started his film career. And of course "Rin Tin Tin" was played by a whole range of different dogs over the years, none of whom were "war dogs".
None of these dogs were war dogs or out "taking down baddies on the street" in between film shoots.
Quote:
Originally Posted by atravis
These dogs were the EPITOME of what this breed should be. If they are looked upon as simple "fads", then what a sad, SAD time for this breed.
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Certainly they are legendary, we all love them, and to many they are what instilled a love for the breed in the first place.
But people also need to realize that what they saw of those dogs was not reality anymore than anything on film or television is reality. It was fantasy. Certainly there is a grain of truth to what those dogs were capable of and what they portrayed for our enjoyment, but they were still acting and performing trained manuevers and nothing more.
It does the breed no good when people think they can get any GSD pup and it will grow up to be Rin Tin Tin, or that Collie pup will grow up to be Timmy's constant companion and save him from all those falls in the well, just by virtue of the breed of dog it is and their preconceived notions that some day, with no effort on their part, it will grow up to be some sort of canine superhero. And believe it or not, many of the JQPs do just that, and when it doesn't work out that way off to the shelter the dog goes.