Essay #1 (Cause Essay)

                It’s about ten o’clock at night and she’s outside. I sneak out the back door of the house, quietly slip down the stairs, and then bolt down the shadows of the lawn. I’m dressed in a couple hooded sweatshirts with one of the hoods covering my head. I make it just around the house when, all of the sudden, it feels like I was just hit by a truck. As I’m crashing to the ground, she’s on top of me biting my arm. “Jazz, it is okay it’s just me,” she perks her ears, wags her tail, and licks me in the face. “That was a good job! You’re a good girl.” Unscathed, we walk back to the house. That was just one of few tests I would randomly (and stupidly) do to just test how protective my German shepherd was. I always knew I was safe with her around. German shepherds have always been my favorite dog. There are so many reasons why, but the top reasons are: loyalty, smarts, and protectiveness. I could always relate each one of those to my German shepherds.

                German shepherds are known for their protectiveness. I always felt safe with any of my dogs around – especially Jazz. She was always on alert. When someone was at the door, she would come and let me know by barking. She could always recognize people who had been to the house. So, when someone stopped by that she didn’t know, she would get VERY protective until I showed her that it was alright. She always would make sure I was safe. She would get really anxious when my friends came over and we would rough-house around with each other. She hated it. She didn’t want any chance of anyone getting hurt, so she would try to get us to stop by giving small barks. If we continued, she would try to draw our attention away by lightly nipping one of us. German shepherds are very protective of the ones they love!

                These dogs are also incredibly loyal. No matter what I did to that dog, she would always listen to me. If she was bad one day (got into garbage) she definitely knew it. However, once she realized that it was okay to come out of the kennel, she would be such a kiss-ass to me to try to make up for it. No matter who was in the room, or what the situation was, she would always listen to me; except when she saw another dog – never quite got her to break that habit. She knew who her owners were and listened to them reasonably well.

                Finally, German shepherds are also well known for their brains. They are unbelievably smart dogs! It took me very little time to train her. She knew that the kennel meant either bedtime or punishment. Once she was trained, I never had to shut the door to the kennel. If she was bad, I would simply say, “Jazz, kennel!” and she would march right in there and stay there until I said it was okay to come out. If she was being a nuisance, I would tell her to “go to bed”, and she would go. She knew “let’s go to bed” meant that it really was bedtime and she would jump up in bed with me and go to sleep. On the weekend when I slept past seven o’clock, she would wake me up by licking me in the face. She was always so used to me getting up at seven during the week days because of school. When I took her outside and she was getting too distracted to do her business, I would just have to tell her to “go pee, Jazz” and she would run off and do it. I never really taught her these things, I just talked to her all the time and I think she picked up on it.

                Jazz always knew exactly what I was saying to her. I could tell her to do something, just about anything, and she knew what I meant. That dog was incredibly smart! She went everywhere with me. She was my pal – my friend. Unfortunately, I had to get rid of Jazz a few years ago because of living situations. It broke my heart. Hopefully, when Kevin and I finally get settled down into a place of our own, we might get a German shepherd. It would be nice having a German shepherd, again. I miss my bed-hogging, protective, lovable Jazzy!