I loved Barbara's article and since I live out in the "boonies" with my dogs, cats alpacas and one lonesome Guinea, I always have two dogs in the house with me. Of course, the other four or five in the kennel runs, which are close to my house, also let loose when anyone comes onto my property, which is also fenced due to the animals. In addition, my two Anatolian Shepherds are impressive in size and bark and they are generally the first to alert, along with the Guinea, of course. It is impossible for anyone to get to my house without first encountering either a GSD or an ASD. I also had, at one time, a GSD that did not bark at all. My mother and I were concerned that he would never be a watch dog. However, my mom worked for a few months in Missouri and I would go to visit her on week-ends. Of course, I took the dog with me. I got very tired during the six hour trip and stopped at a rest area to snooze a bit in the back of my locked station wagon. I was sound asleeep when I was wakened by a deafening barking from my "mute" dog. Apparently, somebody had stepped a bit too close to the car and he was not going to tolerate that. It was then that I knew he would always be "my guard" dog even though he was the greatest dog alive round people normally. . -- Christiane Rudolf Tanglewood Farm Fayetteville, Ohio ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2010. All material remains the property of the original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Each Author is responsible for the content of his/her post. This group and its administrators are not responsible for the comments or opinions expressed in any post. ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE PROSECUTED. For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxx VISIT OUR WEBSITE - http://showgsd.org NATIONAL BLOG - http://gsdnational.blogspot.com/ ============================================================================