In The Bionic Dog, Jaime finds out that Max-a-Million (who cost a million to rebuild) was a test animal for bionics. He had been in a fire and lost his legs and jaw, which were replaced. No one in all that time (and he had to be pretty old, but then her childhood dog showed up in a first season episode, so dogs there live long, too bad they don't in real life) realized that he suffered severe trauma from the fire. Instead they blamed bionic rejection for his behavior and called his fear response aggression. This is not far fetched, sadly, I have learned. Most people do not get that dogs actually have feelings, that they remember trauma, or that when they are "vicious" it's in fact fear that they are reacting from.
I totally blame these episodes for raising my awareness of how mistreated so many dogs are. I started adopting dogs in my teens, with a good deal of begging and negotiation with my parents. Not all my dogs have had GSD in them, but some have, my first one had. Except for a very short time, I have not lived without at least one dog in my house since I can remember, as my parents did have dogs when I was younger but until I got them to understand they had bought the earlier ones. I also learned to teach basic training, to help others with dogs who have developed issues due to their past. It's something I always want to continue to build.
