Jaime, Max, me, and a motley pack

One of the things I mentioned in my list yesterday was rescuing dogs. Perhaps the most memorable episodes for me, which I'll again get to see in a matter of days now with season 3 finally coming out, were the ones with the Bionic Dog Max.  This is also a huge way that I have been influenced by Jaime Sommers and have tried to emulate her all these years. I love German Shepherd Dogs, I love all dogs and I've never had a purebred GSD but that's okay, they don't need to be pure, and I totally believe in the importance of rescuing and reclaiming dogs that others have given up on.

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.

I am apparently not alone in having at least some influence from Jaime for this passion. I came across this blog post today Summer of My German Shepherd and I just thought I'd share it here. This is one of the things about this show, the level of compassion, the ability to raise awareness. Not just on dog issues, but on many things. This blogger and I might have become dog rescuers anyway, we might have just had something already in ourselves sparked. But there is an importance of having something even innately within us awakened, verified, supported in this way.