German Shepherds · German Shepherds of Australia, Volume One
Cuddle Bug and Sassy Girl
Every dog in German Shepherds of Australia gets a title as well as a name. Open the book at Vegas and Tilly and you find two of the best: Cuddle Bug, and Sassy Girl.
Vegas, Cuddle Bug
Vegas is a long-coated shepherd, rich red and black, photographed in front of a wall of bright graffiti with his head on a tilt. His family's page opens the way his photograph looks:
Vegas is a goofy, cuddle bug with a big heart.
They go on to say he may be one of the laziest German Shepherds you will ever meet, happiest on the couch or in bed with his "pawrents". He is gentle with everyone in the house, the cats included, and he loves going to the vet, mostly for the attention from the staff.
His cheekiest habit is telling you he is hungry. He starts with a low whine. If you ask him to speak up because you cannot hear him, he does. And like a lot of big dogs, he has never quite accepted that he is no longer the size he was at eight weeks old, so he climbs onto you for a cuddle anyway.
Tilly, Sassy Girl
On the facing page, Tilly sits in the sun by an old timber shed, pale gold with a black saddle, a leather collar and her ears straight up. Her family's words begin with the most important fact:
Since we rescued Tilly, she has shown us so much love and what an amazing dog she truly is. Tilly is a loving, cheeky, sensitive and sassy girl, who loves to go camping, running with the motorbikes or just being by our side. Tilly is one of a kind and has changed our lives.
The sass is real. Her page says she can be stubborn and likes to do things her way. She loves running through water, but will not swim. She loves fetch, but only if someone is chasing her.
Two kinds of shepherd
Put these two pages side by side and you see why a whole book of one breed never repeats itself. One shepherd would rather be on the couch; the other would rather be on the back of an adventure. One is a gentle giant who still thinks he is a puppy; the other is a rescue who arrived and rearranged a family's life.
Both are in German Shepherds of Australia, Volume One, among more than 200 shepherds, and every copy supports German Shepherd Rescue Victoria.