Kimbo has acquired, among other things, good sea legs.
German Shepherds Are Smart, Loyal & Loving.
They Just Want You To Be The Boss.
– by Anna Cooke
H
e sits, languishing behind a chain link dog run at the shelter. After awhile, as the public continues to ignore and walk by him, he becomes depressed or cage aggressive. Overstaying his welcome, he is finally put down. Euthanized. Forgotten. Hard to believe that a beautiful, purebred German Shepherd Dog has fallen victim to this scenario in record numbers across Florida. Diane and Erik Hoffer started adopting German Shepherd Dogs about 24
58 THE NEW BARKER
years ago, and the situation is as dire as ever. “Our first German Shepherd, Hanna, was a junk yard dog. She came to us emaciated, scared and with broken ribs, “ Erik told The New Barker. “Hanna immediately bonded with Diane, who, we soon discovered, had a propensity for rehabilitating dogs, especially the German Shepherd,” said Erik. “While living in New Jersey, we worked with the Somerset shelter, fostering, training, and socializing the hard-toadopt German Shepherds.” As the Hoffers’ reputation for rehabilitating
German Shepherds out of their kennel funk grew, so did the ratio of the dogs being adopted by families. “We formed a partner relationship with PetSmart and created associations with many of the local shelters in New Jersey to gain exposure for our dogs in the community. These outreach programs taught us to understand the adoption process,” said Erik. Diane soon became an evaluator for the Delta Society to certify therapy dogs. She tested animals, and created community outreach programs in schools and nursing homes that helped them develop their own therapy programs. “For about eight years, Diane and I worked in a local nursing home with our dogs, and she worked in several hospitals as well. Our Golden Retriever, Brandon, was the first dog in New Jersey allowed to visit pediatric intensive care units. That type of work will burn you out quickly from the stress associated with the hospital environment, and the hopelessness of the nursing home environment. We were in demand for holidays and special events, so our visits seemed to be making a difference in peoples’ lives. Diane’s work with Brandon to help ease the stress of parents whose kids were in the hospital, was especially wellreceived,” Erik said. When the Hoffers moved to Florida 11 years ago, Erik was still working, and Diane had retired.They continued to volunteer at shelters and rescue groups throughout Charlotte County and Southwest Florida, but felt something was missing in their lives. They loved German Shepherds and were becoming increasingly alarmed about the breed being categorized as a dangerous dog. So the Hoffers decided to put all their efforts into rescuing and re-branding if you will, German Shepherd Dogs. “Shepherds and other so-called ‘dangerous breeds’ like the Pit Bull, are totally misunderstood, and unfairly discriminated against,” said Erik. “German Shepherds are unbelievably loyal, tremendous with kids, smart, intuitive, and handsome. We checked out the rescue netwo ?????\?X[??\\? ?[? H\?XK[?] H [YK??[???[???'B????S?]?\??\????B??