Cash! Like the man in black, Johnny Cash.
That is my best guess at how he got his name, the “best doggone dog in the north”
When Jess and I first started dating I got a dog named Cash, he was a German Shepherd Dog and he had a few training issues, some of which I was never fully able to resolve, he was over two years old when I got him. Cash was bold, he was not the type of Dog you could just walk up to, he needed time to calm down, but after that he was so sweet and so trustworthy…. The problem was it was on his timetable. I have a very dear friend, a big “tough guy” that loves dogs as well, but he never fully trusted old Cash, even years later.
Al met Cash and immediately cash liked Al. I never had to worry about Cash and Al. They were best buds almost instantly. So this big GSD liked Al? Well, kinda not really actually. Als mannerisms were a language to a Dog that is hard for us humans to understand. The way Al moved and held his hands in relation to his body made Cash lay down and pee every time we went to visit. That’s right, Cash would lay down and pee all over Jess carpet whenever he was around Al… It took me a bit of watching to understand just why my “BIG GSD CASH” would cower and pee with Al but with my “BIG DOG LOVING FRIEND”, Cash would nip and show some level of dominance and aggression.
There I am, learning about Al and Cash. I have had many dogs and I am pretty good about reading body language, aggression and submission. Al on the other hand did everything “wrong” in showing control, dominance and hierarchy. Al would stand over cash, arms raised and “lunge” back and forth (at least that’s what Cash thought). For Al, this was just his mannerism and Als normal daily stims, but to Cash? Al was the boss, the “alpha”, I watched closely at every interaction, making sure to read the body language of Cash and prepared to jump in and “save” Al from what seems to me to be a very risky behavior. But never once did we see aggression displayed towards Al. Others? OHH YES! Other dogs? DEFINITELY!! (I worked on this for Cashes entire life, and we did resolve nearly all his issues)
As I learned and watched I also discovered a lot about Al and how to interact with Al myself. Al does not react the same as he did back then, I have worked with Al to not approach an unknown dog with hands in the air and lunge back and forth, never put your hands on top of a dogs head you don’t know and NEVER HUG a dog that you don’t know. All the things you are not supposed to do is what Al did with Cash… I think that GSD had a special sense with Al to know he should submit rather than attack. In my opinion, it’s nothing short of watching a miracle.
In my “black and white” world of simple right and wrongs, Al has blurred that defining line and helped me see from a blurry set of glasses that things are so often not what you may have determined to be as they really are…. Enlightened? Party of one!
Our Creator built a way in the minds of dogs to just “know” somethings, well, I suppose I am still learning every day. May God richly bless your day.