I have a GD/SD (guide dog and service dog). He is a 2.5 yr old chessy. I allowed myself to get talked into this chessy instead of a GSD, which I now regret. He walks too slow. He doesn't seizure alert. Thinks getting attention from people we meet is his true purpose. And he doesn't live to work. But otherwise he is a nice dog.

My last GD/SD was a GSD that had been dropped from a police dog training program because of an accidental injury which limited his reach in running. That wasn't an issue for my needs, so I acquired him and trained him myself with some help from my son under my direction. He was very intuitive and like many GSDs could think ahead and go beyond his training. He was confident, friendly with people when not working; but work always came first. He was very atuned to me, but not overly complient. He could take charge and ignore my directions if he thought they were faulty and replace them with a better action, yet almost always to my benefit. I rarely had to give any corrections, and those usually by a low voiced no or sometimes a sound of disgust. Coming out of a store he could find the vehicle we had ridden in even if it was the first time we'd been in it, and even if we had been dropped off at the door and he had to serch for it (I think he air scented for it, as he didn't drop his nose to the ground which would have uhbalanced me). He could get me home when I was confused after a seizure; even if he had to get me to the right bus stop, get on the right bus, and take more than one bus. He'd alert me 20 minutes before a seizure, and even hold me in a chair by placing his front legs to either side of my waist, with his chest pressed to my body; when there was no safer place to get to before the seizure.

Off duty he displayed a low sense of humor. Liked to steal, but not dsmage, whatever I had just put down. Or he'd steal my own stuffed animals off a shelf that should have been out of his reach. Sometimes I could swear he played practical jokes. He slept on my bed and knew just when, and how much pressure was needed to support my back when my muscles went into painful spasms. When I wasn't in pain and if he was in the mood, he'd stretch or shift and slowly take up more and more of the bed. Or he'd take the corner of my pillow and ease it out from under my head; then with a sigh, lay his own head on it.

And working or off duty, he was my constant companion 24/7.

He was my third GSD SD, and all but one had very similar traits.