Donald Hale Eagleson was my great grandfather. He served in the Army, in the Medical Corp, during the Great War. He was first on ambulance duty and then was a field medic. We know very little about what his experiences were like because he never spoke of them. The only thing we do know is that, at the conclusion of the war, he did not return home for two years. When he did, he brought back with him, 17 Shepherd dogs. Most were GSDs but others looked like Belgians or Mutts. Every one of these dogs served in the military. (German or US we don't know) All were going to be destroyed or left in France. Grandpa Don said that they would have been eaten or lost? He also said that these animals served he and his friends (everyone was always a friend) so well that they deserved to come home.

He lived on his father's ranch in Boise, Idaho with seven of those dogs until he was married in 1929. To the day he died, March 5th, 1972, he owned German Shephard Dogs.

This is a favorite family story that is retold, by my grandmother, every few years. The impact of these events is the reason you guys have me here today. The Eagleson side of the family and the VanCamp side of the family both owned and trained GSDs in Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. Because of the interest in these dogs, my mother and father met. That is how I got here, aren't you guys lucky?


We are all lucky to have these dogs.

A while ago I read a book by a Col. Richardson who trainned dogs with the British army during the first world war. Enemy dogs were sometimes captured and retrained for service with their new masters. I think he liked ariedales. It was a 'how to' sort of book for police and service dogs.
I read the book at the Victorian State Library here in Australia. A search of their catalogue or a email to them would give publisher details etc. Paul Wotton would probabaly know of the book.
The British navy continued to blockade Germany for a period of time after the armistice. Famine and disease was wide spread in Germany at the end of the war. People certainly would of eaten dogs as they still do in Korea and Vietnam.
My grandfather served in the trenches with the Australian army. He didnt have much to say about it either, not many guys did I think.

The man. The myth. The legand. Bredan is back?

Col Richardsons book is out of print but some libraries do have copies.It is interesting to note that the GSD first came to Britain about the time of the First World War and many were brought in by service personel.My grandfather was a merchant navy captain and from what I have been able to find in old family records was that he brought a male and a female into the country in 1918 from Germany and he was still breeding from this original line when I was born in 1942 and as far as I can tell he continued until his death in 1951.I remember the place was always full of GSDs when I was a kid.My mother carried on for a while after that and then went over to collies Ugg.
Paul