King Shepherd

His Majesty. I had never heard of this breed, but when I discovered a local breeder, I learned that these shepherds are considered to be a "breed in development". I learned that two American dog breeders, Shelly Watts-Cross and David Turkheimer, created this large breed from American and European German Shepherds, Alaskan Malamutes and Great Pyrenees. So, in other words, this is the 'king-sized' version of the German Shepherd. At four months of age, Majesty weighed about 70 pounds.

I just simply fell in love with the looks of this dog. To me, they are more beautiful than the German Shepherd; they have a fuller face and different markings that are much more striking. And they are huge. Our Majesty now weighs in at close to 150 pounds and my vet informs me that he will probably eventually mature at about 160 pounds.

Since King Shepherds need to be taken on brisk walks daily, I just bring Majesty with me when I ride my bike since he enjoys running alongside me and never tires, even though I ride a good 20 miles most days. We live in a cool climate so he's never overheated, even from strenuous exercise.

I'm fond of the saying 'True education means fostering the ability to be interested in something.' So, with Majesty, in educating and training him I try to find something for him to be interested in. This has made training fun for us both.