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Strongheart the First  Movie Star Dog

Strongheart

The German Shepard Dog (GSD) came to the US as early as 1908, but its popularity rose dramatically after World War I, when returning soldiers told of the heroic dogs' work with the Red Cross, at the front, for the police, and on guard duty. In addition, Rin Tin Tin and Strongheart, two beloved silent film stars, captured the hearts of the American public.

Today, the German Shepherd is distinguished for his loyalty, courage, and ability to retain training for a number of special services. Members of the breed are widely used by police officers and the military, as guide dogs for the blind, guardians, drug and contraband detection dogs, and Search and Rescue dogs. Most, however, are purchased to serve the important role of devoted family friend and protector.

Link to more about Strongheart

"I wish I could point a finger about the size of a light house at all of them and shout: 'Now listen, my funeral friends, I happen to be a very personal friend of Strongheart, and as his personal friend I should like to ask all of you just what you think that dog was made of?  So many pounds of hide and bones and stuffing?  A material body with something animating it on the inside, which has now stopped functioning?  Well, if you do, you are mistaken. Very much so!   You may have been looking at something like that, or at least thought you were, with those material eyes of yours, but what you were actually seeing were his qualities.
'That's what that dog was made of--qualities! 

'Let me name a few of them for you: goodness . . . loyalty . . . understanding . . . enthusiasm . . . fidelity . . . devotion . . . sincerity . . . nobility . . . affection . . . intelligence . . . honesty . . . confidence . . . strength . . . gentleness . . . happiness . . . gratitude . . . appreciation . . . trustworthiness. . . endurance . . . integrity . . . humility . . . purity . . . unselfishness . . . fearlessness . . . love . . . and all the hundreds of synonyms that parade back of those terms.

cc' And write this down on the tablets of your memories with the point of a diamond:  those qualities of Strongheart's can no more die and be buried in a hole in the earth than a collection of sunbeams.  They are eternal! And Strongheart is just as eternal as his qualities!

'At the moment you seem to be beyond my human vision and the range of my whistle: and I do not know how to throw the old tennis ball for you, much as I would like to.  But that is my fault.  All of us humans are more or less afflicted with low and limited visibility, which has a tendency to give us a distorted and contradictory notions about what actually is and is not happening to the people and things about us.  We squint at life instead of looking at it clear-eyed and steadily. . . .' "

'Qualities, my funeral friends!  Grade One qualities--even among the human species!  Those are the things he was made of, not that shadowy, unsubstantial, phantom stuff called matter.  But qualities!  Qualities of the highest excellence!