Meet Bear — and Why We Said Yes to a German Shepherd

There's a head tilt that happens in our house every single time we talk to our dog. Four months in, we still haven't gotten tired of it.

That's Bear — our German Shepherd, born on the 12th of February 2026. We brought him home at eight weeks, he's sixteen weeks now, and in that short window he's gone from a nine-kilo fluffball to seventeen kilos of opinions. This little series is where David and I are writing the whole journey down — honestly. The wins, the mistakes, and yes, the biting.

The part I wasn't sure about

I'll be upfront, because I'd rather this be real than tidy: at the start, I wasn't sure about buying a dog at all.

Our two cats, Mia and Nala, are rescues. My heart has always gone to the animals sitting in shelters waiting for someone to choose them — and that feeling didn't go anywhere. What shifted my thinking was the intention behind Bear.

Our friends are the breeders, and the care they put in caught my attention. This wasn't a casual litter. They had chosen deliberately for the things that give a dog a good life: sound hips, good genes, a steady and kind temperament — a dog you'd trust to be noble and safe. There was so much thought behind him that the decision stopped feeling like a transaction and started feeling like a responsibility I wanted to take on properly.

So for the first time, I said yes.

I don't think there's one right answer to how a dog comes into your life — rescue is wonderful, and it always will be. But for us, this time, this felt considered. And that mattered.

So, who is Bear?

His temperament is, frankly, amazing. He's well socialised and good with just about everyone he meets. He's not perfect — I'm not going to pretend he is — but he is so smart. He thinks before he leaps, and then he leaps anyway, usually onto something he shouldn't.

Over the next few posts I'll walk you through all of it: coming home to two unimpressed cats, the biting that nearly broke us, the training philosophy we landed on, the gear that actually worked, the health stuff nobody warned us about, and a couple of proud-parent moments that still get me.

Welcome to life with Bear. I'm really glad you're here.