By Heidi Dahms Foster
Prescott’s Pam Brink has a rich lifetime of memories and achievements. She is an RN, a PhD and a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. She has authored multiple books and achieved much in her career as a nurse, teacher and researcher. But perhaps her most cherished memories and accomplishments include those of the German Shepherd dogs she has loved throughout her life.
One of those memories has pride of place in her study at Alta Vista Senior Living Community in Prescott, where she now shares her apartment with her cat Willie. It’s the now slightly faded Best in Show ribbon that she won with her German Shepherd Hester, a dog she bred and raised.
German Shepherds are woven throughout Pam’s life, starting with Guapa, a GSD that her father gave to her mother when she was a toddler. Although Pam said she has no memory of Guapa, the family’s next dog, a GSD named Gerry, is forever burned in her memory.
The family lived in the Philippines, where Pam’s mother was a teacher and her father employed by a subsidiary of Lever Brothers in Cebu City. In the summer, the family lived at their second home in Montalongon to escape the summer heat.
Pam’s life with her brothers Bill and Bob was idyllic until the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The three were in school when their parents came to pick them up and take them to the Montalongon house. Pam was in third grade. Shortly after Pearl Harbor, Clark Field, the army base north of Manila, was bombed, and a Japanese sub lobbed shells into Cebu.
One day, 45 Japanese soldiers came to their mountain getaway, ransacked their home, took Pam’s father as a hostage, and drove away. That experience and subsequent internment caused his death in 1945.
Pam recalls that when the soldiers arrived that first time, Gerry’s heartrending story began to unfold. Her mother told the obedient dog to get under the poker table, which was covered by a long cloth. Because she told him to stay, Gerry stuck to his spot even while soldiers ransacked the home, never making a sound.
The second time the soldiers came, they took the family. Pam’s ayah, or nanny, Mary, was left in charge of the house as Pam’s mother was convinced the war would soon end. As the family was driven away, Pam’s last view was Mary standing at the gate with Gerry. Neighbors later told her mother that Gerry never left his spot at the gate. He stopped eating and drinking, and died there waiting for his family to come home.
The family spent the rest of their time in the Philippines in various jails, colleges and finally an abandoned country club. It was a time of fear, uncertainty and starvation chronicled by Pam and her brothers in their memoir, Our Family’s Story of Survival as POWs in the Philippines. They finally were rescued on February 23, 1945 by American troops and eventually returned to the United States.
In high school, Pam chose a career she later said was perfect for her. She began her nursing career in the 50s, becoming an instructor in the U.S. and Canada. She is a founding member of the Council on Nursing and Anthropology, published research texts and founded and edited the Western Journal of Nursing Research. She writes about her career in her book, An Academic Nurse’s Tale: Triumphs, Tribulations and Travels.
When the family returned to America, someone gave Pam’s mom another GSD. “She was a lovely little black and gold puppy with the sweetest disposition,” Pam wrote in her book, My Love Affair with German Shepherd Dogs. She named the pup “Schonheit,” German for beautiful. While Pam fell in love immediately, her mother could not bond with the dog. “She had left her heart back at the gate where Gerry waited,” Pam wrote. Shon became Pam’s dog. She later died from an infection, breaking Pam’s heart.
After Shon, Pam spent a few of what she calls her “dogless years,” attending graduate school in Washington, D.C. then returning to California to work in a state mental hospital. She then moved to Ohio where she became an instructor in psychiatric nursing at the University of Cincinnati College of Nursing. Then she was accepted into the doctoral program in anthropology at Boston University, and soon she was on her way to Massachusetts.
Pam was in Boston in the days of the Boston Strangler murderer, and she gifted her roommate with a GSD named Bitte. Later her friend went to Africa to teach nursing, and Pam ended up with Bitte. Bitte started Pam’s journey with dogs again, and in My Love Affair with German Shepherds, she shares her journey with each of the special dogs that graced her life.
Over many years, Pam became a respected breeder, exhibitor and above all, a lover of German Shepherds. Today, when asked what her greatest joy is after sharing her life with these magnificent dogs, raising pups, achieving prestigious wins in the show ring and titles in the obedience ring, she simply states, “Just living with them.”
Pam endured all of the joys and heartbreaks of someone who shares life, raises, trains and competes with a beloved dog breed. She worked hard to responsibly breed healthy pups, weeding out of her program those dogs that tested with hip dysplasia, a nemesis of the GSD, and place her pups in good homes. She remembers all of her litters, and all of the special achievements. She does, however, have one big regret.
After acquiring a lovely female GSD named Zehren, Pam waited to train her for obedience trials until she achieved her conformation championship. When she began to train her, though, Zehren was so sensitive that the usual training methods caused her to completely fall apart.
“If only I had known about the gentle method of obedience training – praising and giving treats when she did well rather than punishing when she made a mistake – she would have progressed faster and we both would have enjoyed our training sessions more,” she said.
Zehren finally did achieve her AKC Companion Dog title, and back when it was rare, was a dual-titled dog. When talking with Pam, one can feel that like many who spend a lifetime learning their passion, she wishes she could go back knowing what she knows now.
What would she say to someone today who wants to add a dog to their home? “Do your research.” So many dog/owner relationships fail, she said, because people don’t know the traits of the dog they are bringing into their home.
Pam had many cats in her life along with her dogs, and when the owner of two cats in her apartment complex passed away, she adopted the person’s two felines. Only Willie remains and keeps her company as she continues her active life, still writing and participating at events at Alta Vista.
When asked if she’d like a visit from a dog, she had one request. “Bring me a dog I can hug.” Meaning, one large enough to fill her dog loving arms. That’s a request that will be granted.
Enjoy Pam Brink’s wisdom about dogs and more on her blog at https://pamelabrink.com/
