We went to the garden centre this morning and although couldn’t find what we were looking for, we treated ourselves to coffee/tea and cake, and Maya had a sausage roll.
She was made a fuss of by everyone: staff, customers and those in the restaurant area where a section is set to one side for dog owners.
There were quite a few other dogs there, and she did not bother with any of them…….. probably too intent on seeing what was likely to come her way and not want to miss anything.We are always saying that when we had Maggie, 
there were very few shepherds around, then when we lost her and decided to get another dog some months later, it was not as easy as we’d anticipated.
It was a year before we found Maya, and that was purely by chance as I was collecting some meds for our friend’s dog Kela (who passed away in January)
and the receptionist said she knew a few GSD breeders and would put my name forward.
I had two phone calls that afternoon, and the rest is history (I seem to be saying that a lot lately).
Now, it is not uncommon to be chatting with people who had shepherds, grew up with shepherds, had just lost one or had one or more at home. In fact, the day we brought Maya home, I saw our neighbour over the road walking his new puppy……… a shepherd, that they’d had a few weeks. She is younger than Maya by four or five weeks, and the difference between the two is quite remarkable.
pensitivity101 
Maya seems friendly and a good companion to you.
She is really good with people, especially anyone with a disability, and kids too.
Dogs bring a companionship that Is hard to find elsewhere
They do, as do cats for other people.
Nice that everyone loves Maya! Here there are too many owners of large breeds who don’t socialize their dogs and don’t train them properly either – it is always wonderful to find one that is so well behaved!
We have always encouraged people to say Hi, be they old, young, kids, disabled, anyone who shows an interest. It’s good for Maya and it’s good for them too. The socialising with other dogs is a little different as most of the dogs around us are small (about the size of Maya’s head) so even though she’s a puppy, she doesn’t understand that she’s a BIG puppy, but where we can, we encourage introductions, and today she went nose to nose with an 8 month old cocker spaniel and they both wanted to play! Not a good idea in the middle of a shop doorway though! Later, some friends brought their two dogs up to the gate…….. a black GSD and a cockapoo. It was noses and paws through the fence, some joyous barking bu the black GSD but no aggression.
I remember you writing about your neighbours puppy not being as very well behaved as Maya, is that still the case?
It would appear so. She is a lovely dog, but pulls terribly on the lead and barks at every other dog she sees. They have spent a fortune on harnesses, collars and the like, but not much improvement. They cannot let her off at all as she won’t come back. It’s such a shame. We still have issues with Maya but she knows her place and is improving all the time.