I spent my first few summers on my grandmother's farm, where there were about five GSD (and a small poodle that mostly stayed out of the way, inside the farmhouse).

Lovely animals, one of my earliest memories is (hand) feeding them when they were taller than me. I also have a vague memory of trying to ride them, like horses, but I'm not 100% sure I trust that thinking about how old I would have had to be, and our relative sizes.