I grew up with a German Shepherd, Apollo, that had been kicked out of the doggy police academy. He had a floppy ear, and they said he "didn't look ferocious enough". Apollo was the best dog ever, but his first year and a half sucked.

He got kicked out of doggy police academy and was given to a retired cop who kept him in a cage, and beat Apollo if he peed in the cage, which was daily (the cop only let him out once per day). The retired cop knew a military family who wanted to have a dog, so he gave Apollo to the family. Apollo was happy there, and let the family's two-year-old sit on his back and try to steer him with his ears. The retired cop had told the family that if they couldn't take Apollo with them when they moved, they should give the dog back. Knowing how he was treated with the retired cop, the mom left Apollo at a local animal shelter. Apollo was there so long that, to make room, he was labeled "undesirable", and slated for euthanasia. Less than a week before his scheduled euthanization, my family adopted Apollo. He was about 18 months old.

Apollo passed away four years ago this month. He was just a few weeks shy of turning 14. Apollo was a gentle soul until the day he died. When he reached his old age, Apollo still wanted to do the same things he did when he was younger, like playing fetch. But, while he would have played ball until the thrower's arm fell off when he was young, he'd only go for three or four throws. No matter his age, though, if one of us was upset, Apollo would walk over to us, put his head in our lap, and give us this look of "pet me, it'll make you feel better".

Gah....I'm sorry I wrote so much. I didn't mean to. I just miss my buddy.

TL;DR: I grew up with a German Shepherd who got kicked out of the puppy police academy because of a floppy ear that made him look "not ferocious enough". He was the best dog ever, but had a crappy first 18 months.

EDIT: For those assuming this story is false, everything I know about Apollo's life before my family was told to me by my parents, who had been told by the mom from the previous family. Previous family's mom asked the animal shelter to give her contact information to the family that adopted Apollo so that she would know he's in a safe place. His previous family lived next door to the retired cop, and, I'd imagine, had some idea of how often they saw the dog in their neighbor's yard. I was 7 when we adopted Apollo, so my memory may not be 100% clear. I did not say anything in this post about his life before my family that I do not remember coming straight from my parents' mouths. That's not to say my parents were necessarily telling the full truth, but, as far as I know, the truth is what I've told you.

EDIT2: Picture, by request.