Adopted Shepherd --UPDATE New Pix on first page

Here are some pix of the little shepherd mix adopted yesterday at the Humane Society. He is 8-9 weeks (unknown because the litter was dumped) and was brought in with a brother and sister. I had my doubts about him yesterday. He was extremely fearful and ducked his head and turned away when I approached his crate. He shook like a leaf when he was picked up. Not the normal puppy behavior at all. I actually thought about taking him back, as he appeared to be completely unsocialized to people.

But there is a whole new outlook today! He is energetic, follows me everywhere, and plays with my other two dogs. I figure he had a rough start, being ignored by his owners, if there were any, picked up by Animal Control and brought in, bathed, given shots, neutered, microchipped, and just generally frightened to death for a week. Then he was separated from his brother and brought to my house where he met two dogs bigger than him who were not exactly welcoming, not to mention seven crabby and definitely unwelcoming cats. No wonder he was in shock!

He is a whole new dog today. I was wondering if some of you GSD folks out there could estimate his mature size. He is only 8 pounds now which seems like he is destined to be about a 40 to 50 pound dog instead of 60 to 70. His legs and feet are large, but not huge. Also, will his right ear ever stand up?

He is somewhat thin, probably should weigh about 10 pounds.







Here is Bobby at 6 months. Approximately 40 lbs., long and lean and a wonderful dog! I think he still has some growing to do. He went to puppy class and did very well. I have him enrolled in the beginners obedience, but had to wait till he got to six months, which he did this weekend. He is still somewhat timid in new situations and reserved with new people. He gets along well with other dogs. He likes to run at the fence and scare the chickens, and Peter the Roo takes a dim view of that.

After more research, I kind of think he is a Carolina Dog, or American Dingo. Supposedly they show up in pounds and shelters quite often, and are labeled "Shepherd Mix". He fits all the criteria.

 

Thanks for the input, everyone! His name is Bobby. We are on the second day here, and he wants to be with me all the time. I can't go into the garden and shut the gate, or he runs up and down whining. He howled at 4 am both Friday night and last night. I felt sorry for him, but left him in his crate. Only weird thing is that when I go to get him out of his crate, he cowers in the back and won't come to me. I wonder if that has to do with all the stuff that happened to him at the shelter every time he was taken out.

Today he's been out of his crate all day and with us in the yard or the kitchen/screened porch. He is much more relaxed today, falling asleep at our feet.

His right ear has been up several times today, then flops back down. I think it will eventually stand up.

Today he figured out the deck steps. Yesterday when he tried to follow the other dogs up, he went up one step and then fell through to the ground. Today, he can climb to the top (six or seven steps). He can go down, too. Obviously never saw steps before. He has run into the sliding glass door a few times, although I have decals at dog and cat (and people) eye level.

When he starts to chase the cats, they go in from the screen porch to the kitchen through the dog door. He can't figure out how they can walk through walls. But he's pretty smart. I think he'll figure it out soon.