Steve Says Hello!

[Steve_the_Shepherd]

Steve was dumped (along with 4 siblings) in a shelter in Spain at ~12 weeks. He lived there, along with about 600 other animals, until he was 8 months old when he decided to rescue me.

I was told he was about 80% Dutch Shepherd, not a breed I had ever heard of, but, with the exception of his floppy ears, he does look very much the part.

He is mostly a joy and delight! He very rarely barks, and seems to instinctively want to protect me. Men out after dark (without dogs) are treated with great suspicion and wariness. He adapted to living in a human home very easily- within 48 hours he had grasped the concept of 4-on-the-floor in the kitchen (and is pretty much there with people too)….except if they come into the apartment- that still gets a full on leap. But hey, at least he no longer does it to neighbours in the lift.

From day 1 he has chewed everything we have given him- but oddly, nothing else. He ate his bed, but not so much as a nibble at ours. He is fabulous with other dogs- indeed I have never seen any sign of aggression in him...I have never heard him growl even.

He is not fond of children/teenagers particularly- they run around and squeal, and he doesn't know how to deal with that- so he backs away. He wants to make friends with street cats- they however are less keen.

Pretty much the only issue we have is separation anxiety...it doesn't help that we both work from home, so he is never alone...but if we are out, then the shrieks and howls are unbelievable should one of us disappear from sight...we need to seriously work on that.

We used to have two Alaskan Malamutes, and this guy sheds more than they ever did. Something I definitely wasn't aware of.

Currently, with summer temperatures, his exercise is: AM: Walk to enclosed court, an hour or so chasing jumping running. He loves it. In the afternoon he has a short 'scratch & sniff' outing to relieve himself, and then late about 10-11 he gets 1-2 hours walk. Is this sufficient do you think?

Is there any advice you can offer? What don't I know?

[centrop67]

Welcome to the forum, and thank you for rescuing.

Take some time to browse and search the site for any specific questions. The site has been around for a while, and someone is likely to have run into the same problem.

One thing I will advise is that exercise alone is not enough. The breed requires some mental stimulation (aka a job). Otherwise, Steve will make up his own job, and you probably won't like it.

The job could be as simple as daily obedience training, but is more fun if you're training for an activity such as agility, protection, or SAR.

Also, it's very important for you to maintain order when around children. As you mentioned the running and squeaking is an issue, and you need to maintain control of the situation. If the squeaking and running is allowed, Steve should be leashed and/or muzzled. I maintain that it is ALWAYS (with very little exception) the human's fault when a dog bites.

Finally, we love to see pictures.

[Steve_the_Shepherd]

I get the need for mental stimulation....he loves playing 'find it'....we hide treats for him to search for.
I have a major issue with space tho for training. We are not allowed in parks, nor on the beach....there are no places where he is allowed to be off leash. How the hell I am supposed to teach recall if I can't let him loose?
I do treat every walk as a training exercise...he is very good at 'wait..' He also (now) waits for dogs to approach him, rather than go bounding over to say hello- there are so so many small dogs who are 'afraid' of big dogs (though to be fair, that is mostly the owners not understanding dog body language). I try to vary the routes we take....and I have learned how to stop him pulling out of the harness and escaping!
I would love for him to do agility- he'd be a natural....but Gibraltar is not a place for dogs When I take him to the old town/up the rock, I let him choose the route, make decisions- but I have to be cautious because I don't want to come face to face with the monkeys! His favourite game is 'take the piss out of mummy'....he refuses to 'fetch'....much much more fun apparently to deposit the toy where he wants me to throw it from next...and if he can get away with it, then 'chase me' is a great game. He runs just fast enough (and swerves) so I can't quite catch him.
He's entertaining, and hard work....I don't have many pictures because when I am out with him, I have to keep him under control- not be fiddling with my phone.
I can't imagine ever having to muzzle him- he's a lover not a fighter, and shies away if he isn't happy....but being an experienced dog owner I am fully aware that just because he never has, doesn't mean he never would.

Great forum, glad I found it.