Is my puppy a Dutch?

[Groc352]

Hi, I recently adopted a puppy from a shelter where she was one of 6 in a litter there. They were calling her a German Shepherd mix with black/brindle coat.

She dosnt quite look like a german shepherd to me because of the coat, but was wondering if maybe some more experienced dutch shepherd owners could tell.

She is 6 months old in the pictures.

Thanks!

Ryan.

This is ZIA:





my favorite picture..

[johninny]

hi. welcome and thanks for adopting a pup from a shelter.
did the other pups in the litter also look like brindled shepherds? [ light/dark does not matter ]
if so, you got yourself a Dutch Shepherd; if not, then at least a DS mix. sure looks like a DS to me.
normally one would ask more about the personality and behavioral traits you are finding, i.e., whether they correspond with those of the DS, but having a whole litter looking like this would not leave much doubt in my mind. how big is she? height? weight? do you have any pics of her siblings? btw, where are you that 6 DS puppies just wash ashore?

[Groc352]

hey thanks for responding,
yea all of the other pups in the litter were black and had brown striping/spotting a few had white paws.
right now she is 6 months old about 45 lbs.

as far as her personality, she is extremely friendly with all dogs and people. we take her to the dog park once a week and she runs around with the other dogs. not afraid to run up on bigger dogs to say hello but enjoys chasing smaller dogs and being chased by them. she seems to "herd" dogs at the park also. she will chase for a while but kind of circle around and slow down then run after them again ext...

she is very smart, has picked up on commands well. she can sit, stay for her food, wait to go outside. shake, roll over. got her to do these commands all withing about 2 months or less. I can have her in our un fenced in very open back yard off the leash and she will not run away. comes when she is called to.

I had a DNA test done that I got from amazon, but all it told me was German shepherd on one side and Boston terrier/mixed breed on the other. so i didn't believe the test very much.


thanks again for the insight as we have been very our Zia!

[Groc352]

Oh, and we got her from a shelter in Illinois, right outside Chicago. Which is where all 6 were and apparently the shelter had gotten them from animal control.

[johninny]

right size and weight for a 6-month old DS and with that consistency in the litter, it looks likely you have a DS on your hands. she looks and sounds like a lot of fun.
there is no DNA test that currently has DS in its database. in that case, when you test a DS, you get complete gibberish back - completely worthless. sorry you wasted your money.

[Asha]

What a doll! Looks/sounds very much like a Dutch Shepherd. Congrats, you got very lucky at the pound!

[LyonsFamily]

Just the fact that they're from the Chicago area would give me reason to think you have a Dutch shepherd. Both of mine were rescues out of Chicago. My male was found by AC while wondering the streets with his sister at 4-5 months old. There are a lot of crappy breeders near the city that are breeding DS, mals, and some are mixing in GSD and calling them tiger shepherds.

Regarding dog parks, a lot of us here aren't big fans of them. Unless you're going to the big Dupage County ones that are hundreds of acres. The chasing behavior would concern me, especially as a puppy grows up and that could easily escalate.

[johninny]

yes, Stephanie correctly states the point of view of many [ most?] here about dog parks. it is much discussed elsewhere on the site if you care to search to read detailed discussion of all the downsides of dog parks, in general but especially for the DS breed. better to have controlled meetings, interactions, playdates.

[Groc352]

She seems like she is playing with the other dogs, and she gets good excersize there, if it ever turns into behavior that dosnt look like play I remove her from the situation and take her elsewhere in the park.
What kind of behavior could it escalate to in the future? She does the same type of playing with my parents lab/shepherd mix. bows and runs around and they chase each other.

But its nice to know what she is! So now when people ask I can have a correct anwser.

[Sugars Mom]

She sure looks like a DS to me too. Lucky you!

I think the problem with dog parks is that unless you know the dogs that are there and that it will be a positive play experience for both/all dogs there, you run into the potential for problems to occur. Too many people don't understand when dogs are playing nice or being a bully and it can only take one time for a dog/puppy to be tramuatized by another dog behaving badly.

Here is a great link about dog socializing:
http://www.clickertraining.com/node/3953

[Groc352]

thanks for all your advice, it is very helpful.

Another question, when should her ears be perked up all the time? Right now they only stand up when shes outside, occasionally inside the house. but the majority of the time they look like the picture here;


Is there anything I should do to help to them stand up all the time? I have read about GSD's and taping/gluing but not sure if thats something I really want to try if I dont have to.

[racingiron1]

When we got Hilde at ~7 months old from the shelter her ears were mostly floppy (see example in "pick me" photo contest), but she was quite submissive and shy at that time too. Within a month they perked right up into full-on batdog mode. It was around this same time she blew out an impressive amount of fur that I'm guessing was her puppy coat. I'd say just give it time and those ears will be at attention. I think I read someone here suggest that some regular gentle massage of the ears to promote blood circulation could help.

[Groc352]

Should I rub her ears? if so where and how much?

They seem to stay pretty consistently like in the pic above, bent about in half out to the sides.

when we had first gotten her she was in the early stages of teething and her ears were up quite a bit, touching each other at times. but now that she is done teething they are always flopped in half like that. But will ocassionaly perk one or both up with a loud noise or if she is outside or in a new environment.

[johninny]

i think you so lucked out at the shelter - and so did she. she is a very beautiful dog, also.

personally, i would not worry about the ears; they should come back up with good nutrition and lots of love but others will have more intelligent and knowledgeable comments. having said that, the ultimate in dog ear massage tutoring can be found if you google Tellington TTouch, especially, if i remember, tellington's own site. i am not sure there is any reference to getting ears to stand up, but that may not matter - a good ear massage accomplishes so much - first and foremost, great bonding but also many health benefits.
meanwhile, she is gorgeous as is.

[Groc352]

Thanks John, I appreciate the comments. My girlfiend and I love her the way she is, but are always curious about what her ears are going to do.

As far as nutrition goes, we feed her FROM large breed puppy food. 4 cups a day. 2 in the AM 2 in the PM. Not sure how much difference it makes in her ears, but questions never hurt.
As far as bonding goes, she bonded to me very quickly and my girlfriend also. she listens(for the most part) to our commands. she protects our house from strangers(trick or treaters tonight) and overall is a very good and loyal dog. she impresses us all the time with how good of a puppy she is. but still has her puppydom annoyances that we are looking to improve upon.

thanks again.

[Karin]

Just a thought. Looking at those pictures she looks younger than 6 months. That may explain the ears too. I have a 5.5 month DS right now and the pictures you posted just look more like 4 months.
Have fun!!!!

[Groc352]

She is 47 lbs. went to the vet last thursday. on the paperwork we got from the shelter it lists her DOB as 4-8-13. We adoped her on 8-13-13.

[gingerman]

Looks like a DS to me, her ears will probably stick up soon, what a cutie!

[Dutchringgirl]

What a doll !! Yep, DS ! As for the ears, I did everything for Sadie to get her ears to stand and nothing worked....except to wait. Her ears flopped untill she was about 8 months or so, then they popped up and stayed, they do flop when she runs, but what dosnt LOL.

Very good looking pup and I am sure she is so glad she found you !

[icvanstra]

Of the common " is mine a dutch shepherd" question ... it is nice to see one that is probably a Dutch Shepherd.

Don't worry about the ears. If they were meant to stand up they will on their own. Took Cino a while for them to stop flopping. Then they would again during growth spurts. They were finally fully erect when he was done with that last "teenage to adult" growth. That is also around the time he stopped laying down one of his ear. See this months photo contest voting: http://www.dutchshepherdforum.com/viewt ... =15&t=3163 - his right ear is folded back against his head. Goofiest looking thing sometime when he would have one up and one down - then switch them.