Where did you get your DS?!

[Sarahk]

Hello, I am wondering where people got their DS, as I am looking anywhere in the US. I've read some negative things about certain breeders, and want the best temperament I can find!

[Dutchringgirl]

Thalie was an import from a trainer in France. She has top notch temperment. Sadie came from NADSR. What do you want to do with your DS. Temperament is also subjective.

[HeatherH]

From a local breeder, through a neighbour. I spent time there went up 3 times before I decided. If the breeder are any good they don`t mind you spending time if they think you serious. I`ve never had a problem discussing things.

Heather

[LyonsFamily]

I got Odin from a malinois breeder that took him in as an owner surrender. He was courtesy listed with NADSR.

What are you specifically looking for in the dog including temperament wise? Mine has a great temperament with his people and friends, but will eat any stranger on the property until introduced. I consider that a great temperament for my needs, but some might not like that.

Are there any sort of jobs you want this dog to do? Bite sports, agility, SAR?

[Selena]

Breed them myself

[Karin]

I'm waiting patiently (NOT!!!) for a pup from Les Flores in WA State... 8 weeks old on July 20th.

[johninny]

my first, TraceDog, was a 6-month old DS stray in Manhattan [ I think purposefully dumped out of a car by his owner ] and went from street to me [ for the next 12 1/2 yrs]. 2nd DS, Cain, a yard dog abandoned by his owners after 7 years of isolation, was an emergency foster for NADSR [fantastic love bug who behaved like he had lived his entire life in the comfort of a house]. 3rd DS, Xander, was my own personal rescue of an 8-month old puppy from an abusive situation in KY where I drove there and paid the people to give him up. 10 hours later in sw IN, I made a 2nd rescue of a 7-month old DS pup, Sakima, who had first been dumped in a kill shelter by his breeder and then escaped twice, the last time for 3 weeks - which prompted me to drive to IN and spend 1 week hunting for him day and night last November. 12 hours after I had stopped searching for him, he was detained by a good Samaritan and I drove back to IN and picked him up and he is resting at my feet - along with his new brother, TexXan, a 3-month old DS pup found as a stray in Paris, Texas, 4 weeks ago. he caught a flight to Newark airport 1 week later and decided it would be cool to live with Sakima and me.

http://www.youtube.com/tracesobaka
http://www.youtube.com/caindoginny
http://www.youtube.com/sakimadoggy
[ videos of Xander also reside here and this is where TexXan will soon make his debut, sharing the spotlight with Sakima ]

[idp9685]

Cal is a rescue as well, I got him from an ASPCA in Virginia Beach. I went in because the adopt a pet website had a pair of 8 month old white germans listed but they had been adopted weeks ago, "but hey if your interested we have this brindle shepherd mix" it was love at first sight. Anyway what I'm getting at is I don't know how good the volunteers are in your area but you may want to take a trip to or call your local shelters to see what they've got. Just be aware that they'll likely look pretty anemic Cal's put on 15 pounds in the 6 months I've had him and is still a bit on the lean side, and I feed him what most people feed their large 90 + pound German Shepherds, very high metabolism and they run a lot and fast.

[icvanstra]

Cino is from Deb Krsnich's Roya breeding with Judith's Nico.

[Schlussdibusti]

Marco is a rescue from the county shelter.

[centrop67]

Radar is a rescue from the Miami - Dade Animal shelter.

[Sarahk]

Thanks everyone! Looks like a lot of you have gotten yours from shelters... I've looked into a couple rescue groups but it seems like all their DS's have the same problem, a snapping issue. I've been in contact with one lady in KS with a DS who looked really promising on petfinder, but she went on to say he gets in "scuffles" with the rottie who is also at the foster's home, and that they haven't seen it around many dogs but he is "dog friendly." She also informed me that he almost bit a volunteer when we was petting his head. I do like the idea of saving a dogs live from shelter, but I also really like the idea of training them from a puppy so they are raised the way I want... Sigh...

[johninny]

with the kinds of descriptions of shelter DSs you passed along from shelter workers or fosters, it is difficult at least for me to know what that really means when you have people observing their first and only DS. they are certainly signs of potential problems, but there is plenty of room for inexperienced people to misread DSs. they do play rough/with enthusiasm. is the scuffle just normal DS behavior; did the roti himself treat it like a fight or was it a degree of rough-housing of which the foster was previously unaware? and the 2 best DSs I have ever had have been EXTREMELY mouthy with people they care about.
it is really tough - almost impossible from a distance to sort out these signs unless there is an experienced Mal or DS foster/handler involved at the other end. barring that, my hunch is that many DSs are being ''falsely accused.'' if my gut instinct pointed this way, I would get in the car or even on a plane for the right POTENTIAL dog and go check him out myself or ask for help/eyes on the ground from someone who is experienced. after my DS TD died last year, a member on this site was generous in the extreme [ I hour drive 1 way ] to go check on a dog in a foster home [ not a DS/Mal experienced foster home ]. the dog had looked and sounded very promising for me but did turn out not to be the right dog; but alternatively, with a DS [ as opposed to a lab, for example] the ''issues'' that have been described to you [ in the simple form you have presented here ] could well turn out to be a normal, sweet, fun-loving DS.
unfortunately. it's all in the details of someone who actually knows how to observe / knows what they are observing. otherwise as you imply, a dog in a shelter must be assumed more likely to have real problems than a dog that is not. equally unfortunate, there is nothing firm that can be taken from what I say here - other than, if you have the fortitude and determination, go see for yourself, call for back-up help, ask for video and ask for lots of detail from the people that have had the DIRECT social interaction with the dog in question.

[Sarahk]

with the kinds of descriptions of shelter DSs you passed along from shelter workers or fosters, it is difficult at least for me to know what that really means when you have people observing their first and only DS. they are certainly signs of potential problems, but there is plenty of room for inexperienced people to misread DSs. they do play rough/with enthusiasm. is the scuffle just normal DS behavior; did the roti himself treat it like a fight or was it a degree of rough-housing of which the foster was previously unaware? and the 2 best DSs I have ever had have been EXTREMELY mouthy with people they care about.
it is really tough - almost impossible from a distance to sort out these signs unless there is an experienced Mal or DS foster/handler involved at the other end. barring that, my hunch is that many DSs are being ''falsely accused.'' if my gut instinct pointed this way, I would get in the car or even on a plane for the right POTENTIAL dog and go check him out myself or ask for help/eyes on the ground from someone who is experienced. after my DS TD died last year, a member on this site was generous in the extreme [ I hour drive 1 way ] to go check on a dog in a foster home [ not a DS/Mal experienced foster home ]. the dog had looked and sounded very promising for me but did turn out not to be the right dog; but alternatively, with a DS [ as opposed to a lab, for example] the ''issues'' that have been described to you [ in the simple form you have presented here ] could well turn out to be a normal, sweet, fun-loving DS.
unfortunately. it's all in the details of someone who actually knows how to observe / knows what they are observing. otherwise as you imply, a dog in a shelter must be assumed more likely to have real problems than a dog that is not. equally unfortunate, there is nothing firm that can be taken from what I say here - other than, if you have the fortitude and determination, go see for yourself, call for back-up help, ask for video and ask for lots of detail from the people that have had the DIRECT social interaction with the dog in question.

Johninny-- Your interpretation was very helpful. I have a good "gut feeling" about this dog, but it worries me what she said. She could just be interpreting his actions wrongly, as shepherds have a strange play style, are mouthy, and obviously protective of their owners; but she was making it seem like if I were to take a stroll down a busy foot-traffic area, that if a little kid came up and tried to pet him he would snap "but not make contact;" which I honestly can't risk. She also indicated that he has insecurities around new people, because a previous adopting family wanted a guard dog, so they rewarded a lot of bad behavior... In order to see him in person would mean a 24 hour drive or a flight half way across the country! Guess I should just hold onto my original plan of getting a puppy so I can socialize, socialize, and socialize!

[Revhendo]

I picked up Dinga Roo from a rescue group when she was very young. She was very timid and can still be at times around folks she doesn't know. With positive reinforcement and a lot of attention, she has become the alpha of our pack. I'm not saying that this one dog you're looking at is the one for you or that you can change some ingrained behavior. I think what I'm trying to put out there is that a shelter or rescue foster/group may not present the best example of the pups personality. If I had pass on Dinga because of the first timid impression, I would have missed out on the smartest and most caring dog I have had pleasure to know.
Our cat on the other hand......

[johninny]

2nd that.
my new pup - 4 months old now - did not want to be touched in the shelter, but as soon as he was freed was so out-going and confident!
one needs to meet the dog in person or have a knowledgeable person doing that for you.
but thinking of puppies, just read the discussions in this forum on raising pups that come with no prior baggage - it is not exactly risk-free either. they come with or develop their own phobias and issues that can be as difficult to avoid and overcome as those of shelter dogs. the odds of getting what you want are not assured by going either route. though in trying to adopt, you at least can get with proper diligence a decent glimpse at a dog's true nature and potential.
given the uncertainties of both approaches, I have always been open to both [ since a DS made me open to dogs in the first place], but I have a moral bias toward adopting and, in fact, that direction has proved fruitful just at the times that I had lost hope of finding the right dog by that means.
put another way, I understand the frustration about rescue, but would advise not to give up until you have a fresh puppy actually in your arms and the die has definitely been cast elsewhere.

[GLPease]

Enzo was a shelter pup. I went in to check out a GSD they had listed, and though she was a wonderful dog, she was not the right dog for me. Then, I saw the black muzzled brindle beauty walking with some women from a rescue group. I asked the shelter volunteer, "Who is that?" and was told he wasn't available.

After putting the GSD back in her kennel, I walked over to the women from the rescue organization who were handling him and struck up a conversation. Six months old, or thereabouts, 45 pounds. They let me into the run with them, and I sat on the ground. He trotted over to me, put his muzzle against my chest and melted into me. My dogs pick me, not the other way round. After playing with him for a bit, I went into the shelter office, and talked to a woman I know there. "He's not available." Yeah, I know. I heard that already.

"You really want him?" Yes. But, more importantly, he really wants me. He told me so. Tap, tap, tap on the keyboard. "Okay. Can you be here tomorrow morning as soon as we open? He'll be available..."

He'd been a stray, found in a field with a tiny dog he was still sharing a kennel with. Beautiful disposition, not TOO high strung, and longing for his human companion. I went in the next morning, paid the fees, and reluctantly left him there for his last round of shots and mandatory neutering. When I was filling out the paperwork, she noticed the volunteers had named him Kermit. "You ARE changing his name, right?" He was certainly no Kermit.

Picked him up that afternoon, and it's been a great adventure since. Crate training was almost instantaneous. House-breaking took a few days. On good food, he started growing like a weed, back legs first - it took the front a little while to catch up - for a time, he was a couple inches taller at the rump than at the withers, which was pretty odd looking. And, it took him a while to figure out what to do with all that leg underneath him.

He's a wonderful dog, and when he's not playing, can be very cuddly. Really? A 70 pound lap dog? He still tries to figure out where to put all those legs, sometimes. And, he loves to watch tele.

He's about a year old, now, and still growing into himself. I suspect he was taken away from his litter mates too early, as we had to work very hard on bite aversion. He still nips a little when he gets over excited, but he's really coming along. He's got pretty good confidence, has great intelligence, and can be stubborn as a mule, but he's good on lead, and his recall was brilliant almost immediately.

He gets along with the family well, but he's still my dog, and I suspect always will be. Like I said, he chose me. He gets a little too rough, sometimes, with Tango, my Aussie/Border puppy, not at all out of meanness, but he seems to forget that he's a big dog. When he sits, he's regal, and his eyes are always bright and alert. He's sometimes playful, sometimes serious, but always fun. When someone comes to the door, he walks with me, and stands, as if to say, "I'm right here." Assertive, not aggressive. But, he gives me this feeling that if anyone meant harm, he'd be on the job. His agility was demonstrated when my kid and I climbed a tree, and Enzo hopped up on a branch to join us. We'll have a lot of fun in the years to come, for sure.

And, though I'm looking forward to his maturing into a dog, I'm sure enjoy his puppy-ness.

[Sugars Mom]

Gregory, what an awesome narrative of how your DS joined you and your family!

[Sarahk]

Gregory, loved the narrative!

[GLPease]

Thanks Sue and Sarah.