Dutch Shepherd?

[dutchers]

Do you think this is a Dutch Shepherd? This is my puppy. He is 5 months old and we rescued him. His mother was rescued as well and is a white german shepherd but he father was not around. He is currently approx 45lbs at 5 1/2 months. I am also curious on how big you think he will get?

Richard Feazell

[alspyce]

My first glance he reminded me of Great Dane maybe?

[dutchers]

Would you think a great dane mix would be larger than 45 lbs at 5.5 months?

[Marjolein]

looks like a great pup!!
Hard to tell with a pic like this, could be anything, face does remind me of great dane too... but in some well known KNPV Dutchies actually is Dane blood so...?
Maybe you have a picture of the dog standing?

[cake73]

If the pup's mother was a white German Shepherd, the pup is a German Shepherd mix.

[dutchers]

This is him standing up taken about a month ago...so around 4.5 months old for him. Sometimes his ears are up and sometimes down....not sure if I should tape them?

[Marjolein]

right, now I'm really confused Let's just keep it at a nice brindled mix

[icvanstra]

MODERATOR NOTE: Moved topic from "requests" to "Whatever"

[mafiamom]

right, now I'm really confused Let's just keep it at a nice brindled mix

with the first pic i totally saw the great dane!!! but then with the second...

nice looking dog and lucky you for getting him!!!! =)

[dutchers]

so not thinking dutch shepherd?

any ideas on the ears? they stand the majority of the time but not all the time and he is almost six months old.

Is there any truth to neutering reducing growth potential in males? The foster parents from the rescue said if we wanted to maximize his growth we should wait and neuter at 1year old when he is full grown.

I wonder how big he will get. as you can see from the first pic when he is sitting with paws out front that they are large and he has excess skin to grow in that I pull a solid handful of at any place on his back. Also, he is lean despite eating a solid 4 cups of "Nutro Large Breed Puppy Lamb Meal & Rice Formula For Puppies That Grow To 50 Lbs.Or More" each day plus meat/cheese treats during training.

Another pic attached for fun.

[mafiamom]

idk, im no expert but in the first pic he looked brindle great dane, and he is big =) i cant get over how much he eats!! lol i dont think even my bernese ate that much when she was a puppy!! lol

[Dutchringgirl]

I thought Great Dane too untill I saw him standing. Beautiful pup ! For the ears. I did a few things with Sadie and nothing worked, they did stand on their own at about 6-7 months, hers are huge too.

[vneerland]

so not thinking dutch shepherd?

Not thinking DS, no. But with a dam who is a white GSD, in the wildest scenario it would at best be a white GSD mix, right? The face is very doggish (like a dane) but the body is not. If the dam was a white GSD, the other half must have been some smaller doggish breed, with brindle. (since that would not come from the dam..long explanation that I won't bore you with, but it is highly unlikely that she would have been hiding brindle)
You are still very welcome here though, so don't take an opinion as a rejection to the DS community.

any ideas on the ears? they stand the majority of the time but not all the time and he is almost six months old.

Once dogs have gone through teething, they should get their ears to stand on and off at least. Give him some nice butcher bones and hope for the best (and you can massage the ears to help the bloodflow. I would not tape yet, but if they never stand on their own, you could consider that.)

Is there any truth to neutering reducing growth potential in males? The foster parents from the rescue said if we wanted to maximize his growth we should wait and neuter at 1year old when he is full grown.

The contrary. Juvenile spay and neuter produces a bigger dog, but not as well balanced.

[Sugars Mom]

Not as well balanced??? Really?

[Marjolein]

Not as well balanced??? Really?

I have (some, but still)that expierence too, they seem to never go past "almost mature" in charachter.

[vneerland]

Not as well balanced??? Really?

I have (some, but still)that expierence too, they seem to never go past "almost mature" in charachter.

Not only that. Most breed clubs do not allow (here in the USA anyway) for spayed/neutered dog to be shown, probably because it slightly distorts what nature intended.
Size wise, the hormones actually help fill a dog out, male and female both. A dog that does not get the influence of the hormones will likely be taller, but not as filled (balanced) The mental aspect has long been claimed by people who work their dogs. For a pet, it probably would not matter, neither the physical, nor the mental part. I don't think the differences are huge, but a neutered dog will likely grow a bit lankier/taller than an intact one. If you have ever seen a tom cat, not fixed, vs a neutered male, you know that hormones really do affect the way the package looks.

[Sugars Mom]

Hmmm, interesting. I got Sugar at 9 weeks and they spayed her when I adopted her. I was quite surprised as I thought spay/neuters were done at 6 or 7 months old (and part of adopting from SPCA is mandatory spay/neuter). They said in Europe its been done early for many many years and now here in Canada we are just catching up on this kind of thing.

I've also been told their temperments are better with being fixed as they don't go through the crazy hormone stage...

Of course, I have a pet and no intention of breeding her or of showing her or doing any of the other things that I know require an intact dog, but it's interesting to me to hear about this.

[Marjolein]

They said in Europe its been done early for many many years and now

That is definately NOT true! Usually here it is said spay after the first or second heat.

It might even be the reason for Sugar being so small... but it is just a guess since you can never prove it.

[dutchers]

Dutch's mom picture attached.

[dutchers]

Dutch's sister....taken a few months ago