Dutch Shepherd Forum

My husband and I adopted a "shepherd mix" from Chicago Animal Control a couple of years ago. We assumed by default that she was mostly German Shepherd until someone stopped us walking down the street to ask if she was 100% Dutch Shepherd. Except for the white chest and white toes and slightly floppy ears, she certainly fits the description of a Dutch. Pepper just hit 80 lbs - seems a bit large for the breed but I'm going off of Wikipedia...

Anyway, I was pleased to discover this forum and am especially interested in training tips given we live in the city with such a high energy dog.

Elizabeth

Welcome to the forum! Pepper is very nice looking and very Dutch looking to me!

Yay! another from Chicago. What part of the city are you in? We're in the South Loop.

The white chest and toes are normal in a Dutch. While they're not desired in a perfect conformation dog, they can have white on the chests and toes. Other than his ears (but they sure are cute) he looks like a Dutch.

Have you checked out the off leash dog areas in Dupage County? They have acres of land which is perfect for high energy dogs. It's a bit expensive for non residents, so we don't go that often, but it's worth checking out.

Welcome!

Welcome!!

We are in what some call the "Chicago-land area"....Kenosha Wi in the furthest southeast corner of Wisconsin. Your dog looks a lot like ours, whom we rescued from a shelter last summer....will post when able.

Thanks for all the welcomes!

LyonsFamily - We're in Wicker Park. Great tip with the off leash areas - we'll definitely check those out. Do you have any trainer recommendations in the area? I'm looking for help with walking her - my husband's strong enough to correct her when she's on the leash but I am not. Had a few embarrassing encounters when she decides she wants to run after another dog!

My best suggestion is Karin Chan, the owner of A Pawsitive Influence. She's a dog walker and trainer. I met her when I was working for a groomer down here a few years ago and still use her for advice/competition practice. She helped me find my DS from a local rescue. She has a Belgian Malinois so is used to a high prey breed, she also has a rescued Pittie and Chihuahua.

She works with a lot of rescues, so has a ton of experience with leash reactivity. She does private lessons mainly and can come right to you. She's also starting lessons down at Pawsitively Heaven in Chicago Ridge. Here's her contact. If you do decide to call her, let her know I (Stephanie Lyons) sent you and that you have a DS/DS mix, that will help her with advice. Phone: (708) 369-6383, pawsitveinfluence@gmail.com

Jennifer and Aliya, the trainers at Dynamic Dogs in Bucktown are great too. They deal with a lot of aggressive dogs, but can work on individual obedience work as well. They do everything including board and trains if you want that option. My dog was in foster care at their facility before we adopted him, he went through their board and train bootcamp and is a very good dog now. www.dynamicdogschicago.com Jennifer might be on this board sometime, she's posted once or twice here.

Both trainers (and most good ones around the city) offer free evaluations. Contact both of them if you're looking for someone, take the free evaluations, and see if you like their methods and styles. I personally think Karin would be better in your situation, but I've seen clients come from both with great turn-arounds.

Hello and welcome to the group!!

Can you please take a moment and visit the User Control Panel and Create a signature including your name, it will help us keep everyone straight.

There is an awesome trainer in Des Plaines, IL who would be well worth the travel. She is an excellent obedience and agility trainer, and she has helped Dutch Shepherd rescue on more than one occasion with transport and foster. Her name is Ashlee Trotter and she owns Creative Paws Dog Training (www.creativepaws.com).

Good looking dog!! Can you tell us which shelter you pulled her from? Many rescues have come out of the Chicago area

Thanks for the recommendations!

We adopted her from Chicago Animal Care & Control. It took three visits before we were able to adopt her because they were so short staffed. Quite the contrast from the no-kill shelters on the North side!

Welcome

esanders09 wrote:Thanks for the recommendations!

We adopted her from Chicago Animal Care & Control. It took three visits before we were able to adopt her because they were so short staffed. Quite the contrast from the no-kill shelters on the North side!

So that would be the 6th dog that I know of from that location
I'm so glad you were able to save her!

Welcome !! My Brother and his family live somewhere downtown I forget the name of the park but it has the big bean thing there we aren't that far away from either.. a few hours to the east in ohio .

Welcome, what a handsome doggie!!

I'm from Chicago too... currently in Forest Park!

Welcome Elizabeth from Chicago. Thanks for adopting a shelter dog.

LyonsFamily wrote:The white chest and toes are normal in a Dutch. While they're not desired in a perfect conformation dog, they can have white on the chests and toes. Other than his ears (but they sure are cute) he looks like a Dutch.

Uhmmmmm. No. A tiny white spot on the chest may happen, and a toe tip, possibly, but neither are to be considered 'normal'. The amount of white that would be considered normal would be an amount that would all but disappear on an adult dog. Visible white markings may be a very good indicator that the dog may have another breed in it's woodpile that normally sports a lot more white (like bull terriers, for example) That is not supposed to sound like nit picking, I just wanted to point out that visible white markings on chest and feet are a good indicator that the package contains more than just DS.
This particular dog (nice looking!!) has a GSD set of ears, but I do see the DS association, yes.

Welcome.