Dutch Shepherd Forum

Hi everyone, we are extremely new, so new we dont even have our DS puppies yet .

The short version:
we have had Great Danes for the last 7-8 years, lost our female at xmas last year and our male at xmas this year. Yes, I am no longer a fan of the holidays.

In the little spaces here and there I could even think about getting another dog over the last couple weeks I havent been able to settle on what I might want and why. That was until I saw these two last night

http://www.coloradopuppy.org/availablepups.html - not sure if its ok to do that, mod please delete the link if its not cool.

and havent been able to think of anything else since. Now at first glance its hard to tell that these are even DS mixes but after a little digging and using different programs to pull those pics and make them bigger and clearer they do have the wirery-ish hair with brindle in the background and while they are really young some of the traits do show a little... the biggest aspect is the info that the shelter got from who ever bred them, pure DS and black lab...

at least thats what I have been able to put together so far. Right, thats the short version.

I have had pure bred dogs all my life, labs, spaniels, Danes etc... after "knowing" a foster family and really understanding how many animals are put down because us humans are so awful I decided rescue may be the best way I can give back to the species thats givin me so much.


so, the adoption opens at 11 am, we may actually sleep in the car overnight as its a bit of a drive and I am already in love.

so, I have (almost) my new dogs, brother and sister and supposedly an educated guess as to what breed makeup they are. I have looked at every video on the internet and every picture I can find and think I'm pretty close on the mix after a lengthy process of elimination... there are a few picks on the net listed DS/ Lab mix.


heck, this whole post may need to be put somewhere else - sorry.

Does anyone else have any input about these two cute monkies being DS mix?

Seamus

Seamus, they certainly are cute little monkeys, but it's just about impossible to guess if they're DS mixes from these pics. They're definitely not pure DS, but you already know that . And, they sure could be DS mixes, esp with lab. (You're right, the white chest hairs speak of some DS, perhaps.)

Have you ever raised littermates, or two puppies at the same time? It's quite a job, to do it right.

Let us know what happens, and good luck!

(If you do bring them home, be ready to post more pics...)

Hi Leih, thank you for for responding. I am very excited! yes, I will definitely post pictures on saturday and am very much looking forward to becoming part of a community, hopefully this one.

Yes, I raised two great danes from pupies by myself along with my children who were almost 2 and just 3 yrs old when I got the Danes. I have also had dogs all my life and have been part of the pack leadership of friends and family's dogs... I work from home so that makes a big difference also. : ) certainly not saying I know everything or even a whole lot but this isnt exactly my first rodeo and besides, bumps, bruises and some hair pulling etc is fun to an extent.

Seamus

Congrats on taking the adoption option! It sounds like your puppies are off to a good start being found by someone willing to, literally, go the extra mile to get them. Since you won't know if the parents were ever x-rayed for skeletal problems, read up on current university level research on hip displasia, and other bone growth issues. As a Great Dane owner you must have some knowledge of this.

I haven't kept current but when I was in school it was taught that dogs with a genetic tendency for hip displasia could grow up with fairly normal hips if they were prevented from overeating, which can contribute to growth spurts. Slow, steady growth is healthier. Bone problems are very common in young horses who are fed grain diets to encourage fast growth. Slow growth will not stunt your dogs but they may take a little longer to reach their full size.

Welcome to the forum! Good luck with raising the two puppies together. It's quite the handful. Since you've raised 2 danes at the same time, I'm sure you know how separate everything needs to be for them, but since they're potential DS mixes, separate training classes and socialization are going to be absolutely necessary.

You all are famtastic. yep, meant to spell it that way.

We do the barf diet mixed with an all natural dog - in this case the puppy version - food. I am all about letting it be the way nature intended as far as growth goes. I hope they came from solid parents but thats yet to be seen, hopefully a lack of issues long term is how we find out. Totally good with letting them get to their ideal size the correct way.

I had just begun writing out the outline of the training and glad you mentioned that about the separate part, had all but forgotten that, I did all the training of the danes individually because they are so bull headed and big I couldn't do it at the same time and now my wife will be helping with this - she wasnt around for the dane puppies until they were about 2 and a half so that had all been done.

I am so excited, I forgot what a challenge puppies can be. kind of interesting I have Saturn in my sign till 2015 - step by step and patience. lifes timing is pretty interesting.

I have always trained based on the pack theory even before I knew it had a name, just tried to act like their parent and it seemed to work - works wonders for children as well.

is it too soon to name them you think?


Hansel and Gretel : ) kinda cute, brother and sister abandoned in the woods etc etc.

HA ha, I LOVE the names!!