Dutch Shepherd Forum

I have never owned a DS before our little five month old pup, Eris. She has so many cute but different qualities than my boxer did growing up. One of those, maybe not so cute lol, is we are constantly finding her laying on her bed with my clothes. Underwear, socks, shirts, never my husband's just mine. Now that could possibly be because he picks his clothes up more than I do...... but I know more than once she's raided our laundry hamper. Does anyone else's do this?

She's also a big licker. You can stick your face right in my boxer's face and she'll just stare sweetly at you. Eris on the other hand will lick you constantly. She will guard you while you're in the shower and as soon as you step out she is licking the water from your legs!

Its been a long time since I've had a puppy in the house and I love to see how she's developing. We've had her for three weeks and she is double the size from when we brought her home. 24 pounds now. We had OB training yesterday and everyone was commenting that she was bigger even from the previous week. I can't get over how smart this dog is! Within ten minutes she learned to heel, walk beside me on the leash, and that when I stop she needs to sit and stare at me until I release her. A few of those minutes were me getting my act together too!

She is a lot of fun and she is so sweet! As long as I keep her supply of bones all over and lots of toys it keeps her from chewing anything she isn't suppose to and she's not so high energy at this point that we can't keep up with her. I suspect my dog Roo and she play all day outside while my husband and I are at work though. For now that is enough to tire her out. I just wanted to give an update on her and see if anyone else's DS's have interesting...habits of their own?

HAHA! Your pup reminds me of ours, Asha. She's almost 12 weeks old I think. I've only ever had mutts from the pound, who were great, but could never compare to her. My neighbors found four pups down the road about a month ago and we kept one, basically just as a foster home, which of course ended up being a permanent home because my two young girls became extremely attached to her the first night!! But I think I'm the one who is most smitten! She's as obsessed with me as I am with her!! The licking thing is so weird, anytime she comes near me she licks my legs, face, neck. In fact we had a pretty close call in the car a few days ago where I had to slam on the breaks really fast to avoid a head-on, she totally sensed my mood and started licking my shoulder and staring at me!! SOOO smart. When I get home from being away for a few hours, she dives into the car as soon as I open the door and crawls in my lap, licking like crazy. And as for the clothes, she's always getting MY dirty socks to lay with, she doesn't chew them, more like just lays with them.
Also, the leash thing sounds just like Asha, We haven't done any obedience classes but she walks right beside me and watches me the whole time and when I stop she sits beside me and stares. She even does this when I walk her around the yard in the morning.
She's learned sit, down, come, and stay - somewhat. She fetches without a treat, even into deep water, which is SOOOO adorable. And I can get her to go through my daughters' outdoor play stuff, a boat, little house and jungle gym. So I think she could do some obstacle work.
One more thing (sorry running on here!!) she tries to take my watch off. She doesn't just chew at it but tries to remove it. I think she's doing the same thing to our beagle's harness. And we can't keep her in a harness while on her outside dog line, she gets out of every one of them.
Needless to say, I am as excited about this breed as you. My husband doesn't get it, but others on the forum do!! Oh geese, she's lickin my ankles and toes right now!!!

Talking with an associate at work with a lot of experience with Malinois And G.S.D.'s, he told me the dog will take one owner and affectionately tolerate others in the family. That's not to say she won't listen to others, but simply she's your dog. Hence, her guarding you when your in the shower! I had the same experience with my pup and I had the same thing with Catahoulas in the past. I've weened him off this practice though, as I like my business to be conducted in a calm & private setting. Not really interested in a game of fetch while I'm sitting there reflecting on the day's current events! LOL!
I've seen a lot of other breeds steal dirty laundry as well. It's a comfort thing to have your sent around when your not. Your leash success gives me hope that my 3 month pup may take to it. But this guy weighs in at just over 26 lbs last week at the vet visit. So it's got me thinking how big is he going to be at 5 months?