Dutch Shepherd Forum

Hi folks,

Just joined here, wanted to give a brief introduction and get some input from seasoned DS owners.

I'm a graduate student living in Baltimore, about to graduate in May with a masters. I have one dog and one cat. We got our pup, Bodie, when he was 4 months old from a shelter down in Kentucky - my bf and I really wanted a dog (a German shepherd to be specific) but because of our age and status as undergrad students, had a hard time adopting from local rescues and shelters. We were pretty set on a rescue for our first dog, so we drove down to Kentucky from Baltimore (10 hours each way!) to pick up a pup from a high kill shelter whose time was to be up soon. Now our "little" man is 3 years old, and the light of my life, the apple of my eye. He's definitely a mama's boy too, he loves my bf dearly but he will not leave my side if given the choice between the two of us.

He's my first dog (that isn't a family dog), so he's kind of been a jack-of-all-trades pup. We've trained in SchH for a bit, but it was too time consuming for us as students. We have also done herding, and are currently participating in lure coursing, and hope to trial in that soon. I'd like to get involved with agility with him too if I find the time. He has been fantastic in all of our activities - very high food, prey and toy drive, but most importantly, incredibly biddable. He lives to please me, and he can and does work for only praise. In our off time we go hiking a lot - a couple of times a week - as we are fortunate enough to live within 30 minutes of many large parks and trails.

I was just wondering if anyone could give me some thoughts as to his pedigree. Since we got him from a shelter, we have no idea who his parents were. He was at the shelter with 3 of his littermates, two of them looked exactly like him minus the white patches and a third was all black with floppy ears (Bodie's ears fell shortly after we got him home but went back up again after a few weeks). We were told that he was a GSD, he had the brindle coloring on his legs and face, but he had a typical black saddle of GSDs. It wasn't until he was a couple of months old that the saddle eventually faded away into the brindle that he has now. The TD at our SchH club insisted he was either a DS or DS/GSD mix.

Here's some pics of my boy. He's usually around 65 - 70 lbs depending on the season, not sure how tall he is at the withers, but he's about the same size as a female GSD who is at the lower end of the size spectrum.







You can really see the black saddle better here - this was when he was around 10 months maybe?


This is what he looked like as a puppy (first few hours we had him, actually, while we were still in Kentucky):


Still in Kentucky outside a Walmart, getting a head start on socialization:


Sorry if these pics are over the size or quantity limit! Mods feel free to edit as necessary.

Any thoughts on his breed or what he might be mixed with would be greatly appreciated! Regardless of what he is, I adore him with all my heart and I wouldn't trade him for the world!

Just occurred to me that it's tough to see his coat pattern from these pictures, so I've added one more

Snoozing on the balcony after a long hike/swim session:

I'm certainly no expert in the field, but my first though on looking at the pics before reading your post was DS/GSD. Seems you trainer feels the same. He is a beautiful dog regardless

very beautiful!! I'd say he is a DS/GSD mix...

Hi Virginia, and Welcome!

Bodie really lucked out in the lottery of life, getting you for an owner!

I vote for DS/GSD mix as well. I see lots of GSD in him.

How good he was as a puppy, that first day, with a cat checking out his tail!

Thanks for the welcome and kind words, everyone! Seems like the consensus is GSD/DS X, I would have to agree, as I can see elements of both, in looks and temperament, in him. Regardless, my bf and I love him, we always get compliments on his looks, coat and behavior when we're out and about with him.

Haha he was pretty tolerant of the kitty for about...oh 6 hours? as a puppy, and then he decided that her role in life was to run away while he chased her down and stuck her entire head in his mouth and slobbered all over her. He has such high prey drive, it took us a few days to teach him that he was not allowed to chase the kitty - he never tried to hurt her but the kitty was starting to stay in one room of the house all the time so we had to put it to a stop.

Welcome,

I also vote on DS/GS. He is beautiful!!

Welcome Virginia/Baltimore/Kentucky stranger. (If you don't mind, please create a signature in your profile, so we have your posts signed)
What a lucky dog, and thank you for adopting from a rescue.
I too vote for part GSD, but not because of the previous saddle, but because of the ears, the head shape, bushy tail, black lenght, etc. The disappearing saddle is truly intriguing me. It looks almost solid black in the first pictures, but if that had been the case, he could not have 'lost' it. It has to have been charbonne, just a dense cover of black hair tips, for it to fade away like it did. If you have more before/after saddle pictures, I would love to see those!

Yeah, I was really surprised by the disappearance of his black "saddle." That's interesting, about the charbonne, I've never heard of that term before, going to go look it up. When we first got him, the saddle covered almost his entire back - you can kind of see it in the pic where the cat is messing with his tail as a puppy. I have some other low quality pics from the first day we have him that shows off the extent of the black, I'll dig those out when I get home from work and class, but between the ages of 4 months - 8 months we were too busy training, exercising and keeping the kitty's head out of his mouth to take pictures. I really regret that now, would've been nice to see the progression of his coat changes between those months cause it changed a lot!

I know with GSDs, sable puppies go through a ton of coat changes and usually end up being darker as an adult. I don't know of any breeds that get lighter as they age either, I wonder if the color change with his saddle is indicative of some other breed in the mix?

I just wanted to say "hey" and to tell you how much I love the looks of your dog. (Added bonus that he was a rescue! And a well-traveled-for one at that.) I'm especially fond of the demeanor that he presents in some shots. Reserved...with an opinion.

Everyone ended up very fortunate...though I'm sure that the cat also has a "reserved opinion."

Welcome!

I'm also wondering what is going on with the saddle.. Judith, GSD pups also have way more black that ends up in a yellow dog with black saddle. Maybe this was the case here too? Only it was too small to leave anything behind??

like this:
pup


adult (same dog)


Where does all that black go? It's not just puppywool (onderwol?) it aslo excist in older dogs that have mature fur..?

margolien... very beautiful !!

Thanks Raven and Marjolein! Bodie has just recently reached maturity and learned how to be reserved, lol. Before, he was the friendliest puppy ever, wanted to go up to everyone on the street and give them kisses and tail wags! Now he's just a goofball with people he knows. And oh boy, did the cat have an opinion when we first brought Bodie home. Only it wasn't too "reserved" - she wouldn't come near us for weeks! Now, a few years later, she's back to her usual affectionate self.

I found some more pics of him as a puppy, but they were taken with a camera phone so they're pretty poor quality. It's weird cause I remember running my hands through his fur as a puppy, and the black fur was black all the way through, not black tips and different color underneath, or banded the way sable coloring can be.







This is one of the only photos I have from his older puppy-hood (sometime between 6 months and 1 year). You can see the black disappearing and getting lighter in some areas:


More recent pics - you can kind of trace where the saddle used to be, but instead of becoming a solid color, it's become a dark brindle saddle, sort of.









This picture always cracks me up, I have it named "Cat tumor" in my files:

It's so cute how great of friends they are.

now it does look Charbonné to me. Judith, I don't get it genetically, do you have an explanation??
It's a mystery dog!
ow, I love the matching cat

@Kristie: you really like this dog?I do not like this type at all, unnaturally sloping back that gives loads of problems.. I prefer the "straight-back" working line GSD But only if there had been no DS :dswink"

I don't care for the slopey back but I think his coat and coloring are beautiful.... my own GSDs have all been from working lines and absolutely no slope.

Most animals do change colors a little between puppyhood and adult coat.
Even our DS's do! Ever seen an dark brindle pup at birth, and they appear almost black. The brindle shows later. Blue pups, if you have ever seen one, will be born solid blue and the brindle starts to show at about 2 weeks. Lots of patterns are progressive, but I am not sure what genes are at work. I suspect it is like children, often starting out blonde, but they don't stay that way. I will need to look into the reason for it, but do not have an official opinion at this time.
This Baltimore saddle still surprises me greatly though, because it seems totally gone in some pictures.

vneerland wrote:This Baltimore saddle still surprises me greatly though, because it seems totally gone in some pictures.

yup, me too. It IS a mysterious dog

Kristie Elliott wrote:I don't care for the slopey back but I think his coat and coloring are beautiful.... my own GSDs have all been from working lines and absolutely no slope.

ah, ok.The color is nice yes, very deep, golden.