Dutch Shepherd Forum

Our Dutch pup Ridge is about 4 months old now, we've had him since he was 8 weeks and things have been incredibly EASY... too easy... Ridge is shockingly smart, knows all of his basic commands and fun tricks on top of that, listens perfectly and follows commands to a T in every situation no matter what, never makes a mistake. Which is great, but seems a little too good to be true. We take him on hikes and walks and play ball in the park with him at least twice a day but he doesn't seem to need it! He entertains himself all day long while in the office or at home when we're not taking him out to run or play ball. Ridge plays with his toys, tosses a ball for himself, wrestles his stuffed animals for hours on end and then relaxes and sleeps in whatever room we're in . With the exception of a sandal that was accidentally tossed in his crate at night, he has never chewed, destroyed or shredded anything besides his own toys. Again, this is great but seemingly too great. I researched this breed for a YEAR and searched for a reputable breeder for 6 months and chose a litter from that breeder based on good drive and solid balanced temperament, hoping to train a future agility and dock diving dog. I read countless articles on Dutch Shepherd pups and their mental development and was prepared for HELL, a little demon raptor pup that would destroy everything. I've owned adult labradors with more drive and destructive tendencies than Ridge. Before his arrival I changed my work schedule around and now only work 3 days a week. I was and still am prepared to give 4 entire days a week to training and working this pup who I thought was going to be a ball of energy, but this " ball of energy" would rather toss around his stuffed bear for an hour than chase a ball or go for a walk. Did I just get " lucky" with an easy pup or is the storm of craziness that I've been expecting, brewing right under my nose, about to hit us once he reaches a certain age??

Could be that you have a low drive dog. Sadie at 4 months .... I had already cleared out the local liquor store. Thalie though, even though I got her at 1 year, was very quiet and low drive. That does not mean they wont work or perform, Thalie and I trained Ring sport and she was amazing, she did not break the decoys ribs like the hard hitters, but she was spot on and did everything exactly as she was supposed to.

Did you have plans for working him?

Probably going to train protection work at some point but right now he seems to enjoy jumping over obstacles ( like the cat, our legs, flower pots, higher curbs..etc..) and likes to preform tasks, so we have started agility work with him( tunnels, ground level poles, weaves) and will progress to jumps once he stops growing. We also live on a lake with year round access to long docks perfect for dock diving, once it gets a bit warmer we plan to introduce him to retrieving balls from the water and see how he likes it.

I hate it when a DS has the PERFECT environment to grow up and live in. - just kidding.

We must see pictures of all activities.

Sounds like a great dog.

Lol. Thanks everyone, he is a GREAT puppy, I was just expecting something totally different but, of course, overjoyed with the pup I ended up with.

Enjoy him! he will be saving you lots of money at the liquor store. Thalie was the same, she was great at Ring sport so he will be too. You have so much to offer him, he will be just fine.

Sounds like you have put good solid training on him! Give him time hell show his dutchie side as he ages! I sold a pup to a guy in my ipo clubs daughter and have been doing the obedience training with him... He's 5 months old potty trained knows all basic commands never steals or chews things... basically a perfect pup... but his father didn't mature until around 3-4 years old and that's when he kicked in to a drivey dutchie... I'm sure his son and your pup will be the same way! Most people you see having a dutchie with the bad issues are people that shouldn't own one and don't know how to manage a drivey dog... Sounds like you are on a good path just keep training