[Sena Hansler]

There is a 3 and a half month old german shepherd, who's a runt and has "serious sight problems".

AND MY HEART DIED!!! D: Lol!! He is the cutest freaking thing ever!!

 

[Romad]

Awwwwwwwwwwwwww.................. look at that face! He's adorable.

 

[Sena Hansler]

I know right?! I died when I saw it lol. I told them if they couldn't find a home, I'd willingly take him - just use my dog as a "guide dog" for that dog xD For outdoors and such lol... That would be so funny seeing a lil' dog guiding a soon-to-be-large dog

 

[shadowpony]

Ugh. I JUST fixed my Cute-O-Meter! It burst again! Thanks.

 

[Sena Hansler]

You're welcome xD

 

[Sena Hansler]

The lady sounds very positive about me having the pup. She has been breeding German Shepherds for over 20 years, and he is the first blind pup she has had! Some people were saying that it was "only right" to euthanise him, but she won't. She wants him to have a chance!

My plan:

Uhh....the coffee table will have to go. I handmade it, and it's a very unique, tree stump table!!

Training: Making a home base. I may only let him be in the upstairs, therefore the door should be home base. If he gets confused, I can take him to home base, and we can do it all over again.

Sound: I'll get Gurgi in on this one. Bells! Who doesn't love bells? He'll be able to hear Gurgi.

Smell: Anything in the "danger" zone I will have a soft scent like vanilla on it, so he knows there is something there!

More training: Dogs are smart. Especially german shepherds. He'll be taught words like step up, sit, stay, wait, easy, down, left, right, etc.

Outdoors: For walking, it will be a bit more difficult... But once he knows where I am, he shouldn't worry about wandering into me or anything. Dogs are good for that (sometimes!). Gurgi may also be "tethered" to him, while on walks... Meaning that lovely short clasp/rope that allows you to walk two dogs safely on one leash? We might try it.

Furniture: don't touch anything. Leave it. >.>

 

[LittleBettaFish]

Make sure that you can see his parents hips and elbow results and not just go by what the lady says even if she has been breeding 20 years. Also know what the scores mean as I'm not sure what number is considered 'bad' over there.

While in well-bred shepherds dysplasia is pretty rare nowadays it can still crop up and is not something you want to have to deal with.

We have always feed extra calcium to our GS puppies to get their ears up. When they teeth their ears will sometimes go floppy so don't panic too much. Shepherds should also be kept fairly lean as like all big dogs it is bad for them to be carrying too much weight, particularly as puppies. You do not want a roly poly puppy. It is better to be slightly underweight while growing than slightly overweight.

Have no idea about the blindness thing as I have never had a blind dog before.

 

[Sena Hansler]

Well, both parents are 100 pound(ish)... That's all I know xD

She feeds him all raw meats, no actual dog food. For Gurgi I feed very good dog food and raw meats...

I think I have seen one badly bred german shepherd... His body was too long, hips too wide, front end too tall, and body wasn't the best form either. His ears were too set apart, and nose too long -.- (and he became a service dog? A fake one, actually, will a temperment problem!)

 

[LittleBettaFish]

100 pounds sounds pretty heavy for shepherds. Our female who is all muscle and is 59cm tall (so only 2cm under the maximum height for females) is only 60 or so pounds. Even our big gawky male is not much heavier.

There's plenty of badly bred shepherds out there. We see them come to dog club and our dog before the ones we have now was pure backyard crap. Half her litter and the sire died from health issues and due to her build she managed to get bloat and die.

Bloat is also a big killer of shepherds so make sure you take precautions to avoid it. We feed twice a day instead of once and you should always wait at least an hour and a half to two hours before and after feeding in regards to exercise.

Also sometimes people make the mistake of thinking that because GS puppies are fairly big they can do a lot of walking and exercise early on. You just have to remember they are still just big babies and you don't want to damage joints.

 

[Sena Hansler]

I feed my pup twice a day =D then we laze around after :roll: lol!! I tend to walk during the afternoon.

Well, he is a runt, so I highly doubt he'd be more than 60, he might be as small as 40 unfortunately... But we'll have to see.

Oh...he has never been on a leash. o_o

 

[LittleBettaFish]

It's funny when the pups come out for the first time to dog club (they are usually quite young). They usually try and back out or chew on their leads or just stop altogether and refuse to go anywhere. I think it's something they get used to pretty quickly. Teaching to walk quietly without pulling or plowing through the bushes like a wombat can be harder.

Shepherds are great. I love our three. They are big trouble sometimes though! I remember one time our older two rode the baby gate (divides the kitchen from the lounge and dining) all the way to the ground one night after jumping on it to bark at the cats. Other times you will go down and there will be tea towels on the ground, chairs knocked over, the back door open, mud everywhere and our two females wrestling on their beds. My boy Ares was up on the bench this morning very silently and sneakily licking the brand new sour cream I'd just opened.

My mum has been slacking off on obedience because we show our two females but I am making her take our 8 month old again once she comes off heat as they get too out of control if you don't keep it up.

 

[Curlyfatbottom]

German shepherd
Haven't raising those in years
Lots of energy dog
Just make sure u play or walk it each day
100 pound
That's heavy
I guess the parent are the big long hair german line
Those guys get kind of big n scary

 

[thekinetic]

Puppy! Squee!!!

And I love big dogs as they're usually giant teddy bears!^_^

 

[Sena Hansler]

dad and mom!!!

These are the parents. The first one is mama, and second is the father. However everything I read says they should be more lean (which I have seen some excellent weight on other GS dogs, these ones seem a bit more stocky.

Sorry the dad pic is so small LOL.

The nice thing is about them, the eyes - I don't mean color or shape, I mean I have seen some nasty eyes... Like on the one GS that was severely unstable to be a service dog - he had the eyes that told you he would snap on the smallest thing! Both the parent's seem to have softer eyes, very calm. (I love being able to do that )

 

[Sena Hansler]

I'm holding my breath!!! He is coming today - I wasn;t able to meet her in a town 20 minutes away, so I'm giving her 20.00 for gas to come here (her idea ) Yay!!


On top of that we're looking for a house to rent (or rent to own?) so the pup has a secured fenced yard, and Gurgi can be out there too.

 

[tpocicat]

German Shepherds are wonderful dogs. When I was growing up, my parents only had German Shepherds, big wonderful babies when raised right.
Blindness isn't much of a problem with dogs, since most of their input is from smell and hearing.
Enjoy!

 

[Olympia]

Don't know if you've considered this, but do you think the GSD pup could help Gurgi's anxiety?

 

[Sena Hansler]

That's what I thought too hahaha!! Maybe they can do each other a favor... Gurgi hates being alone, so what if he isn't alone? GS pup will be apprehensive and uncertain... Gurgi can be his certainty? :lol: I will get a jingly bell for Gurgi, which I've read is a good idea so the pup knows he is there.

 

[teeneythebetta]

Wow I never knew shepherds weighed so little...

My American pit bull terrier/Staffordshire bull terrier mix is 70 pounds... o.o and he's short xD

 

[Sena Hansler]

:lol: well I will say I have seen some awfully large german shepherds... And I don't mean fat o_o Might've been a cross. Or...Just a very large GS :lol:

I have to move my hand made table. Dean said get rid of it. I RAWRED. >.> I made it with my dad. Granted, it is dangerous to legs and blind alike, but I won't get rid of it. I'll move it. If I had to part with it, I would sell it. Then be without the sentimental value (worth a bajillion ) plus... I worked really hard on it ;(

(ignore the stuff in the background I'm moving stuff and making it blind safe.)