Mark77 wrote:He definitely looks to have Mal mixed in him. High strung? Any nerve issues? I got one here and she is a handful but completely fearless- she goes after the pit next door that outweighs her by at least 35 pounds. Looks like your dog would settle in fine with the right home. How much you looking to get for him? Is he fixed and also how old is he? Weight? My neighbor lost his dog last year I can ask if he's interested. They love my female Mal Dutchie mix and invite her over to their house all the time- so maybe, I can always ask.
We're fairly certain he has a good dose of malinois in him. He was thought to be a malinois all his life and all of his paperwork says mal, but he has stripes. Rokko was originally pulled by malinois rescue, but was transferred after a few days when the coordinator got a good look at him. He has one side that's almost completely sable fawn and the other side is a light brindle.
He's with the North American Dutch Shepherd rescue, so any interested parties would have to be approved through them, and the adoption fee is set by the rescue. I'm just his temporary home, putting some training in to help him along. Right now, Trudy is going through about 30 pre-approved applications from the area to see if any matches are still waiting for a dog. If we don't find any pre-approved matches, his bio will be made public on the facebook page and website.
All rescue dogs are fixed before being adopted out. He's neutered now and I believe that was done when he was 5 months old. He just turned a year in March. He does have some fears, which are typical for a dog his age without previous training, but he responds well to balanced training and will end up being a nice active pet. He settles better than my 3 year old working line DS (Elli) and I think he'll only get calmer with age and additional training. He doesn't have much of a prey drive. He likes to play tug, but not very intensely and would rather do other things like chase bumblebees and plant flowers. He's fine with other dogs, cats, and chickens. One of my chickens landed on his head the other day and he thought nothing of it. Rokko will lay by the coop and let them pluck his loose fur too. He actually prefers the company of chickens to that of other dogs.
I don't see him being a sport or protection dog and probably not much of an agility dog, but he does love nosework and would do well in Rally with someone that may be interested in it for fun or occasional competition. He's very tall and perfect for heeling with me (I'm 6'1"). He's about 65lbs now. He's got a good 2 inches on Odin, so I'd imagine he'll top out around 72-75lbs, but he won't be nearly as muscular.
We're trying to keep him somewhat local to Michigan so he can continue training and to keep transport as easy as possible, but that could change if the perfect home comes along. If there is an adopter close to me, I will provide additional free training if he comes back to my facility with his family on a regular basis. He also needs to go to a DS or Mal experienced home. I'm not looking to just get rid of him or place him to just anybody. He will be staying here as long as he needs to. He fits in fine here, but my goal in this is not to keep him, but rather get him ready for a new home so I can help more like him.
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