Dutch Shepherd Forum

A couple months back I got a puppy from a vet tech who'd taken in her in after she was abandoned at the vet's office a month prior. The vet had estimated the age at 12 weeks at the time of abandonment, so she'd now be about six months old and currently weighs 37 pounds. Internet research has me thinking she may be a Dutch shepherd (the intelligence and activity level seem to fit, though she's super submissive around people/dogs/cats). So my first question is, what do you all think? And the follow-up to that is, what am I looking at in terms of behavior and physical development? I'm used to GSDs, Aussies, labs, and huskies -- Dutch shepherds are something new to me!

The first picture was taken at ~4 months, the rest a couple weeks ago.

Its hard for me to really tell from the pictures and angles, the color and body shape looks DS but her head looks a bit boxy. What can you expect??? LOL Thats a loaded question. It depends on what other breed is in there too so we may not be able to give you a good idea of what to expect. I have never had any of the breeds you have had so I dont know what they are like so I dont know what you are used to. What is your typical day like? Do you have working plans for her, agility, or anything like that?

Sorry about the angles, whenever she's looking at people her ears flip all the back. I pretty much have to surprise her into getting a decent picture. This hopefully shows more of her face?

Right now she accompanies me on daily walks up and down the canal, about two miles, no super-hard ground or speed. I'd like her to be a run-about-town and hiking-companion type dog, and I like teaching my pets in general different useful tricks/behaviors. Typical day is lots of fetch and find-the-toy (I've got a big country-type yard with lots of hiding places and tall grass), a walk, and a couple short training sessions. In-between she either curls up next to me while I write or plays with the other critters, and I try to get her play-dates with other dogs/people/dogparks at least twice a week.

She's a lot more dog-submissive than my GSDs ever were, a lot more focused than the huskies -- though she has at least as much energy -- and nothing at all like the labs. She doesn't seem to be protective at all; she loves everyone she meets, though part of that is probably her being a puppy. She likes praise much better than a treat, and a quirked eyebrow or a "ch" sound is plenty to get her to stop misbehaving or to warn her off something. She's really eager to please.

I guess I'm mostly curious about how she's likely to grow and change, and if she's going to need more than what she's currently getting; I'd like to have contingency plans in place, and if she's going to need more focused/scheduled tasks, I'd like to start working towards those now.

Hi,

She is very nice looking girl! Although the pics are very dark and is kind of hard to make out detail, all I see is DS. Maybe there is something else but I don't see it. Just my take. Also like other breeds, DS personality will vary from one to the next. They are not all insanely high drive beasts that go, go, go. You might have a lower drive DS which is probably perfect for your lifestyle. You will have an incredibly intelligent, loyal, engaged and energetic companion. She is still very young and things could change a lot as she matures. It sounds to me like she will be fine with the jobs you have assigned of fetch and tracking and other activities with other dogs. It also sounds like you spend a lot of each day with your dogs. My DS just wants to be with me even if we are not doing an activity. She is content sleeping at my feet in my ofice for several hours. If your girl likes tracking you might want to check out the book fun with nose work. This is a tracking book with a lot of good excesies for devolping nose work. It is the only nosework book I have read but it is easy and seems like effective training techniques. There are many others with much more knowledge then I that will likley chip in.

Yes you have a dutchie, that's what I would say. She looks much like my Ginger when I found her, though she has filled out so much now she looks much more stocky. She will be a great dog, though Ginger has become protective as she has gotten older, she is still very friendly. She is also submissive, especially with cats, though she has grown more confident with other dogs, I would say that is consistent with a DS puppy. She is adorable btw!