Dutch Shepherd Forum

Hello All,

This week I may be adopting a DS and want to get a little feedback from some seasoned owners. My girlfriend of 6 years and I rescued a 3 year old white GSD/Husky one year ago and absolutely fell in love. Jovie is the biggest hearted, easy going dog I have ever gotten to know and can't imagine life without her. That said, Jovie was adopted from a pack where she grew up with a dog two years her senior and was heart broken by the change of scenery. The family would not allow us to adopt both, (didn't know she lived with another GSD until I was picking her up) and as a result Jovie is learning to live the single dog life. We hired a dog behaviorist to help us build her confidence when being left alone since she always had her kennel mate kia before, when alone, Jovie would howl for her pack whenever we left. She has increasingly gotten better and now no longer howls and since expressing our desire to get a second dog with our behaviorist she has approved. (although adamant that another dog will not solve Jovie's need for confidence building exercising)

This week a DS has come available in our area and we are most likely meeting her this week. she is one and a half and thats all I know of her as of yet. I want to get some feedback as to how your all think the addition of a DS might do as a companion ( I know every dog is unique, every GSD/Husky I've met is so different). Jovie is a submissive but playful female of 4 years who LOVES TO DO THINGS so we do them. Of course the only videos I see online of DS dogs is as protection dogs and although I might train the new DS in off leash obedience, I have no intention of training for protection. Just looking for a confident, active, family dog, and want to make sure I'm in the right place! Thanks!

Dutch shepherds can do way more than protection work! I do IPO (obedience, tracking and protection) with Ice but believe it or not that is our least favorite sport. We concentrate more on agility and we have just recently found barn hunt. Ice and I both seem to work better and happier in agility, so that is where our heart is. Ice also lives with 3 other dogs and they have no issues. On top of that my son, his gf and their 3 year old daughter just moved back in. All my dogs are doing super with a 3 year old around every minute....
If Jovie and the potential new DS seem to get along you probably wont have any problems. You do need to keep a DS busy and active but it does not have to be in a bite sport.

Ice,

Thank you for the quick response! I'll have to look under the tab "Barn Hunt" and see what that is all about. I am glad to see Ice lives with 3 other dogs and is quite the family friendly dog.

curious under what circumstances the DS has become available.

The dog was rescued from a high kill shelter and located to another shelter. Supposedly the poor girl has had a rough start to life after her first family moved and left her chained to the porch to starve. A neighbor took in the dog and sometime there after was hit by a car. The adoption center claim's that she is healthy and recovered from the car hit but also says that the second family took the dog to the vet after being hit and the vet said there was nothing they could do and she would die. Now that is the story as it is posted. Now I am not saying I believe the whole story but I am still going to meet the dog and have my vet check her out who I trust, just to make sure she's not in pain and will live a relatively healthy life. I can believe her being left for dead chained to the porch, but I think a vet may have been just too expensive for a family who wasn't willing to fork over some serious money for a dog who was just kind of suddenly in their lap, especially since the dog "healed on its own and now runs fine". Like I said I haven't met her yet (probably tomorrow) and I'll be able to get more facts.

small world.

From the description you posted it sounds like the dog we have just become interested in also. from Wright Way rescue in Des Plaines Illinois.

I am wondering if you have gone to see Molly yet and if so what are you thoughts on her? are you planning on adopting her?

We have one Dutch Shepherd(also came from Wright Way Rescue) who is almost a year and a half right now and were thinking this might be a great fit for out current Dutch to have a buddy same age.

Let me know what your plans are with Molly.
Thanks!

Ryan.

That Molly is cute. She has the fuzzies like my Elli does. I wonder if she's related to Land of Oz Jett.

the fuzzies?

she has had quite the rough life. I would love to adopt her but am slightly worried also.

having had such a rough start to her life how does that affect her personality? guess you never know until you meet/live with the dog.
But I am also worried about the financial and physical responsibilities of having two dutch's.

this just came up for us yesterday so its a lot of talking and thinking. and If the creator of this post has already gone to get her im glad she has a home.
But if not there is a good chance I will be going down there this weekend to meet her and have her meet Zia.


Can anyone with two Dutch's shed some light on how it goes for you?
If this rescue Molly is unavalible I am considering NASDR also.

Ryan, no telling whether she is psychologically damaged by her experiences. some dogs, like my Xander, do not get flustered by their travails while others experience deep wounds. have to meet the dog and see but her photos show no outward evidence of a troubled dog, so that is a good and hopeful start. she looks great!

2 DS help entertain each other physically and mentally, so it can take some burden off of you in terms of tiring them out AND actively keeping them happy. on the other hand, training works best when done one dog at a time. if you have ZIA pretty much where you want her on basics, then that should not be a big problem. Molly may or may not be well-trained, but she looks attentive and ready to learn quickly from her rescuer.

Yea hard to tell a dogs personality without meeting.

I talked to the shelter twice yesterday about the dog. she apparently is a very sweet dog, with high energy and a high prey drive. which I assumed being a Dutch. no problems there, they say she is very vocal and talks to them from her kennel a lot. I guess I would too being locked in a 6x6 room all day....
they say she has no physical signs from being hit by the car which is good.
she is about 45-50 lbs right now.

now we just have to make a decision. were very torn. she is a very pretty dog and has a sad story. would love to bring her into our country home with a large yard and wooded area to play in.
But can we handle two dogs is the question we seem to keep asking ourselves. both physically and financially.
Its a tough decision. but one that will be made one way or the other Saturday morning. that's when we would go down there with zia and meet the new possible member of our family.


gahh! decisions....one dutch or double dutch? don't know what to do.

this shoud work....here Is a link to here little page:

http://wright-wayrescue.org/adult-dog-adoptions/
if not these are links to photos.
http://www.petango.com/sms/photos/364/9 ... 056007.jpg
http://www.petango.com/sms/photos/364/7 ... d8ea54.jpg
http://www.petango.com/sms/photos/364/3 ... ff1f02.jpg

Not sure if you wrote what her sad start was, or if you know. Depending on that was would dictate how she will be with you and your current dog. I have two and financially it increased my liquor cost. [jk]. I actually got Sadie for Thalie, Thalie was lonely. They have a blast, they play and play and keep each other company. I love having two dogs. I got Sadie as a pup so it wasnt a problem getting them used to each other. Thalie loves everyone so it was easy. Getting an adult may pose more of a problem depending on what happened to her. It could go either way.

they said she was left by previous owners tied up outside, then they moved away. someone found her,not sure how long she was out there for. a few days after being found she was hit by a car. Has healed physically since then and shows no signs of an injury.

kinda why i am apprehensive about doing this. they say she is a sweetheart and very nice dog. but how can I be sure that will be the case in our home?

Zia is a year and a few months. it has been great, had her since a puppy, and she loves everyone. every dog and person she meets. But i wonder if she is lonley. We both work full time.

Im not sure how the dynamic between the two dogs would go introducing her to a dog her same age, and weather or not the other dog has emotional trauma..

Well, Elli and Odin are only 5 months apart. I got Elli as an adult when they were both 3. She's been the best thing that's ever happened to him (aside from me accidentally meeting him and then falling in love and adopting him of course). Odin had zero problems with her even after living with us an an only dog for 2 years. They were running free and wrestling from the start. I personally don't think he would've done well with a puppy at all, but he's a special boy. Both Elli and Odin were suggested for single dog homes when I adopted them.

Does this shelter off a foster to adopt program? That's what I did with Elli. We had 14 days to return her, no questions asked. Day 1 I was ready to ship her back or throw her in Lisa's soup pot, but I knew by day 3 she was a keeper.

Can you get a pro to go in and give an evaluation? If you're in the Chicago suburbs, contact Jennifer Hack at Dynamic Dogs and see if she or someone she knows can do an evaluation for you. Shelter workers and volunteers may have a good idea of the dog's temperament, but a trainer will be able to test for everything you need and more, especially one with a ton of malinois and DS experience like Jennifer.

I sent her an email asking if she could stop by the shelter for me. will see if she gets back to me before tomorrow morning.

Any thoughts on having 2 females together of the same age? ive read there could be potential problems having 2 female dogs living together..


I will check and see if we can do a foster to adopt type deal, that seems like it could work best.

if all goes well on Saturday we will have one more Dutch shepherd in our home.
just hope the car ride home goes ok...2 dogs in the back seat of a jetta....we don't have any other vehicle to drive so there gonna have to be a bit....cozy for the hour and a half drive home

Groc352 wrote:just hope the car ride home goes ok...2 dogs in the back seat of a jetta....we don't have any other vehicle to drive so there gonna have to be a bit....cozy for the hour and a half drive home

Since dogs can hold vehicles as territory, any feelings on how you think your dog will react to another on her turf? Especially on a longer trip, if your dog was going to have territorial issues, not a real good time to deal with it, so what then? I don't envy you! I wish all the best for all of you. Hope you bring her home.

I have two girls, although they are 10 years apart, no problems. Thaile rules the roost though.

Can you fit a crate and the other dog? This way they are together but cant get at each other.

I have never had territory problems, but that dosnt mean you wont. The only thing is Thalie owns shotgun. No one, not even the kids, get to sit there. Only Thalie.

we might put zia in shotgun and if we bring molly home, put her in back. or fold seats down and let them kinda strech into the trunk and seat area.only other vehical is my truck,which I guess we could put a crate in the bed. but I dont think that would be good... it would be loud and windy and scary ..I wouldn't want to do that to any dog That's not used to it
zia has never had any territory issues. and the car is fairly new.shes only been in it a few times.

Bitch aggression is definitely a thing. I once had two females, a GSD and a rottweiler. They were best friends until they weren't. About six months after I brought the rottweiler home, my GSD lost her everloving mind one morning as I was letting them out of their crates. I let the GSD out, and when I opened the rottweiler's crate, the GSD rushed in and dragged her out by the neck and started savaging her.

My son tried to pull the GSD off of her by pulling her back legs and she bit his leg and continued mauling the other dog. I managed to get them to the backyard and it went on for an hour. I called the police. There was blood everywhere. The house didn't work, nothing worked. I was afraid she was going to have to be shot to get her off the rottie. Eventually she wore herself out. The rottie defended herself but did not attack.

The breeder ended up taking back the GSD and we kept the rottweiler.

It was terrifying. Having experienced that, I will never have two females again. Don't want to take that chance.

It's really such an individual thing. I know a breeder who had a female GSD that got along okay enough with other females, but would go after males. Years ago, I had a male who loved all dogs, animals and people, and loved when I brought the neighbor's dogs over for a romp...but the day I brought home another dog, a male...nope. I NEVER thought I'd see him that like, but he set the ground rules and after a while they became partners in crime.

That should say the hose didn't work, not the house.