Hello. My husband and I recently adopted our first dog, a 7-month puppy from our local humane society. He was listed as a “German shepherd mix”, but from doing some research on-line; I am beginning to suspect that he might be more Dutch shepherd than anything else. He is currently 50 lbs at 7.5 months. He has a great personality, very smart and responsive to praise. He loves being around people, but does not seem to care much about toys. We have had him neutered and are taking him to obedience classes.

I was wondering if I could get the opinion of some more experienced dog people, do you think my dog might have good percentage of Dutch shepherd in him? At 7 months, 50 lbs do you have any insight into how big he will get? I would also appreciate any words of wisdom you may have for a new owner of (at least some kind) of shepherd mix. Thank you.

Molly Patterson

PS. I know his ears are hopless.

Here is what he looks like:

Do you have any history on the dog at all? Did someone take him to the shelter or was he a stray?

He looks a bit Dutchie to me, but there are other "brindle" breeds that he could have gotten his coat markings from.

My Dutch is 5 and weighs in at 57 pounds. So IMO, he has something bigger in his "make-up" to be 70 pounds because from the one picture, he does not look overweight at all.

Keep working with the toys, he may just have never had anyone play with him before. Find something he likes better that any other toy and use that to build his "play" drive.

http://www.leerburg.com/302.htm
http://www.leerburg.com/101e.htm

Here are a couple videos I would recommend. Also browse around in the e-book section, podcasts and books pages. There is great stuff here.



He's a cutie though!!

I think he looks very much like a Dutchie (except for those ears - can you tape them up? There are instructions on the leerburg site for how to do this. Better hurry - I think 7 months is the outside edge of when this can be done successfully). I've only seen photos of them, though.

Found the link (PDF) about ear taping: http://www.leerburg.com/pdf/tapingears.pdf

Whatever he is, he's beautiful. Thanks for rescuing a dog and giving him a great home.

Molly, welcome to the forum! It's wonderful to hear when someone adopts a dog from a shelter.

I've no experience with Dutch Shepherds except by pictures but I think a lot of shelter workers describe a dog whose (shepherd) breed they can't really determine as a German Shepherd mix, probably going mostly by the shape of the face. It's hard to go by their conclusions sometimes. Maybe he's a Dutchie mix, not a GSD mix. He may very well be a pure Dutchie.

Carol, Molly posted he was 50 lbs at 7.5 months. Does that sound more realistic for a Dutchie?

What a sweet boy! He looks like he's going to grow into a very handsome young man

Shelter dogs/mixed breeds can be such a mystery! He definitely looks like he has some sort of shepherd in there, but the coat color and the droopy ears could indicate a little hound influence (catahoula and plott hounds have lots of brindle genes). Where I live, almost EVERY shelter mixed breed that comes in has a little hound (mostly beagle or coon hound), but that's just a reflection of the local population's taste in dogs and predisposition for hunting...

Good luck with him! Does he have a name yet??

~Natalya

Ooops. sorry, I got my numbers wrong....

Yes, that sounds better. I keep all of my dogs trim so 56 is ideal for Rock.

Here is what Rock looks like.......
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v666/bumper01/PIC_0060.jpg
Keep in mind that most Dutchies these days have Malinois mixed in...It is hard to find a "true" Dutch.


To the OP---What are you feeding him?

Thank you all so much for your replies! I am so happy to have found this website & these message boards. This dog was surrendered to the humane society by some people that got evicted from their home for having dogs. The papers said that he was not house trained, but he has never had an accident in our home (smart dog). We are working on crate training, which was a new concept to him – but now he spends all night in his crate with no barking or whining.

My husband named our dog Bazino after a character in a book by John Hodgeman. Our vet recommended that we feed him Nutro Natural Choice dog food, but after reading more on the Leerburg site, I am thinking we should switch him to raw food. Thanks for the info on ear taping – do you think at almost 8 month it is too late to do anything with his floppy ears? Also, I am an avid runner and I would love to take Bazino jogging with me. How old should a dog be before he starts distance running? I don’t want to hurt my puppy by running him too far too soon. I would love to have him eventually be able to run 5-7 miles w/ me. Is this realistic?

Carol - Rock is such a beautiful dog!

Raw really is the way to go....I would read, research and "get ready" for raw before switching though. Make sure you have everything you need as far a nutritional health and then read here and ask questions.

All 6 of my dogs are on raw and they are doing great. Usually I keep kibble here for dogs that are boarding or training and depending on the dog I have Innova, Canidae or Chicken Soup for the Pet Lovers Soul.

My GSD pups are supplemented with "The Honest Kitchen" which Leerburg sells also. That IMHO is a great way to get started.

Also, you can try the ear taping, it is not going to hurt anything even if it does not work. He is at the very edge of the "window of opportunity" so to speak.

Thanks for the comment about Rock, he is a great dog, although he has OCD issues about his toys.