Hi everyone,

I would like to introduce the newest addition to our family, Wei Wei.

He is a senior GSD we rescued in Nov. 2008. He was found wandering the rural areas of Southern California. The local animal shelter kept him for two months and was about to euthanize him when a GSD rescue took him in. He had been with the rescue for two months when we discovered him.

I don't know why we were drawn to him, but in order to adopt from the rescue, we had to personally bring him over. So my husband flew over to Southern California and flew back with him to Texas. Maybe it's his sable colors that resemble our current GSD, or just the story of another old dog who needs a home that touched our hearts. We are just so glad that we are able to provide him with a safe and comfortable home to live out the reminders of his life.

He is probably between 7 to 10 years of age. He was 82 lbs and very emaciated when he came to us. He had since gained 12 lbs on the raw diet, and the fish oil had certainly helped to make his fur very soft

Wei Wei already knows his basic obedience commands, and has a very calm nature. We followed the instructions on the pack structure DVD and things actually went quite smoothly. It took our San San a few weeks to warm up to him, but no major hurdles to overcome. Our 7 yo Westie took to him almost immediately.

We are now working with a trainer to bring up his drive and just teach him how to play and be a dog

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj58/jackplane/Kids/Wei0209s.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj58/jackplane/Kids/Wei0209s2.jpg

He's a handsome guy! So glad that there are people out there that are willing to take in a rescue, let alone an elderly dog. Great, absolutely great!

What beautiful old guy Melissa!
He's incredibly striking and dignified - and LUCKY you found him!!
It sounds like you did great work introducing him to your home and other dogs as well, so kudos all around for the new family member!!
Love hearing stories like this...

~Natalya

Keleah,

We were giving the rescue an update last week, the lady there told us that they have more GSDs now than they've ever had. The slower economy is definitely hard on the animals, especially the larger ones

Natalya,

We were typing at the same time

We are very happy with him. He is really very easy to care for, we were surprised that anyone would give up a dog like him. Oh well, at least he has found himself a permanent home with us

All the information we read from the forums and the Leerburg DVDs were instrumental in helping us getting the pack structure established. So thanks everyone

Wow - your new sig pic is great - they look like father and daughter!... no wonder you fell in love with him!

Re your shelter news: I hate thinking about all the animals that people are relinquishing in this bad economy, breaks my heart - I've read some terrible reports of massive numbers of horses being turned in to rescues too. The bigger the animal, the more $ it takes to feed... I wish we could take on another dog right now (and a horse would be fantastic!), but we can't.

~Natalya

He's very handsome, love his big head
Big high five for giving this ol guy a home!!!

Natalya, now that you mentioned it, they do look like father and daughter, although that idea never came across our minds

Kathy, he does have a huge head. That's the first comment people make when they meet him. He is huge overall. Lucky for us that he is also a gentle giant, can be trained with very minimal physical correction

Gorgeous! Congrats and bless you for opening your hearts to a senior in need.