Welcome Kahlua

[chrisinth]

I was reading another post on here recently about a guy asking for what kind of dog he should get to add to his pack, and had to smile at his random thought pattern of his selection process. Anything from a Ridgeback to a Daschund. As he didn't say what dogs he already had in his pack, good luck with that! Little hint, assuming the owner achieves Alpha status, the more dominant animals (ie, German Shepherds!!) will try to assume the Beta position, disrupting the pecking order already there.

 

Up until quite recently, we had two Siberian Huskies, (for the last 8 years) as members of our family. Unfortunately, we lost the male, through a blood parasite infection (from ticks!) despite all the regular 'vet visit protection' both dogs had. This obviously was a very sad time, for both the wife, myself and the remaining bitch, Fai-sai. The remaining dog took it hard, no drive, not eating, etc even though there was little increase in sympathy to keep her in that mindset.

 

Anyway, with the above depression state in mind, without telling the better half, I thought I'd get a little play-pal for Fai-sai, in the form of a Czech German Shepherd pup. I knew that there would be period of uncertainty between the two when they met, but I wasn't expecting the husky to try and bite the pup's face of within 23 minutes of it being in the house! I say bite the face of the pup but she didn't make contact, just establishing boundaries and scaring the cr*p out of it at the same time. That was 3 weeks ago.

 

Kahlua at 8 weeks old

 

Yesterday, the husky initiated play for the first time, much to my relief. The GS pup (Kahlua) would always start the 'play' before and the husky, if she was in the mood, would react and join in. Yesterday also, she showed her dominance by going into the pup's crate and took over his space for a brief period, funny to watch considering the crate is meant for pups up to 8 months old only.

 

My crate now Buddy!

 

 

 

Training for the pup hasn't started in earnest at the minute; it cannot get it's tick protection (yes, I know, paranoia showing through) until it is 10 weeks old because of the rest of the inoculations it needs, so it hasn't been out on a proper walk yet.

 

Hopefully I will be able to update this thread as to the progress of the training, nothing extreme, no K-9 or schutzhund needed as this pup is an addition to the family only.................

 

 

Apologies for the video quality, taken on a POS smartphone.

[JetsetBkk]

I love to see animals playing. Here are a couple of my old videos...

 

 

 

[JHolmesJr]

Kahlua looks great....

[chrisinth]

I thought I would post an update on this little chappie, Kahlua, for a little information to anyone thinking of getting one of these GSDs. Very clever animals, I have to start by saying this; they have to be involved in everything that is going on. He is actually great with kids when on the leash and out on walks, but still plays a bit rough with anyone in the house, once he gets to know them.

 

He has almost changed roles with the Siberian as being the dominant animal, even at such a young age, but still follows her lead with things he isn't sure about. This was one of my objectives, bringing her mother instinct out, and is working well.

 

We haven't had a problem with chewing when it comes to furniture, but he is still going through the mouthing stage which can increase in power when excited. It is a stage of development that he needs to go through, so he knows how much pressure is acceptable but it does need monitoring.

 

I have never seen a dog grow as fast as this one; when we got him on the 17th August he weighed 6.4 kilos. On the 30th October he was just under 20 kilos! That is about 10 weeks and his weight has tripled.............

 

As said, just a bit of info for anyone thinking of raising/training a GSD. It certainly isn't a walk in the park, but is an enjoyable struggle..............

 

 

[chrisinth]

Forgot to add, this is the sort of size Kahlua should grow into. This is his father:

 

[dick dasterdly]

Sorry to hear that you lost one of your pets as a result of a tick-borne blood infection, but it does point out why its necessary to get dogs checked for these immediately when they're a bit 'off'.

 

Great to hear how well you're German Shepherd pup is getting on with your Husky - but do me a favour and when going to the vet don't EVER assume that because you're dog is so good-natured and well-trained that its OK to allow them freedom to approach other dogs.

 

I say this as today I was at the vet (yet again) with my dog who has cancer to see whether her blood tests were good enough to allow another chemo treatment.  Most dogs are frightened at the vet, and so keep to themselves, so I've never previously had a problem at the vets with other dogs.

 

But a guy came in today with a German Shepherd and was presumably (and rightly) so confident that his dog was trustworthy that he left his dog on a long lead and paid no attention at all when his dog came straight to my dog for a 'sniff'....

 

My sick dog knows she's sick and vulnerable - and so became extremely aggressive (snarling, snapping teeth etc.) when approached so closely.  The other dog was fortunately a v nice dog, and so backed off a bit - but the guy paid no attention whatsoever, relying (I assume) on his nice dog not causing any trouble.....  and so, a few seconds later his dog came for a 'sniff' again - and we went through the same thing .

 

The idiot guy still paid no attention - not even looking to see what was going on, despite the obvious (loud) problem.....

 

Sorry to go off-topic - but some owners of big, nice, well-behaved dogs need to be reminded that their dogs can still cause problems when left to do what they want - especially at the vets where there may be some sick, vulnerable (and consequently aggressive) dogs when approached by another dog.

[chrisinth]

10 hours ago, dick dasterdly said:

Sorry to hear that you lost one of your pets as a result of a tick-borne blood infection, but it does point out why its necessary to get dogs checked for these immediately when they're a bit 'off'.

 

Great to hear how well you're German Shepherd pup is getting on with your Husky - but do me a favour and when going to the vet don't EVER assume that because you're dog is so good-natured and well-trained that its OK to allow them freedom to approach other dogs.

 

I say this as today I was at the vet (yet again) with my dog who has cancer to see whether her blood tests were good enough to allow another chemo treatment.  Most dogs are frightened at the vet, and so keep to themselves, so I've never previously had a problem at the vets with other dogs.

 

But a guy came in today with a German Shepherd and was presumably (and rightly) so confident that his dog was trustworthy that he left his dog on a long lead and paid no attention at all when his dog came straight to my dog for a 'sniff'....

 

My sick dog knows she's sick and vulnerable - and so became extremely aggressive (snarling, snapping teeth etc.) when approached so closely.  The other dog was fortunately a v nice dog, and so backed off a bit - but the guy paid no attention whatsoever, relying (I assume) on his nice dog not causing any trouble.....  and so, a few seconds later his dog came for a 'sniff' again - and we went through the same thing .

 

The idiot guy still paid no attention - not even looking to see what was going on, despite the obvious (loud) problem.....

 

Sorry to go off-topic - but some owners of big, nice, well-behaved dogs need to be reminded that their dogs can still cause problems when left to do what they want - especially at the vets where there may be some sick, vulnerable (and consequently aggressive) dogs when approached by another dog.

 

Hi Dick, hope your dog was well enough for her chemo, terrible when the big C hits any living thing.

 

When I go to the vet (usually every 2 months) with my dogs, they are always on a short leash. If there are too many animals in there, I prefer staying outside until it is our turn or actually get the shots administered there. This especially goes for the pup who still hasn't developed proper social skills with other dogs. Still thinks they are furry toys. As said in an earlier post, the female husky has become the surrogate mother, for continuation training..........................

 

I have met people like you describe who will let their animals roam without control, but have also seen (too many times) people who are over-protective of their pets, pulling them away from inquisitive animals and triggering prey drive. This IMO can be just as dangerous, if not more so when it comes to dogs doing what dogs do. Also understand the protective posturing of animals that feel vulnerable.

 

C

 

 

[meatboy]

17 hours ago, chrisinth said:

Forgot to add, this is the sort of size Kahlua should grow into. This is his father:

 

gee chris i thought for a minute that was your boy[the dog] your pup is doing well and is going to be a fine boy,but i like his adopted MUM.

[meatboy]

sorry chris i didnt read your opening post,it would break my heart if anything happened to my boy,i am so sorry i missed it.

but you have a fine looking family member in kahlua.

meatboy.

[chrisinth]

Update on 29-Nov-16

5th November - Seems like the little chappie's teething is going OK! (By the time I realized he had been quiet and out of sight for more than 5 minutes, it was too late for the mat and I allowed him to go full destruction)
 

 

 

19th November - This is the first time he has had both his ears standing up together for any length of time. Usually it can take up to 1 year for GSD's to have their 'ears up' although this does vary greatly.

 

 

 

I would estimate his weight is now around the 28 - 30 kilo mark and he is still 2 days short of 5 months old, going to be a big dog! We have a visit to the vet's next week so will get an accurate weight then.

 

He still 'mouths' but has learnt to control this and it is normally 'soft mouth' until he gets excited and needs to be addressed at this point. Recently he has 'discovered his voice' and has taken to using it in the form of growling and barking really really deeply in his protective mode. Just another thing that needs to be dampened down as he will start upsetting the locals if allowed to get away with it all the time.

 

[meatboy]

great photo's cris,hope is mum looks after him,they seem so well adapted to.

[chrisinth]

Well, we took Kaluha to the vets last week for his shots, and he weighed in at 28.3 kg. I was expecting a bit more the way he has been growing (averaged 5 kg weight increase a month over the last 2 months) but that is still a lot for a 5 month old pup.

 

Anyway, his protective instincts are improving and he will voice his opinion at anyone he doesn't recognize that comes close to the gate, So, to give people a heads-up, I thought it was time to put a couple of signs up. I had to think about the wording as they aren't really aggressive animals, so we came up with this:

 

 

Also got him a Herm Sprenger NECK TECH COLLAR. This is a collar made up from stainless steel links (remove or add to fit) which I thought was neat. The other good thing is that the weather doesn't heat up the steel, it dissipates very quickly. He has absolutely no problem with it. The ridges from the links keeps him nicely at heel without having to use the prong collar. This thing is designed for a pull pressure of 450 kg, so I should be OK for a couple of months more...........

 

 

 

 

 

 

[chrisinth]

Just took the two dogs to the vet yesterday for their heartworm jags. Their latest weights are:

 

Fai-Sai (Siberian, 9 years old) - 31.6 kg

 

Kaluha (German Shepherd, 7 months) - 36 kg, that is up by 7.7 kg from December 15th.

 

Just to confirm, he is going to be a big boy when he grows up..............................

[alfieconn]

You seem to be obsessed with his weight ! any particular reason or do you just think that bigger is better ?

[meatboy]

nice weight for fai-sai,as for kahlua fai-sai does think BIGGER IS BETTER.

love me love my dog.

[chrisinth]

4 hours ago, alfieconn said:

You seem to be obsessed with his weight ! any particular reason or do you just think that bigger is better ?

Maybe not obsessed, but this is the first time I have had a dog like this that can put on so much weight in such a short period of time and I am slightly taken aback.

 

Just wondering at what weight he is going to stabilize at......................

 

It is also an indicator for anyone thinking of getting a GS as an addition to the family.

[alfieconn]

35 minutes ago, chrisinth said:

Maybe not obsessed, but this is the first time I have had a dog like this that can put on so much weight in such a short period of time and I am slightly taken aback.

 

Just wondering at what weight he is going to stabilize at......................

 

It is also an indicator for anyone thinking of getting a GS as an addition to the family.

According to this, approx 44 KG http://www.puppychart.com/

[chrisinth]

28 minutes ago, alfieconn said:

According to this, approx 44 KG http://www.puppychart.com/

 

Cheers for that, i was looking for that sort of calculator. I will keep updating anyway and see how close we get. Kaluha is a 'Czech German shepherd', working class, originally bred for endurance and has a heavier bone structure than the show dog classes which is probably why he is slightly above the range they predict on their scale.

 

Again, thanks for the link.