Our current guide dog puppy is a 5 month old GSD/Lab mix. So much different than our previous pure Labradors. Smart as a whip, nothing escapes her gaze, she was ringing the sleigh bells to go out 2 days after we showed her. It's no wonder the people who like GSD's as a guide dog want no other breed.

It's really impressive you train guide dogs. Your mastery of the animal is next-level.

GSDs are a noble breed indeed. So are labs. Last December we had to put our Chocolate to rest after 13 years. My three sons and I took him in. It was the shit-show that all pet owners know about. He was more person than dog.

I tried the sleigh-bells on the door thing with my Mali. He learns things in one telling, figured out real quick the bells would get me to let him outside so he constantly rang them to get me to come out and throw the ball with him. Little shit. But, he has never once gone potty in the house since the day I got him at 12 weeks old.

You give us too much credit, we puppy raise and do the basic stuff, take them back after we have them a year, then obsess about whether they will make it through for the next 4 months. But as the clients say without puppy raisers we wouldn't have our dog. The neat thing is it costs the blind client nothing if they are accepted as a client.

Great place to tour (before covid), just north of Detroit, hopefully in the fall they will reopen for tours

Oh lord do I know about that trip, kudos to you for being there for your "family member", I know of some who just abandon them because its too difficult

Boxer.

My go to is take her to the baseball field because it's a huge fenced in area where I throw her a tennis ball she gets it and never brings it back then looks at me like 'wtf, why aren't you throwing the ball?'

Not sure which one of us is playing fetch.

And a side note: boxers can't swim for shit. I'm surprised she hasn't drowned in her water.

Hah, sounds like she has you trained well:D Great looking girl!!

bought my lab a collar w/his name and my phone# on it and it came in the mail last night. as i was trying to put in on, the crazy bastard grabbed it in his mouth and ran off in the woods. i still haven't found the ****in thing.

should have bought two i guess.
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i have a blue heeler 2 yr old, crazy as a loon but a very smart dog. his favorite thing is frisbee at least twice a day no matter what, maybe that will help? o yeah make sure its a KONG brand or you'll be buying one a week !

Found it down by a deer blind. Couple beers for me and one for zeke and we staggered back to the house.
Don’t think I could handle a malinois
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I run out of finding new shit to do for my GSD mix. She is 1/4 husky and 1/4 pit. I think the husky makes her a poor guard dog - she has a mean bark but no aggression towards animals or humans at all. She is too sweet and great with kids so I can’t complain. I can complain about her energy though. She figured out that my backyard drain caps were removable, now i find chewed drain caps all over the yard. I walk her a lot but I think she needs mental stimulation.

Do you all use “puzzle” toys at all? Because she destroys most anything we give her, even the “heavy chewer” rates toys.

I would say do lots of mental stimulation.

You shouldn't do too much exercise with a large dog until they are a year old. Even then you are just making the dog fitter and fitter and they will need to more exercise.

Play games with the dog throughout the day, give them kongs and other slow food release toys where they have to use their minds and do lots of training with them.

Cesar Milan has a new show better person better dog or something like that. I missed the first episode but set the dvr. It’s on Fridays National Geographic I think. I just bring it up because I’m raising another Doberman who’s just over a year old and watched Cesar Milan on the dog whisperer when I had my first Doberman as a pup back in’07. I learned tons of things and found ways to apply them in training my dog. Hope everything is going well with your dog VP! :thumb: Just bumping this for a reminder Cesar has a new show to anyone who used to watch him like me or anyone needs pointers

We rescued a Great Dane puppy in June. He was super malnourished, and had some virus that we had to keep him away from our other dog until he got a clean Bill of health. Never had a GD before, but thought they were laid back and mellow. Well as an 11 month old he’s far from that. When he stands up he can put his paws on my shoulders, and he is FULL of energy 24/7. Sometimes it’s hard to remember he’s just a puppy because he’s so big, but he’s adapting well so far. But he’s constantly either trying to attack you to play, or zooming through the house full blast.

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hahaha, what a derp! GDs are phenomenal dogs. Big, lovey, slobbering, scary bark, cowards who terrify people who don't know their nature and just see/hear their giant presence :thumb:

That’s totally him so far, and has separation anxiety. My daughter has a Pomsky and it’s about a third of his size. She comes in and just owns him, and runs the house every time. It’s comical as hell. She never backs down and has him on his heels for a while.