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Advice on foster puppy, 7 months old, zero training.

2K views 25 replies 6 participants last post by  Rodimus80 
#1 ·
I work for a spay neuter clinic in the southern U.S. We deal with people every single day who are trying to "get rid" of their pets. Last week we neutered a 7 month old purebred GSD puppy. His owners seemed to be at the end of their rope with him. They had stuck him in the back yard and, I guess, expected him to grow in to a perfect dog with no training or socialization.

So yesterday morning I got a call from said owners, asking if I could help them find a home for their puppy ASAP as they had to get rid of him right away. Being a GSD lover, and afraid that the puppy would be handed off to some other inappropriate situation, I told her to bring him to the clinic. My BFF owns a licensed, non-profit rescue. She will adopt him out to an experienced, qualified home. I'm not worried about that part.

I am fostering the little (giant) guy for a few days or more, to kind of get him started on house-living and everything that goes along with it. He is EXTREME! This is the absolute worst puppy stage to try to find a home for. He's in full land shark mode, hyper, gigantic and has no leash manners. I have got my work cut out for me! I am, however, in LOVE with him. Sigh. It's not his fault that his owners were idiots. He means well, he gives kisses and when my two adult GSD's get too rough with him he runs and tries to fit his giant self into my lap.

All of the bite-inhibition, leash walking, manners should have been consistently taught along the way, but since they weren't I'm starting from scratch. So my question is: Any advice on quick ways to see progress so he can be adopted out?


Thanks in advance, and please pray that I don't add my name to the "foster failure" list!!!!
 
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#10 ·
I am fostering the little (giant) guy for a few days or more, to kind of get him started on house-living and everything that goes along with it. He is EXTREME! This is the absolute worst puppy stage to try to find a home for. He's in full land shark mode, hyper, gigantic and has no leash manners. I have got my work cut out for me! I am, however, in LOVE with him. Sigh. It's not his fault that his owners were idiots. He means well, he gives kisses and when my two adult GSD's get too rough with him he runs and tries to fit his giant self into my lap.

All of the bite-inhibition, leash walking, manners should have been consistently taught along the way, but since they weren't I'm starting from scratch. So my question is: Any advice on quick ways to see progress so he can be adopted out?


Thanks in advance, and please pray that I don't add my name to the "foster failure" list!!!!
Thanks for fostering. I don't know that there is any quick way to see progress but having your older dogs should help. Especially with the bite inhibition.
 
#14 ·
He is actually doing really really well. Better than expected. He and Addie are very rambunctious together and can't seem to leave eachother alone. That would be fine if it weren't for this horrible weather (been raining every day for a week and now sleeting) so they are stuck in the house except for potty breaks. He's only had one accident and that was my fault for not taking him out just after eating.

He is learning "sit" quickly and here's a pic of all three of them waiting patiently for a treat!
 
#15 ·
Day 3 and he's doing great. My dogs have taught him so much more than I could have. He's already like a totally different puppy from when we first walked in the house. He has completely stopped jumping up on people! That was the most urgent problem. He's learning sit and now that the SUN is FINALLY shining we can go outside and PLAYYYYY!
 
#16 ·
He is adorable. I would seriously consider him if you guys were closer:( I don't know how he won't be a foster failure, I just couldn't give him up...that is why I don't do fostering. I go back and forth between rescuing and going to a breeder for my next dog(it will be a male GSD) and I find myself really torn:(
 
#17 · (Edited)
My husband, son (10 yrs) and daughter (7 years) say he is a permanent resident, LOL. However, they are not the ones who do most of the work!

My ONLY reservation (and it's a big one) is the amount of freaking hair we already have in our house. I know you guys understand. I've accepted it. I vacuum daily and brush my dogs, but the hair is always there. I wake up with hair, and I go to bed with hair. He still has his puppy coat now, but the thought of adding even more hair makes me physically ill! :D

We have decided to keep him 1 week and re-evaluate. I want the newness to wear off and everyone to see that it will be more work, items will be chewed and we will have a little landshark on our hands for quite a bit longer.

ETA: The way I know that I'm attached is that my husband mentioned someone at work who might be interested, and I got this panicked feeling and suddenly felt super protective, LOL. My heart rate went up and I started questioning about the guy and asking my husband why he thought this random guy would be good enough for our little pup. He said he felt the exact same way and he knew immediately after he told the guy about our pup that he wasn't getting him...
 
#18 ·
My husband, son (10 yrs) and daughter (7 years) say he is a permanent resident, LOL. However, they are not the ones who do most of the work!

My ONLY reservation (and it's a big one) is the amount of freaking hair we already have in our house. I know you guys understand. I've accepted it. I vacuum daily and brush my dogs, but the hair is always there. I wake up with hair, and I go to bed with hair. He still has his puppy coat now, but the thought of adding even more hair makes me physically ill! :D

We have decided to keep him 1 week and re-evaluate. I want the newness to wear off and everyone to see that it will be more work, items will be chewed and we will have a little landshark on our hands for quite a bit longer.

So what your saying is that you will fall in love with him and he now has a forever home:lurking:
 
#20 ·
Bahaha, love the smilie. I can't say yet.. If the PERFECT person came along who had major GSD experience, no young children (under 5), didn't work, financially secure, willing to let me into their home on a daily basis to check on him.. LMAO hmmm...
 
#22 ·
His name is Lars after Lars Frederickson from one of our favorite bands in High School, Rancid. He came to us named Oscar, but he did not respond to his name at all (sad that he had that little attention) and my kids said it reminded them of Oscar the grouch and they didn't like that.

Here's a quick video of him, sorry it's so dark but you can still see his excellent head-tilting skills!!

"Lars" 7 month German Shepherd puppy ultimate head tilt! - YouTube
 
#24 ·
Well that video got my dogs head tilting:D He really is cute and he seems to be quite content. Its not his fault that he isn't trained, but I think that he's willing to be trained by someone that loves him and considers him part of the family. I also believe that having other dogs in the house helps with the landshark phase and other training too.
 
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