These pictures were taken in the first few days after we brought him home.
I can recall the first full day he spent with us at home...he explored
around the flower beds and yard that I was raking, apparently sampling
various tidbits as he went. That evening his stomach started making all sorts
of growling noises and I ended up sleeping on the bedroom floor next to him,
all the time somewhat worried over the non-stop intestinal noises coming
from this puppy. All was well next day, but as a precaution he made his
first vet visit with us for a good checkup.
Another interesting thing: from his experience with the breeder, he apparently
had no stairs to climb there, and didn't know how when he first encountered
them around our house. That lasted only a day.
Hobo is now 7 years old. How time flies! I'll have to get some more
recent pictures of him on the website here. He's developed into the most
intelligent (sometimes too much for his own good!) German Shepherd Dog
we've ever owned ... and we've had many over the past 40 years. It was
interesting that he never cared too much for toys (except tennis balls)
when he was a puppy, but developed a liking to them when around 3 years old.
As with most German Shepherds, he seems to never tire of playing with
a tennis ball, his other toys, and a favorite squeaky little football.
He seems to go through a tennis ball every week or two; the football has
held up over a year although my last visit to our Tractor Supply store netted
a spare one.
I've been asked by others about GSDs (German Shepherd Dogs) ... we
got Hobo from a breeder a little east of Des Moines, Iowa. We picked
this breeder for several reasons: temperament (of the dog!) was quite high
on our list along with a German bloodline background. You see, the Germans are
quite picky about such things as hip dysplasia and maintaining the breed.
So Hobo's back and rear end is not "angulated" or sloping like the typical
American breed, which incidentally has been fighting hip problems for generations.
His daddy was a 115 pounder who often went to various children's schools for
demonstrations, etc. and had a very good temperament.
Fortunately, Hobo has turned out to be a very healthy dog. And a very loving
dog -- who says a male dog cannot be affectionate? Yet, he is quite protective
of our household.
Hobo is now 10 years old ... 11 in a few months from now in December. This summer, he has
been showing his age a little more by sleeping a larger proportion of the day, and he is
also showing some stiffness when getting up from these naps. His solo trips down to our
creek has shortened from his younger days. When I go with him to our creek flowing from our
large spring, he still splashes and wades through the water, dipping his head well under water to
grab a rock in him mouth. He then takes the rock up on shore and drops it in the grass.
Fortunately, we have enough rocks in the creek so his dredging operation has little effect.
Walking back up the path to the house (fairly steep), I've slowed down considerably over the
years, and he still patiently waits for me up the trail. Hobo still loves to have the tennis ball
or other favorite throw toys thrown for him. He's really good in placing them in your hand -- even
if you are trying to catch a nap in the recliner chair.
Hobo developed an ability to toss the ball back to you when he was a pup. Carol used to play with him on the floor with a tennis ball, gently throwing or rolling it to him; he would then take it in his mouth and actually toss or roll it back to her. He still does this. We're talking about a 6 foot or so distance. It's fun to watch him do this.
We're all excited, just like expectant parents! We're getting a new puppy. At this writing (September 20, 2009), it will
be exactly 5 weeks from now that we bring home Luger on October 25 if all goes well. He was born August 27 and is just over 3 weeks old right now. We saw him for the first time yesterday, held him, petted him, talked to him, sang to him, and reluctantly gave him back to the breeders to nurture for the next 5 weeks. You can be sure there will be more to say about him (and after he meets Hobo for the first time) and lots of pictures.
Here are some photos that have been taken by Staci Hobby, the co-breeder, and kindly sent to us.
The "whole gang" at grand old age of 3 days:
On September 19, we visited the kennels and picked out the pup we wanted. Luger is 3 weeks and 2 days old in these pictures (23 days old). He'll grow and change in coloring and appearance a lot in the next 5 weeks before we bring him home.
Any in this group of photos may be viewed in a larger size by clicking on the miniature.
Now for some pictures after our visit on Sept. 19 (and again thanks to Staci for sending them) -- he's growing fast and starting to get "cute". Staci reports "He follows his mother to the feed and water bowl and almost looks like he is mocking her. He drinks water by himself and licks on the treats that we give Bella. He is a very handsome boy.. He will definitely know his name when you come to get him. He is really starting to explore and loves being around us." He is one day short of 4 weeks old here (27 days):
Oct. 25 - Luger Comes Home!
Right on schedule! It was a long trip for little Luger at age 8 weeks plus 3 days (and me too!). Goodbyes were said around 12:40 p.m. as we started on the 140 mile journey. Before half-way on the hilly and curvey Missouri highway, carsickness took its toll. I never knew a small puppy could hold so much! Then another 20 miles down the road, another stop to clean the old airline carrier crate again. Fortunately I had a good supply of paper towels and garbage bags -- but I forgot the air freshener! About 20 miles before reaching home, he informed me he wanted to stop -- which I did and let him "go" again away from the highway. Hmmm ... hope this was a sign he was going to be easy to housetrain.
We reached home about 4:20 p.m. with my wife Carol and visiting daughter Kris alerted a few minutes before arrival via cell phone. Kris was all ready with her camera to document the event (thanks Kris!). The meeting with Hobo for the first time went very smoothly as expected. Click on small photo to get full size.
A trip to our vet the next day was smooth and uneventful. Luger fell asleep on the exam table while we were waiting for the vet to come in the room. No carsickness for the 44 mile round trip either.
November 2, 2009 photos (9-1/2 weeks old)...
Reserved Hobo, Playful Luger
Luger's vet visit on November 17 again went well -- except for the traveling itself. This time he rode in the backseat of our Blazer and managed to upchuck both ways. Seems riding on Carol's lap in front seat is fine, riding in back is not in ALL cases so far. Despite losing his breakfast (a large amount), he weighed in at 20.8 pounds. It appears he is going to be a large German Shepherd when fully grown. He goes back to vet again in early December.
It has been an interesting experience watching Luger and Hobo interact. Negotiations are still going on as to who is boss, but it appears that Hobo has been getting more assertive in his efforts while Luger has become a tiny bit more submissive. Typically Hobo will assert dominance and then back away, leading the feisty and brassy little Luger to then attack big Hobo with his loud and shrill high pitched puppy bark -- pouncing toward him and often retreating rapidly. Hobo has for the most part been rather reserved and noble, but more recently is becoming a little more playful with Luger. I've never seen a puppy play as hard as Luger does -- and his persistence and energy in the dominance battle is prolonging it.
When I talk about Luger's hard play -- typically you see him with a tennis ball in his mouth and "herding" a second ball or other toy across the floor! He tries so hard to keep both in his mouth, an obvious impossibility. Thank God, Luger finally tires out and naps once in a while. There's been time when all four of us have napped at the same time in the afternoon.
Luger has his favorite places to go, rest, hide, etc. One he started a couple weeks ago was to go behind our wood stove (our main source of heat) and lay down. A couple of the photos to follow show this. Even when we had to light the stove, he still stayed pretty near it.
It is always fun trying to capture pictures at the right time. One picture I didn't get was when he found the end of the toilet paper roll in our bathroom. I was too busy chasing him and restraining him while Carol rewound the 12 to 15 feet he managed to run with. As you can see in the following photos, he is growing up fast. (Remember, click on photo for larger image.)
Mid-November Pictures...
November 23, 2009 photos...
Luger Weighs In - December 2009 (revised Dec. 30)
Any guesses on how big a dog Luger will become? He no longer can walk under Hobo. Things have gone well the past weeks with his training of us. Few and far between "accidents" in the house when he drinks too much water and then plays rough with Hobo for a while. Speaking of the two playing, one watching them for the first time might think they were fighting -- with Luger biting at Hobo's tail, neck and the loose part of his cheek, and Hobo retaliating by mouthing Luger on the scruff of his neck or sometimes pushing him over. Only rarely do we hear any yelps. They've also moved more to tug of wars with any toy and especially those knotted ropes. Fortunately, Luger has now tempered his tendancy to bite everything (our hands included) with his sharp puppy teeth and is becoming more enjoyable. My hands have almost healed completely!
December 8 - weight: 32.8 pounds. He received more puppy shots, rabies shot and was started on Heartgard. Our vet continues to express amazement at his growth, good health, and looks. Luger has a standing invitation to come visit the vet's office any time we're in the vicinity.
December 22 - weight: 37.2 pounds.
December 29 - weight: 40.6 pounds. Last puppy shot.
His very soft and fuzzy puppy hair (similar to lambs wool) has disappeared and his more permanent coat on his back has come it -- beautiful shiny black hair, slightly wavy. It appears he has inherited his coloring and coat from his father; and his size from his mother. This month he finally conquered our outside steps. Prior to that, he managed to find a pathway under our wooden deck to bypass the steps. This is the way down to our creeks -- but so far, I've kept Hobo from trotting down to the creek while Luger was outside. The time will come soon when Luger follows Hobo to the water, but I want to be there on his first flowing stream visit. We'll try to muster enough energy to make the round trip soon. He loves, just as Hobo does, to walk with me through our rugged woods.
Luger does have one problem: carsickness. Only the very first time to the vet did he not throw up. Every time since then he has vomited in the car. I thought at first it was due to riding in the back, but the last few times riding on Carol's lap in the front seat did not help. On Dec. 22 we made a trip to the vet's office just to drop in and weigh him -- and did this earlier in the day without feeding him anything that morning. About 9 miles away from returning home, he blessed both Carol and me with what seemed like 10 gallons of stomach contents -- mostly smelly liquid. After that, I'd prefer he had eaten dog food! Our vet said to try half a Dramamine tablet on empty stomach. We did that on our Dec. 29 vet trip and this time we got within 6 miles of home before he threw up much less. I guess next time we try the full tablet. We're also instituting a procedure of taking him and Hobo in the Blazer to get our mail each day. This is a 2.4 mile round trip and maybe will let him get used to riding with a good experience, and with Hobo's companionship. Hobo just loves to ride and races to the car. I have to "round up" Luger each time we want to take him in the car.
As the year ends, our old companion and our growing boy have settled in, keeping warm not far from our wood stove. They both love the snow (we got a little on Christmas morning) and the cold weather outside, but don't hestitate to come in to join us in the warm house.
1st Quarter 2010
Where has time gone? Our rather hard winter hit us in January with lots of snow (for this area) and very below average temperatures. Hobo and Luger did not mind! They both had such a fun time in the snow. I just wish we could have captured pictures of them with a little pile of snow on their noses.
Luger contined to grow. Oh, did he grow! We managed to take him into our vet's office for weighing only on February 19, and the scale settled on 65.6 pounds! He is approaching the size of Hobo and we need to often look twice to see which dog is which. As of this writing (March 13), we hope to take him for weighing again next week. We will also see about neutering too as he is approaching that age.
I've started to work with Luger on the leash. Usually there is no need to have him on the leash around here, so we definitely need to emphasize this more -- it was apparent he needs training from our February 19 vet office visit as that big a dog becomes uncontrollable otherwise. Since I've trained quite a few of our German Shepherd dogs over the decades, I have confidence that Luger will train fairly easy. He seems to want to please and that is important. He also seems to pick up an understanding of what we are saying easier than most dogs we've had.
We've been taking photos (probably not enough) and will post them here soon.
More photos as time permits...
Copyright © 2009, 2010 by Don L. Jackson - Last Modified on 2010-March-13
