Diego
Animal Interaction Observations
All interaction between animals should be supervised at all times.
Child Interaction Observations
All interaction between animals and children should be supervised at all times.
Magnificent Diego has been in foster care with AGSDR since mid-January; his fosters think he is between1 and 2 years old and is totally the lanky, goofy and lovable teenager! Diego LOVES playing ball, chewing his Kong, and hanging with his fosters’ pack. He has integrated well with both the humans and dogs over the past month, and now everybody is one big happy family. Diego’s VERY favorite time of day is WALK TIME!!! While he is super excited at the beginning of the walk, he quickly falls into pace with his human and the rest of the pack. He is trained to walk at his human’s left hip (most of the time, anyway), and he absolutely LOVES all the great smells along the way! While he has the quintessential protective instinct for his pack, he also calms pretty easily when his human tells him, “It’s okay”.
He is house and crate trained, although he sleeps quietly in a dog bed in the fosters’ bedroom at night. During the day, he has been left in an empty spare room when the fosters are gone and he just snoozes by the door and occasionally lays in the crate set up in the room for him.
Diego is a textbook Shepherd in every way and is wicked smart. He is eager to please, listens very well, has great house manners and has not chewed ANYTHING that is not a toy. He shadows his fosters all over the house and loves to “sing” to them as they prepare his dinner (mostly they think it means “Hurry up!”). He hasn’t displayed any toy or food aggression with either the people or other dogs in the house (tho he is happy to lick everyone’s bowl to make sure nothing got missed).
Diego has learned “sit”, “leave it”, “with me”, and is working on “wait” (because waiting is SO HARD!) – but he will definitely get there!
Whenever Diego feels anxious or unsure about something, he will chase his tail and then sit on it. Giving him calm reassurance, a familiar toy, or a little loving pat helps calm him during these times – it’s been a good sign that his tail chasing behavior is less and less frequent with each passing week.
This stunning boy is active and intelligent and will need to go to a home that is committed to keeping him busy (regular walks, hiking, ball play, frisbee in fields, puzzle toys, etc) with an experienced dog owner. Since he is quite active, a home without young children would be best.
NOTE: In our experience many German Shepherd Dogs are very good with kids. In our bios, we may provide information on our experience with a particular dog and children. However AGSDR discourages ALL unsupervised animal/child interaction. Children should be supervised at all times when they interact with ANY animal, whether it is a horse, dog, cat, bunny, lizard, or any other species. Even loving household pets can have a grumpy day, or otherwise get tired of a child's attention, so proper supervision is essential for the well being of any child and any pet.
The entire biography of this dog is based solely upon our volunteers' experiences with the dog. The dog's age and weight are estimates, and statements about the health, temperament, training, and ability to get along with other animals, children, cats and other dogs, are estimated solely based on our volunteer's experiences with this dog. Your experiences with this dog may be quite different than those of our volunteers.