Posted on 03/30/2012 7:26:44 PM PDT by pops88
I just sent the following to someone involved with animal rescue, and wanted to share with Freepers. It's been a very hard day here :
I found out last night my family has to move overseas in the next 5 days because of my husband's job. I have a highly intelligent, well trained, well behaved, 4 year old German Shepherd. If I can't find a foster or permanent home, he will have to be euthanized. I've worked with him extensively. He's obedient and knows many commands, but he's not been able to be socialized to other people or animals. From the time he was a puppy he was fearful of other people and I was unable change that behavior. As a family pet, he has been wonderful. He was neutered as soon as possible to avoid problems with dominance issues. Some of the commands he knows: sit, stay, lie down, leave it, drop it, take, put (here,) give, find (person/specific toy), back up,wait, shake,kiss, crate, etc.
He is pool safe. He does not enter bedrooms or bathrooms unless on command. He does not get on furniture or eat food that has not been given to him. He will not take food from counters, coffee tables or the garbage. He is housebroken. If his water is empty he will nudge his dish and sit and wait. If a toy is taken away and put up he will not try to take it back. He doesn't beg at the table. When I'm cooking he goes and lies down. He is in good health and not over weight.
He can be a big ham with doe eyes or a head plant on a knee when he wants attention. He's so smart and communicative that I've referred to him as our toddler. He was taught to heel as a puppy, but because of his fear and aggression with strangers and other animals he has not been walked on a leash for several years. He's had to be confined to our home and backyard. My husband is a pilot and was unemployed several times in the last few years because of the economy. It's been a real struggle for us. We didn't have the money to take him to a professional trainer to deal with his socialization issues, and he was too big for me to handle on walks. He would be an absolutely wonderful dog for someone willing to work with him.
I've kept a file on all his vet records and papers (purebred from East German blood lines.) We absolutely hate the thought of having to take him to the Humane Society and be put down when he's such a wonderful dog otherwise, but again, we have to move overseas on extremely short notice and we're all pretty much in shock. I live in Las Vegas and expect to be driving to Los Angeles on Tuesday.
have you thought about contacting Cesar Milan to see if he could help place the dog after working with him?
If you are going to LA, Ceaser Milan will find a home for him. No need to put him down. Sounds like he could use Ceasers help anyway. Good luck.
Oh My! I wish you good luck in your life saving effort for your Pup!
I agree with post 2,,,,contact a German Shepherd rescue. They will know best how to place the dog in the right home.
We have rescued 2 dobermans through area rescues (IL and WI) and they are wonderful and loved just as much as the dobies we got as puppies.
A breed specific rescue knows how place their dogs. The rescues we have used keep the dogs no matter how long it takes to place them in a new home and no matter what the dog’s medical needs are.
Best of luck to you and may your doggie find it’s “forever home” as soon as possible.
Posting a photo will boost interest by 500% at least:
Snap photo, save on computer, go 2 http://www.tinypic.com.
Attempt free upload, enter the code to prove you’re not a robot.
Copy the URL you see in the bottom text cell on the page that displays 10 seconds later.
Then in a response to this thread type < img src=”” >, omitting the spaces and pasting the URL between the quote marks.
Nice looking guy, pops. If I didn’t have two dogs already, I’d think about it.
I’ve contacted 2 people locally. One a professional trainer who does rescues with problem dogs, but he currently is full up. He said he’d get on the phone immediately to see what he could do with various groups. He recommended another person locally involved in rescues who asked for the email to send out to various groups/people. She said most people that do rescues have other dogs, but with my dog’s socialization issues he can’t go to a foster or permanent home with animals.
You might try on this forum, but be warned, this can be a rather blunt bunch of GSD experts (and not so experts):
http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/german_shepherd_dog/
Yeah, took me a little while. I’ve been scrambling here today with packing and a bit frazzled.
“Contact German Shepherd rescue of LA”
Done.
I don’t know what I’d do if I had to give up my dogs, let alone so quickly like that. I am sorry for your heartbreaking situation. I bet there is a rescue out there that will take him. Keep looking. When we last needed to add a dog and found that the Wisconsin Doberman Rescue had no dogs available, we easily found the Illinois Doberman Rescue and had a dog within 2 weeks. The internet made it so easy to find a doberman who needed a new home. That rescue takes in dogs with all kinds of special needs, physical or behavioral. They even take non-dobermans and cats. Perhaps the trainer you mentioned will come up with a solution for you. I sure hope so.
Beautiful and kind puppy!
God Bless him and find him a new home!
In case you’re not pinged...
From their website:
We appreciate your concern and your passion in aiding dogs in very unfortunate situations. Cesar and his entire team wish that there was something they could do personally for every one of these dogs, but as you can imagine, we receive hundreds upon hundreds of these requests each week, and sadly, it just isn’t possible. Please know that we are working diligently through the non-profit organization, The Millan Foundation (http://www.millanfoundation.org), to support the work of shelters and rescues across the country that are doing all they can to fight pet overpopulation. It is our hope that one day we will be able to help each and every dog that finds itself in such horrible circumstances.
Per Caesar Millan’s site FAQs:
“15.I know of a dog that will be put down unless someone helps.
We appreciate your concern and your passion in aiding dogs in very unfortunate situations. Cesar and his entire team wish that there was something they could do personally for every one of these dogs, but as you can imagine, we receive hundreds upon hundreds of these requests each week, and sadly, it just isn’t possible.”
pops88,
You are in a very tough situation regarding surrendering a dog to a German Shepherd rescue in the LA area.
The typical wait time to surrender a GSD is about two to six months for the German Shepherd Rescue of Orange County, likely the same for Westside GSR, Coastal GSR, and GSRLA (you can try the others, though).
Here is information on surrendering your dog:
http://www.gsroc.org/surrendering.asp
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