Monks of New Skeet

"Art of Raising a Puppy"

Word!

Hey all just thought id post a pic of mya, she is 4 months and 1 week. She is gonna be a great dog!

Cute dog! Reminds me of my dog Klaus when we first got him. I do however want to share this information with anyone new to the German Shepherd game. I would start taking your dog to an orthopedic surgeon as early as 3 or 4 months for hip x rays and keep them up subsequently every few months. They have found that even in young dogs, severe hip dysplasia can be detected before they fully mature. Correcting their hip joints is a relatively easy and recoverable procedure for young dogs and only costs a few hundred dollars. Klaus had his dysplasia diagnosed and treated a year and a half and 2 years respectively, but he had nearly finished growing. Vet bill was a little over 3 grand. That leg recovered well, but never functioned quite correctly. This winter he slipped on the ice with his weak leg and tore his acl. That was a 2500 dollar repair. I would definately look into getting your pup checked and subsequently checked because Dr. Umlaf (apparently the only orthopedic dog surgeon in Colorado, and his price affirms the claim) states that the earlier the problem is caught, the cheaper the procedure is and the better the pups outcome because of rapid regrowth of tissue. Oh ya, taking your dog out on a leash and keeping him baby gated in one floor for 2 months for each surgery is not fun for you or him.

This is Rambo, hes about 4, had hime since he was 2 months old. They learn very well with perfomance and reward. He can get beer from the fridge, find the remote, all the basics.

Here's my 12 week old bi-color DDR GSD. As someone else called him, the vampire bat.

Here's Fonz, 9 weeks last sunday.

Get another one. Seriously. My female 6 month old GSD was only while I was at work and getting into all kinds of mischief, added a 2nd GSD and all the shenanigans stopped immediately.

I would highly suggest crate training. This is the first dog that I have trained this way and after they get used to it they love it. It also helps with potty training. For the most part I just say, "kennel up" and she hauls ass down stairs to her kennel. And post some pics up!

Not true anymore, and not even close to the top of breeds with hip dysplasia issues. Here's the list by breed, by the organization (Orthopedic Foundation for Animals) who conducts the evaluations. They come in #40 on the list.

http://www.offa.org/stats_hip.html

I think what you probably see is extreme angulation, which many people believe is a hip issue. It is bred into AKC show lines, mostly. The working line dogs aren't bred that way and have few dysplasia issues. I'm not sure what the "pretending it isn't an issue" is supposed to mean. My breeder, and any reputable breeder only breeds dogs who are clear of dysplasia, and the OFA shows this to be the case. Maybe pretending to know hip dysplasia on sight, without xrays, is silly. Look up angulation in GSDs, I have know doubt this is what you mean. Vets can't see hip dysplasia.

I've thought that would be a cool thing to do.

What do you call it when 6-7 year old dogs can't walk without tucking their hips (obviously experiencing stiffness or at least some pain) or sit/lay down without obvious discomfort? It doesn't take x-ray vision...

Whatever. Get whatever dog you want, but I've been through watching GS fall apart physically and won't do it again.