Our new baby Atlas is a German Shepherd pup who will be 18 weeks old on November 4. Long story short, he came from a backyard breeder when he was 6 weeks old. He'd been advertised as 8 but the vet pegged him at 6. He's only ever known concrete, didn't know what grass was, was skin and bones, and covered in ticks. I got him when he was 14 weeks old from a friend who couldn't keep him anymore. They got him healthy and put a good bit of weight on him, but they loved him a little too much and gave him no boundaries and inconsistent corrections for disrepectful behavior. As such, the biggest (and just about only) problem I have left with him is that he pulls like a plow horse. The way things are going, I expect him to be walking with me like a pro by the end of the month.

He will be neutered when he is 2 - 2 1/2 years old to allow him to fully mature. He is being taught in German so he can differentiate from Chicky's commands and vice-versa. If his hip/elbow xrays come out clean when he's an adult, I'll do agility with him, in addition to advanced obedience. I'm also using him as show-ring practice. He's meant to be my husband's dream dog but he's latched on to me because I'm his trainer. He's my very first GS, my husband's first purebred GS(he grew up with mixes of various sorts), and he's sort of like my test run for my own dream dog. It's just my luck that I got a high-drive hard-temperament one as my first, LOL.

Here, have some landshark puppy spam!

We need pictures! He sounds super cute :).

yay another shepherd pup!

Show ring training yessssss!! I'll love seeing this one grow!

The original post deleted my images, so let's try again shall we? xD

His first night home, I discovered how he sleeps: any which way he can be upside down. (13.5 weeks)

(13.5 weeks)

Already nailing sitzen.(14 weeks)

Second time ever stacked. I use my other dog's chain slip to work him (not tightened around his neck, though) because he flails around, lunges at things, and climbs up onto my hand when I try to bait him normally. xD (14 weeks)

His innocent face as he steals my other dog's kong from her when she turned away. (14 weeks)

I hope he never outgrows this. Seriously. (15 weeks)

Look at this handsome little monster! (15 weeks)

Can we say "high food drive"? What's awesome is that he has high food AND toy drive, and NOTHING beats his squeaker-drive! (15 weeks)

A little nervous about being ON the table. Also his right front foot got stepped on earlier; it's not that flat. He has gorgeous (and huge) tight paws. (15 weeks)

Hubby was filming a training session at night with flash on, so crappy angle/quality. He's getting better, though! He was leaning heavily towards his bait toy several feet away, hence the wierd neck. He's rapidly growing out of the goofy floppy puppy stage and is looking more and more like a miniature adult every day! :'( (17 weeks)

Gorgeous boy! Wow!

Thanks for sharing. :)

Thank you, shlee!

So I've been tracking my boy's weight since we got him, and I've discovered EXACTLY how bad Beneful was for him. Plus it reinforced my love for Blue Buffalo foods, hahaha. (I despise doom-nuggets/death-pellets Purina foods.)

20.8 @ Oct 8 (100% Beneful - was free-fed and given table scraps/minimal meaningful exercise at old home) Starting weight at 14.5 weeks

22.7 @ Oct 18 (60% Beneful, 40% Authority)16 weeks, 1.9 lbs

24.9 @ Oct 26 (40% Beneful, 60% Authority)17 weeks, 2.1 lbs

27.5 @ Nov 2 (100% Authority)18 weeks, 2.6 lbs

Notice the upwards trend in how much weight per week is gained with proper feeding of a good quality food for healthy weight gain and no more unhealthy table scraps. He also eats about 100 tiny training treats per week, haha.

Authority Large Breed Puppy is the food he's on right now and today marks the first week of his 50/50 diet of Authority and Blue Freedom Grain Free Large Breed Puppy. I changed his food that fast from Beneful because he was underweight to begin with and I'd rather him be a bit uncomfortable for a few days and have a chance to grow normally as soon as possible than risk him being stunted more. The reason I'm not concerned with switching right from Authority to 50% Blue is because a 50/50 mix of Authority and Blue Wilderness has proven perfect with my adult dog, and switching up to a truly high-quality food presents few or no problems unlike switching down. This will be the last food change until he's 7-9 months old, depending on how fast he can safely catch up. I know that the height/weight chart for GSD pups is a guidline, but he's half the weight he should be for his age. He gained about 4 pounds this month. He should be gaining that much in a single WEEK. Also, he's getting wormed again within the next couple days to remove any theives from his tummy.

By the way, if we can ever get a large deep-freezer, I will be switching both dogs to a supplimented raw diet. I grew up feeding our dogs raw and I had my current adult dog on raw beef (she's allergic to chicken) with coconut oil for about a month before I discovered BB. In that time her weak skin/fur problems stemming from her long-untreated battle with mange for 18 months before the age of 2 pretty much disappeared, even the completely truly bald spots started to recover, her stress fevers reduced vastly, and from her irritable bowls I heard not a peep. Nothing better than raw! At the moment, we're sharing tiny freezer space with a friend and even empty it won't store more than a week's worth of meals, ha! Someday, though, I will introduce dear Atlas to the joy of nomming a chicken boobie and some nice green tripe. :)
Also, unrelated note: Somebody's grown his first four big-boy teefies! They're the very front, two on top and two on bottom, and they look like great big bucky rabbit chompers compared to the baby teeth. xD

Beautiful!!! :D Can't wait to share some of my Shepherd photos.

Paints since 6-8-14

Shepherds are so beautiful. GOOFY LOOKING PUPPIES THOUGH OH MY GOD. LMFAO

congrats on the new fluffy baby!

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