Yesterday I adopted a German Shepherd from a person on craigslist. The dog was clearly neglected he was soooo aggressive, but I didn't want to leave him with his owner. he lived in a tiny house with a family of mom, dad, 6 and 9 year old boys. when we got him home it took us 2 hours to get him out of his kennel. I imminently noticed something strange with his hind legs, I think they never took him on walks and never let him interact with strange. his legs are weak and thin not muck muscles. I need to start exercising with him what should i do? take him swimming, run with him, I don't want to stress he is still not used to me. introducesing him to my other dog helped him calm down but he is still very skiddish and he does bite
9 m/d German shepherd with weak hind legs
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Just start by walking. His will help him adjust to you, and slowly build muscle tone. Be sure you don't have him out in public where he would risk biting someone, or stress too much. Once you gain his trust, you can begin socializing, though carefully. Start with a good diet and walking, building up to swimming only if he enjoys it. He may have never seen water, let alone swimming.
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Have you brought him to the vet yet to rule out any sort of medical abnormality? I'd make sure exercise isn't contraindicated before you begin exercising the dog. If the other family was really neglecting him, he probably needs to be heartworm tested and dewormed and vaccinated too.
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You already said he was SOOOOOO aggressive. Frankly, I'm a bit concerned.
Do not trust his former owners about his shots. Take him to a vet, get a full workup. Get a heartworm test done, get all of shots done, get a wormer, and get an opinion on his hips/legs. GSDs are particularly prone to hip dysplasia, so he needs to see a vet today.
As to neutering, why not? All the unwanted pets in the US, one of which you now have, and you want to risk making more?
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If you can find out which vet the previous owners brought him to, you could get the vaccine records from there faxed to whichever vet you use. Otherwise I wouldn't take their word on anything.
If you've already got a difficult to manage dog, why would you add in wanting to take off to go after female dogs? Certainly doesn't sound like an animal who is fit for breeding, so you'll just have a wandering, marking everything, aggressive dog for what?
If you've already got a difficult to manage dog, why would you add in wanting to take off to go after female dogs? Certainly doesn't sound like an animal who is fit for breeding, so you'll just have a wandering, marking everything, aggressive dog for what?
if he has a lot of issues I would get him neutered, for vaccines I agree dont trust anything the previous owner said. as for his legs, go here http://www.offa.org/dnatesting/dm.html and order a DM test, GSDs are very prone to DM, it is a degenertive disease that causes loss of muscle and weakness to the rear legs.
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My suggestion would be vet first, exercise later. You want to rule out anything major that needs fixing. Also, I would be willing to bet that given the situation, vaccines are not up to date. It's easy for anyone to tell you that without proof. Don't trust it. And, why would you not neuter him? If the problem is a genetic issue and his temperment is not all that great .. why breed him? And if you're not planning on breeding, neutering is the way to go for health reasons and it could potentially make him easier to work with.
Thanks for all the info, were going to the vet latter today, I really hope he wont be to scared for them to examine him
and about getting him neutered doing something unreversible is something I really have to think about some more. and hes still not physically or mentally mature yet
and about getting him neutered doing something unreversible is something I really have to think about some more. and hes still not physically or mentally mature yet
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Okay, my dog was kept in a crate 24/7 before I got him, and his hips were fur stretched over bone. No muscle at all. If it comes back that your dog is not suffering from HD or DM, I'll be happy to share with you how I got Kabota to his current, muscled state. I won't do that before a vet check, however, because what I will recommend could be disastrous for a dog with either disorder.
Please do consider neutering. 8,000,000 dogs end up in shelters every year in this country. 4,000,000 are killed. 4,000,000 sweet, wonderful dogs whose only crime is existing. They exist because people don't neuter and spay their pets. You have no business breeding a dog you got off of craigs list and neutering will only help his temperament (which I am still very concerned about).
Let us know what the vet says.
Please do consider neutering. 8,000,000 dogs end up in shelters every year in this country. 4,000,000 are killed. 4,000,000 sweet, wonderful dogs whose only crime is existing. They exist because people don't neuter and spay their pets. You have no business breeding a dog you got off of craigs list and neutering will only help his temperament (which I am still very concerned about).
Let us know what the vet says.
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Don't waste money on testing for DM. These are not symptoms of DM. DM causes immobility of the hind legs and happens very fast, not enough time to lose muscle mass. German Shepherds are prone to hip dysplasia which if bad enough can be seen by rolling of the hips, little muscle, and causing pain when getting up and down.
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I notice that other posters have mentioned dysplasia already, but this is a video that might give you a better idea of what it looks like (from 29 seconds on) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV7elIy_Aoo .
I agree with what others have said: do NOT trust that the dog has already had his shots done, and get him neutered. Good luck!
I agree with what others have said: do NOT trust that the dog has already had his shots done, and get him neutered. Good luck!
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That video doesn't show hip dysplasia, it shows lose ligamentation, two very different issues.
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Yep, not HD at all.
OP please get the dogs hip xrayed as others here have suggested, that's the ONLY way to detect HD. Oh and get him nuetered, there's NO reason to take chances that an aggressive dog will reproduce.
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I concur with the other posters. Take him to a vet and have them evaluate him before starting any exercise program. When he is over a year old, get him neutered. If he does have something structurally wrong with him and an aggressive temperament on top of it, he will bring nothing to better the GSD breed. Therefore, he has no business adding to anyone's gene pool.
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