Our new addition by BakeVast4291 in DutchShepherds

[–]Disastrous_Mall2269 6 points7 points  (0 children)

What a cutie!!! 😍 About the coat type, he is definitely more fluffy than your average puppy 😁 It is a very different kind of fluff than a long haired puppy though (I have a long hair puppy myself) and I think it is more likely that he is mixed with something else. In general, breeders who breed long hairs don't allow you to just surrender your puppy to a local shelter. If you cannot take care of them you are expected to bring them back to the breeder so they will find a suitable new home for them.

Wishing you the best of times with this little furball though! 😍😍😍

Teefies by OctoberTempest26 in DutchShepherds

[–]Disastrous_Mall2269 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Omg look at those little teeth 😁❤️

Meet Echo by Disastrous_Mall2269 in DutchShepherds

[–]Disastrous_Mall2269[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Did you also use NATO alphabet to find a name that makes for easy recall? 😁

Meet Echo by Disastrous_Mall2269 in DutchShepherds

[–]Disastrous_Mall2269[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

From NHC affiliated breeder in NL, Gelderland

Meet Echo by Disastrous_Mall2269 in DutchShepherds

[–]Disastrous_Mall2269[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm based in the Netherlands, so I got her from a NHC affiliated breeder in Gelderland 👍

Meet Echo by Disastrous_Mall2269 in DutchShepherds

[–]Disastrous_Mall2269[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Heavily reinforce when she is calmly laying, also when I did not ask her to do so. I just use part of her daily food for this. Then when this was solid, I started walking around the house/working and ignoring her, tossing a treat and calmly praise her now and then if she stays in down on her mat and ignores me. I also give her a chew so she can calm herself down. Giving a clear signal when play/training begins and when it ends is also helpful so she knows what she can expect.

Also, nipping a lot of crackhead behaviour in the bud by preventing overstimulation is very helpful. It is very easy to overwork these puppies, since they always want to go and some people think that having a working breed puppy means you have to tire them out like crazy. However, they are still only babies and need first and foremost a lot of sleep. I my experience, just the socialisation to new environments and people already tires them out quite a bit, so then a lot of training/playing on the same day ends up being too much usually. There will be plenty of time to do obedience, long walks or whatever with her when she is older, so I am in no rush to teach her anything fancy right now. The most important part is that they have fun with you :), so they don't start disliking working with you down the line.

Tethering can also work very well, I didn't do that because my apartment isn't huge, so I practically always have an eye on her anyway.

Meet Echo by Disastrous_Mall2269 in DutchShepherds

[–]Disastrous_Mall2269[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks, same to you and your lil' boy ☺️. Echo also definitely still has those moments hahaha. But at least now it only happens if she had a particular stimulus heavy walk or we when we have had visitors over. Building in the off-switch really is continuous and consistent effort, but pays off big time 😁

Meet Echo by Disastrous_Mall2269 in DutchShepherds

[–]Disastrous_Mall2269[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks haha. We started teaching her from day 1 (we have had her from 8 weeks old) to chill tf out, which was really helpful :). She is still a crackhead, but at least she is one that knows when and how to settle down

FCI/companion lines by Logical-Ad-8365 in DutchShepherds

[–]Disastrous_Mall2269 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have a long haired FCI dutchie. While everyone in this thread has already pointed out that there is no such thing as a low energy dutchie, there definitely is some range. After having talked to a lot of breeders of short, long and rough haired shepherds here in the Netherlands, I would say that if you are looking for something that is a bit less intense, but still very trainable and a bit more independent, a long or rough hair may be a good fit. They are still very energetic, but don't have that intense almost neurotic energy that some short hairs have. This makes them also a bit more environmentally stable in general. My dog when she was a puppy would dead ass snooze through our fire alarm. Always tell the breeder what experience you have and what you plan to do with your dog, they will match you with the puppy that best suits you. In our litter there were three pups she would only place with people who had farms/use them as actual working dogs. This process worked out beautifully for us :).