Mom and the German Shepherd puppies we rescued

by Susan
(Gaston, OR)

My husbands mother has a GSD that she bred to "settle" her down. (Didn't work by the way.) When Sheba was been bred mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, and had to have surgery, chemo, and radiation. The 7 puppies came in due time and mom was doing her best to be a good mama to her pack. We went and got a male from her, as I had been looking for a GSD to fill the gap losing my last one of 10 years.

We took Solstice home and fell in love. Several weeks later mom called and said she still had 2 puppies left and did we know anyone looking. After talking it over we decided to go get the other male and have a friend for Solstice.

When we got there we were shocked at the behavior of the puppies!!!! They were terrified of us! They wouldn't let us get within 5 feet let alone pet them. After having 2 previous GSD I knew this wasn't "normal" behavior, so we talked about why they were acting like this.

What happened was, mom lives alone and has very little company, so the puppies were unsocialized. And the female was beating up on the little female, making her cowed. Long story short we now have 3 six month old GSD!!!

The 2 newer ones are still working out how they feel about new people, but the female is not cowed anymore in fact she is the stinker of the group. The boys are fixed and the girl goes in soon, we don't need more pets!!!!

My rescues are not typical as they weren't being abused in any obvious way. However an unsocialized GSD is not a desirable thing. Mom loved them and now she can continue to be grandma. JFYI- Mom got Sheba spayed as soon as the babies were all gone. :)