Gustav can be quite puppy-like at times, which is not surprising since he’s only 16 months old.  He has lots of energy, loves to run and play and loves attention, rewarding his human friends with kisses and snuggles.

His original owner did not give him any training and found him to be too much of a challenge as he got bigger.  Our evaluator could see that Gustav just needed some leadership and limits, and we had a foster home that could provide both.  The foster Dad told us that Gustav would jump on the furniture, at first, chewed up any bedding left in his crate and could be mouthy.  He quickly learned to cooperate, though, once limits were set.

There’s an 8-year-old female GSD in the foster home, and Gustav likes to get her to play.  He occasionally gets too rough, but he backs right down when she puts him in his place.  He barks at other dogs when out for a walk in the neighborhood, but he seems excited and not aggressive.  When he and Jaz are running around together in the fenced yard, Gustav will sometimes stop to dig holes near some pine trees; he does like to dig.

He also likes to chew on his Nylabone when there’s nothing much going on, and he’ll try to engage in a good game of “tug” with one of his soft toys.  He enjoys meeting visitors and will usually go to a male first, letting a female visitor to wait to be noticed.

Gustav is a happy, playful boy who loves to go for walks and is learning to play fetch, rather than keep-away.  We have not seen him around a cat, but he does love to chase squirrels out of the yard.  He will, then, sit and look up into the trees or on the fence posts to see if there might be more around.  He does need someone with GSD experience and a desire to continue providing training and regular exercise to help this boy become all he can be.