Meet Ruger: My New Fur Brother

Last night, my mother stopped out for a surprise visit to introduce my family to my new fur brother. He is an eight-week-old German Shepherd named Ruger. My mother had just picked him up earlier in the day and couldn't wait for us to meet him.

Ruger is a little ball of fur, like most German Shepherd puppies. It is hard to imagine that this little fluff-ball will eventually grow into a 100-120 pound, tall and lean dog. Ruger, still very unsure of his new environment, does a lot of whining and stays at your side at all times; not that my son seems to mind.

Ruger immediately took to my son like a lifelong buddy. After Ruger's first curious sniff, I let my son down to run around the yard. Much to our surprise, Ruger chased after him and was not happy until he was back at my son's side. My hyper, nearing two-year-old, son ran all over the place for the next two hours, even climbing up a sliding board with Ruger right on his tail. He was certainly trying his best to stay with my son the entire time.

Despite only being eight weeks old, Ruger also tried climbing the ladder to the sliding board with my son. When he was not able to climb it and my son went out of view, you could see that Ruger was plagued with worry. He whined and howled from the bottom rung, only to jump with joy when my son rounded the corner to go up the ladder again.

I know German Shepherds are not hunting dogs, but I am still thinking of ways to put his good nose to work. I am thinking about introducing him to antlers once he gets another month of life under his belt. Maybe I'll start him off with a few Antler Chews to both give him something to get those little needle sharp puppy teeth into, as well as get him used to the smell of antlers. After that, I will get him on a LCS Check Cord and do some simple fetching with a Dog Bone Shed Antler Dummy.

I told my mother that once he gets a little older, I am going to have to dognap him and bring him to the Lion Country Supply office a few times.

-Michael C.