Meeting a new friend today

Meet Gage, a wonderful six year old GSD who found himself surrendered to a local humane society. He will be staying with us for what we hope will be a very short time as there is already a family interested in adopting him. As a rescue organization, we just want to observe, vaccinate, love and de-stress the poor guy before placing him in his forever home.

Not sure if Teiko is going to like the male moving in, so the back-up plan is to have Gage go to Grama's house if needed.

I've had him for about two hours now and I can report the following:

• Absolutely beautiful - such red highlights in his coat - Beautiful gait - some nice west german bloodlines in him.
• Nice house manners - no marking
  
• Met and greeted Cita the Poodle very nicely - very good doggy manners upon walking into the house
• A very fast learner! First he learned quickly that sliding glass doors can't be walked through. Secondly, he learned that swimming pools can suck you in. 5 minutes off leash in the backyard he walked right into the deep end of the swimming pool. Found out right away that he's a good swimmer, I called him to me by the stairs and he walked out on his own. He has since decided that swimming pools are fun to look at but not be in..........
• Loves to play fetch and will keep bringing his football back time and time again. No possession issues Will gladly give the toy to me.
  
• Takes food nicely - again no possessive issues seen with water or food bowls either
  
• Knows basic commands - sit, come, down. Stay we are working on.
• Needs some work on leash manners - he's kind of a puller so far - but once he settles in, this should improve

I'm going to take him for a walk in the neighborhood now and see what he does meeting people. He was just neutered and I will schedule him this week for rabies and bordetella. Will also have my vet take a look at his hips - I'm seeing a different gait than I'm used to with shepherds - not sure if it's anything but it looks a bit odd.

This is one very nice dog.