Heeeeeeere's Gunner!

[LKTraz]

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Last week Barb stumbled upon and ad for a puppy we might be interested in.
Ever since Bruce disappeared Rufus has been a little lonely even though the kitties are his pals.
I've been missing the 2 dog dynamic in the house myself and was searching for a suitable pup since around December.  This fella seemed to be a nice fit for us and so we responded to the ad.  We did wonder why he was listed as only $100 and the owner explained that he really wasn't....he was FREE.  Has shots and been treated for fleas, ticks etc.  We wormed him and will be taking him for the only shot he's missing (rabies).

We had a little over a 2 hour drive to go meet him and them bring him home.  He's only 4 1/2 months old and never had a long car ride.  He lasted an hour before getting car sick.  Much better than I expected and WAY better than what Barb counted on. (30 and 15 mins respectively)  And he lasted another hour between incidents.  Pretty good for his first long ride.


He's a mix of German Shepherd and Irish Setter (Mom Shepherd...Dad Setter) but he looks a bit like a Lab.


This is one of the pics from the ad:

   


Here he is on the first day getting aquainted with Rufus.

   


He made friends with one of our black cats, Blinky.

   

In less than a week it's to the point where Blinky will walk up and initiate the playing!
Already found him dragging Blink across the floor but the cat just went along with it and didn't complain. (Couple of goofballs)

[twisteroo]

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Geeze....he's a nice looking guy from what we can see.

[Twitchin Kitten]

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Nice looking dog, LK. He's going to need a job with that "pedigree". Bird dogs are bundles of energy and it looks like the setter is the dominating side showing through on him. Good thing you have a lot of land to let him run!

[LKTraz]

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He and Rufus already figured out that running around the yard is lots of fun.
Rufus grabs his ball which rattles when he runs and Gunner is quite happy to chase him around while he makes noise with the ball.

[Twitchin Kitten]

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That's great! It really is nice when new pets integrate fast and so seamlessly.

[LKTraz]

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I'm very happy with the way Gunner found his spot and just plunked right in with the other animals.

Next Saturday I'm going to take him over to my friend's place where we have band practice to meet their animals.

They have a horse ball that their pups play with and if he likes it I'll go down to Tractor Supply and grab him one.

[twisteroo]

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That's great that he is fitting right in so well. Sounds like he just won the puppy lottery.

[LKTraz]

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I thought I had posted what we found out but I was wrong.

We eventually found out that Gunner is in fact a German Shepherd and BORZOI mix. Dumbasses who own his dad don't even know what kind of dog they have! We never saw dad as he belongs to a neighbor of mom's owners and she was just going on what they told her daddy pup's breed is.

He turned a year old on Christmas day and now his chin is about 2 inches higher than the kitchen table! TALL BOY!!!!!

[Twitchin Kitten]

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Careful with him. Sighthounds are NOT known for obeying off lead. I had Borzoi's. One ran off and was never found and the other pulled the lead out of my hand and got hit by a car and never lived. Those thin, deep chests do not hold up to getting HBC. it was horrible.

These dogs were fully trained too and both were show dogs.

I cannot stress enough on obedience training for him, mostly stay and come and keep doing refresher courses. Hopefully his GSD part is the one that rules his brain and not the sighthound part that wants to chase things! FYI - bit of useless info: run your finger lightly on the inside curve of his canine teeth. Sighthounds have a serrated edge to them. Borzoi hunt wolves and large game like deer. Those serrated edges are used to "hamstring" their prey.

[LKTraz]

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We had to modify the gate on the back deck because he likes to jump it and run around the yard.

Since we extended it's height by 3 feet he stopped that.

As long as we are out with him he stays on the property and in sight of us. He loves playing with Rufus and he keeps Gunner where he belongs when in the yard.